Month October 2015

A team of scientists in Australia developed a liquid that can be applied to solid, nonporous surfaces and produces fingerprints under a blacklight within 30 seconds. The liquid contains metal organic framework (MOF) crystals that bind to residue left behind by… Continue Reading →

Police ran a DNA test on a sock dropped outside of a burglary scene in Columbus, Ohio; this sock now links a suspect to this three year old crime.

Police have begun using private DNA databases, such as Ancestry.com, to produce DNA matches using familial DNA searching. Brenden Koerner weighs in on the use of familial DNA searching in this Wired article.

In 1988, a child molestation was reported to Elkhart County law enforcement. Over the years, many leads on the case failed to pan out, but forensic samples containing spermatazoa were kept stored with the Elkhart County Sheriff. At the time,… Continue Reading →

A Texas man, Steven Mark Chaney, convicted over 25 years ago, in part by bite mark evidence and testimony that there was a “one to a million” chance that the bite marks belonged to another individual, has been released from prison…. Continue Reading →

The Innocence Project has called upon the Texas Forensic Science Commission to discredit bitemark identification evidence in criminal cases and call a moratorium on its use, stating a lack of reliability in the “science.” Although bitemark is rarely used in criminal… Continue Reading →

The DC Department of Forensic Sciences is making major changes in its operations with help from an $8 million budget supplement passed by Mayor Muriel Bowster. The changes to the Department include a new data management system, better training for… Continue Reading →

In 1997, Kirsten Hatfield was taken from her home in the middle of the night.  Blood was found on the window sill outside of her bedroom and her underwear was discovered in the backyard. Seventeen years later, it was discovered… Continue Reading →

Police were able to run a DNA analysis on a Pepsi can found at the scene of a burglary to link the perpetrator to the crime.

A Pittsburgh-area man named Michael Robinson was accused of murder after a computer program called TrueAllele matched his DNA to the DNA on a bandana found at the crime scene. Initially, experts said that there were three individuals’ DNA on… Continue Reading →