Forensic Investigation in the Field
Forensic biology applies the procedures and concepts of biological studies to associate persons to an item, location, or another person. In the given case, two men found five skeletons and a decomposing body in the woods in the hole. To identify these skeletons and the body, it is critical to collect and analyze the bones, teeth, and sculls, as well as bodily fluids. More to the point, a forensic biologist can support the investigation by examining insects that can be found in the field and possibly affected the bodies.
The time and reason for death are important to determine to enable the justice system, ascertaining victims and offenders. This particular case also requires the use of forensic biology since the death seems to be caused under suspicious circumstances, suddenly, or under violent actions. Based on data collected by forensic biologists, it is possible to identify persons who were missing by comparing the details of clothing, teeth, et cetera.
After arriving at the scene, a forensic specialist should sign his or her contact information to enter the yellow tape area. In this case, the police officer, who arrived at the location after the call of two witnesses, is the first responder. Another first responder is the detective, who would briefly summarize the case and guide the forensic biologist throughout the crime scene. It is critical that the forensic investigator does not touch anything until the briefing process is finished.
During this process, the biologist should pay attention to the flagged areas and pay attention to information that was already gathered. Once the procedures of photographing and documenting are completed by the police team, the expert can start moving items and collecting the biological evidence. Furthermore, the issues of approaching and transporting the body and items are to be considered. The preliminary observation data should be ready by the time of placing the body in the special bag. Ultimately, the necessary documentation should be completed as the last step of the course of action.
For the correct examination of skeletons and the decomposing body, any contamination should be prevented. At the stage of collecting data at the scene, the forensic biologist should use gloves and cover his or her shoes, thus minimizing the external impact (Dutelle, 2014). Prior to removing any items, he or she should make sure to clarify if it was documented and photographed or not. The preservation needs should be taken into account as well, including identification bands, proper sealing, and other protective equipment (Balk, 2015).
The first responders present a challenge of contaminating the scene by depositing their hair, footprints, and body fluids, which makes the need to wear personal protection equipment rather significant. The improper securing of the area may result in lost evidence and the inability to provide the necessary data. In addition, the failure to escort the forensic investigator and explain the details of the crime can also compose a challenge. Therefore, the investigator should control all the expected procedures and processes to protect data.
The assessment process of the remains should begin with the estimation of the crime scene dimensions, such as the length, depth, and width. The location of the hole in the ground and related territories provides the source of valuable information. For example, the number of offenders can be supposed on the basis of the size of the area. The soil can also signalize the important details, including the remains that were left by transport or equipment. Any evidence that was found on bushes, trees, and terrain should be documented with details. If the soil was removed with the use of machinery to investigate the inner layers, it should be noted along with the impact of machinery.
The remains at the given scene are also presented by the decomposing body that should be removed as soon as possible since it is highly impacted by insects, animals, air, soil, sun, and other climatic factors. The rate of decomposition largely impacts the extent to which the remains can be examined, and conclusions can be made. Precise attention is to be paid to the skeletons and the decomposing body: the number and names of absent body parts or bones, the impact of animals, birds, and insects, clothing, and so on. In addition, forensic entomology is another option for identifying the role of soil-dwelling insects on the body.
The soil and insect samples can help in determining whether the given place is the site of death, post-mortem interval (Dutelle, 2014). DNA is the fundamental evidence that can be collected from the skin cells, hair, and/or bones in the given case. The focus on the dental structures of victims can be beneficial to identify them by using digital radiology.
The documentation can be performed by means of videotaping, photographing, and/or sketching methods. Depending on the availability of these means, the forensic biologist is expected to use either one of them or a combination of several methods. First, there is a strict protocol that prescribes documenting the location and position of the body and skeletons with regard to the area they were found in and each other. Second, all the related materials and substances should be recorded and sealed with caution. The chain of custody is the document format that should be used to note the descriptions of objects as well as the role of each of the persons who was involved in the scene place examination (Baxter, 2015).
The collected evidence and its descriptions should be sent to the appropriate places, where further analysis will be conducted. All these measures contribute to preserving the evidence and avoiding contamination and errors in the investigation.
The transportation of the evidence is an integral part of preserving it, which is rather important since the remains may be easily denatured under the impact of climatic factors and human mistakes. In particular, storing DNA should be conducted in special boxes, while a car’s trunk is not an appropriate place as a cold environment is required. In this connection, the forensic biologist should ensure that the transportation will be held at the proper temperature (Baxter, 2015).
The sample DNA that was saved according to the mentioned adjustments provides valuable information based on a mitochondrial analysis. The decomposing body should be transported to the morgue to perform an autopsy and anthropological analysis. The transportation service should be contacted by the investigator in advance or referred to the first responders if he or she has no personal transport or contracts with local firms.
Laboratory Examinations
The awareness of the reasons for evidence contamination in the laboratory promotes preventing its occurrence. In the given case, the evidence may be contaminated unintentionally during the handling process, namely, hardware and software analysis. During these processes, the examination may be violated by improper laboratory procedures, the failure to ensure sterilization of equipment, et cetera. One of the most prominent cases of contaminated evidence refers to the Phantom of Heilbronn, the woman who could not be caught for many years.
Only in 2008, the police discovered that it was a female who worked for the manufacture of swabs for an investigation that was used to hide her personality (Baxter, 2015). Powder and brushes to be used to examine this case should be clean, without other DNA samples.
To prevent laboratory contamination, great attention should be paid to the integrity of the packages that were transported from the crime scene. In case of any violations, the forensic biologist is expected to report to the unit manager or officer. The secondary risk can be reduced by changing the gloves after opening the bags. It seems to be essential to point out that the cleanliness of the area is one more essential point that should be controlled by the investigator, including personnel clothing, protective face and hair masks, and bench environment. The daily decontamination regimen should involve the examination of all items on a disposable surface to control the bench environment.
DNA is a molecule that composes genetic information and largely determines how people look. 99.9% of a person’s DNA is identical to the DNA of others, but it is the remaining 0.1% that sets people apart as individuals (Mapes, Kloosterman, van Marion, & de Poot, 2016). For forensic specialists, using this data is important to design DNA profiles from the biomaterial gathered. They are important. At the first stage, the expert extracts DNA from the obtained material.
The process of DNA extraction from cells is a rather important stage; therefore, in most cases, the reagent kits of leading manufacturers, such as Applied Biosystems or Promega, are used for these purposes. The decomposing body can contain the degraded cells, which complicates the process of DNA profiling. In this regard, it is of great importance to make sure that proper material is tested.
After DNA isolation, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test is performed, as a result of which certain sections of DNA (loci) increase many times, and their number exceeds the initial one by tens or even hundreds of millions. The DNA mixture obtained from the decomposing body is to be analyzed using capillary electrophoresis during the PCR reaction, and the length of the obtained loci (allelic variants) is determined (Mapes et al., 2016).
The next stage of gel electrophoresis implies that the samples of DNA should be placed on different lanes, and the revealed patterns should be identified as unique characteristics. After that, a specialist looks for a match, focusing on testing short tandem repeat (STR) sequences in the decomposing body, suspects, and the CODIS database of DNA profiles. The key advantages of employing DNA analysis in the given case are the comparison with the database data and the high accuracy of findings.
Forensic serology plays an essential role in the process of DNA profiling as it uses biochemical, microbiological, and immunological methods to define the presence of fluids in the decomposing body. These fluids compose the material for analyzing one’s DNA based on serum, semen, blood, et cetera. The decomposing body tends to degrade, but the serologic investigation can relate the physical evidence of assault, rape, murder, and some other cases since they leave fluid stains. More to the point, odontology is another integral part of forensic biology, which is likely to help in the identification process. The assistance of an anthropologist is required to clarify the bones, the nature of death or injury, and the number of humans.
For example, five thick bones would mean that five human remains were found. The post mortem that is to be performed by a pathologist should examine the corpse and determine the cause of death along with any other changes. Forensic entomology application is likely to identify the period of time of death, which can be understood via the review of bacteria and microorganisms affecting the decomposing body.
Speaking of the barriers that can be faced by the forensic investigator in interpreting DNA, one may note the increasing number of samples in databases, which complicates the procedure of finding a match. The incorrect interpretation of results, in turn, can lead to wrongful convictions, which can occur due to backlogs. The laboratory automation seems to promote greater effectiveness, yet it requires expert system data review that is prone to errors. Another challenge is associated with greater detection sensitivity and the use of complexity thresholds. More compound DNA complexes are created to reduce data interpretation uncertainty, relying on probabilistic genotyping.
On the contrary to the traditional means of analyzing DNA, probabilistic genotyping does not pay attention to subjective judgment (Mapes et al., 2016). The application of this method is also debated in the literature since it is often used as closed-source software. Furthermore, there are laboratories that are not adjusted to work with compound mixtures of DNA.
In the given investigation, facial reconstruction is pertinent to obtain diagnostic data on the signs and external appearance of decomposing and skeletonized corpses of unknown persons. The reconstruction of the face through the skull is performed only in the absence of a version about the identity of the alleged victim (Fodarella, Kuivaniemi-Smith, Gawrylowicz, & Frowd, 2015). The main purpose of restoring the external appearance of the skull is to transfer on the image of a person’s face typical, group, and some individualizing characteristics of the external appearance.
The results of examining skulls and bones of the skeletons allowed obtaining data on one’s age, the condition of the denture, congenital and acquired pathological changes, and specific characteristics. The reliability of the restored signs largely depends on the completeness of the information obtained during the initial examination and the observation of the remains (Fodarella et al., 2015). This explains the importance of carefully examining the corpse at the place of its discovery, documenting the findings, removing the remains of clothing, hair, dentures, auricles, and sending for examination.
Scenarios of Court Case Outcomes
Scenario 1
The given investigation explores the case of two men who explored a hole with five skeletons and a decomposing body in the forests of Georgia. Once the evidence was properly collected and sent to the laboratory, the procedures of DNA profiling started. It should be stressed that all the blanks and documentation were properly completed by the forensic biologist, who also controlled the process of packaging samples and their transportation (the sample of the evidence log is presented below).
The detailed observation of the crime scene allowed suggesting that the criminal actions were performed by a serial murderer. The decomposing body presented the signs of physical violence, such as blood and multiple scratches on hands and chest. Accordingly, this means that the victim tries to struggle with the perpetrator before the death.
The analysis of DNA showed the fingerprints of Mr. T.R., who was previously convicted of being engaged in homicide five years ago. This person was accused of violence towards his wife, but the situation was recognized occasionally since no direct arguments in favor of his guilt were identified. In this case, the suspect’s DNA was found on the decomposing body, as well as a shovel that was also detected near the place of crime as a result of additional investigation.
The fact that the suspected person was put on the wanted list, the law enforcement was able to discover his location and bring it to the court. After the conversation with his lawyer, Mr. T.R. decided to use his right to plead guilty and reduce the sentence. However, the criminal history of this person was complicated by multiple minor and moderate prosecution cases, which led to severe sentencing. Mr. T.R. was sentenced to 35 years, being recognizes as a serial murderer.
Blank 1. Evidence log.
Scenario 2
The case with five skeletons and a decomposing body in the hole in the woods presented complex and unclear outcomes. Namely, the evidence that was collected by the forensic biologist resulted in non-informative results since the perpetrator’s DNA could not be profiled due to its severe degradation. During the transportation, the samples of DNA were stored in the police officer’s car under the sun, which presumably was the reason for contamination.
More to the point, during his visit to the laboratory, the forensic biologist revealed a range of sanitation violations that were reported to the chief officer. The analyses of the social, insects, and pathogens allowed establishing that the last murder was conducted about a week ago, while the examination of bones showed that these people died more than three years ago. The identities of these people were established, yet the prosecution lacked the perpetrator.
Having no other suspects, the prosecution suggested that the men who found the remains were engaged in the crime since their fingerprints were present. According to the version of these suspects, they contacted the decomposing body and skeletons while trying to get out of the hole. Nevertheless, the court ruled that they were minor participants of the group that murdered these people and suggested they refer to plea bargain to provide information about the key initiators. When they refused to do so, the court convicted them in opposing the prosecution and sentenced them to two years of imprisonment. This decision was incorrect since no direct evidence proving their guilt was present.
References
Balk, C. (2015). Reducing contamination in forensic science. Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science, 3(12), 222-239.
Baxter, E. (2015). Complete crime scene investigation handbook. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Dutelle, A. W. (2014). An introduction to crime scene investigation (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Fodarella, C., Kuivaniemi-Smith, H., Gawrylowicz, J., & Frowd, C. (2015). Forensic procedures for facial-composite construction. Journal of Forensic Practice, 17(4), 259-270.
Mapes, A. A., Kloosterman, A. D., van Marion, V., & de Poot, C. J. (2016). Knowledge on DNA success rates to optimize the DNA analysis process: From crime scene to laboratory. Journal of Forensic Sciences, 61(4), 1055-1061.