Hello,


Welcome to my forensics blog. My intended target audience is forensic scienctist students.The reason why I picked the particular target audience because they need to know all the things pertaining to forensic scientist. In this blog they will learn about footprining , how to analyze clues and trace evidence. So sit back and read about the important things that forensic scientist need to able to do!



Forensic scientist



"Forensic Biology  »  Articles  »  Anthropology »  "Help Needed: Forensic Scientist in High Demand"

" The Bronx High School of Science. Web. 05 Dec. 2011. <http://bxscience.edu/ourpages/users/villani/forensics/articles/careers/f-career01.htm>.

 

This website gets the credibility for the visual image of a forensic scientist.

 

Witness Experiment

Witness Experiment   

I thought this experiment was beneficial to me because it taught me how to test our basic memory to see if we would be a good witness of a crime. In this experiment I took a pair of scissors and cut out a face from the magazine. The face that was cut out from the magazine was an African American woman with long hair. I cut out each facial feature such as the mouth, nose,  eyes and hair. Then my table group which did the same procedure as I put all their cut out facial features in the middle of the table too. We mixed the facial features together in a pile. Then each member of the table group tries to make another face by putting the facial features back together. At my table, we identified the different pieces of facial features very quickly. This experiment taught me how to piece together a suspects face. As I was going through this experiment, it was very interesting to see the differences in other magazine faces. There are incomparable shapes of mouths, noses, and eyes. In the experiment, I matched the facial features by the color of the skin. In addition to, I matched the facial features together by the shapes of the noses, eyes, mouth and hair . The hair of the individual was easy to mach together becuase of the facial features being linked together.  Therefore, this witness experiment was excellent in teaching how to identify different face features and learning how to remember the suspect during a crime. The witness is a key ingredient to solving any crime because it can help police enforcement to track down the suspect. I also believe another analyzing tip to being  good witness is remembering if the suspect has any weapons ,what kind of car driven at the crime scene, and even the suspects race. Therefore, it is important to remember the suspects face or any other general descriptions in order to be a good witness of a crime. Remebering a suspects face at a crime could be benefical to that person who lost his life and that person could receive justice because of the person remebering the suspects face.

Poison Analysis

       Poison is a substance that when it is absorbed by living organism it can be lethal. Some common poison sources are carbon monoxide, food poisoning,plants, household products, leads and medicines. In addition to poison can have an abundant of side effects such as enlarged pupils, drooling, change in skin colors, organ failure,and bleeding from any facial features. We did an experiment with using products such as metal poison, possible sugars,household ammonia,aspirin,and cyanide experiment to test if there were poison or not.

Poison Lab Pictures

    The first test we did was using metal poison.Metal poisoning is the accumulation of metals in the soft tissues of the body. This poisoning can be lethal.First we tested the lead (Pb). When KI is added to these chemicals, lead should turn to a yellow precipitate if it is a metal poison. When we tested lead with .5m KSCN is was negative. When we tested lead with KI, it was positive for lead . When we tested lead (Pb) with acid, it turned out to be negative. So no yellow precipitate was shown for KSCN and using the acid it did not turn yellow.  When KI was added with lead it turned yellow so it is a metal poison.   The second chemical we used was Iron (Fe). When KSCN is added it should turn to a blood red. If it turns to a bloody red, then it is metal poisoning. When my group tested iron with .5m KSCN it was positive for metal poisoning it turned bloody red. So that means it could be a metal poison. When we tested KI with iron it turned out to be negative . When we tested the acid with iron it also turned out negative to be a metal poison. The third trial we used the chemical chromium. chromium is a metal poison only if it is orange when acidified. When we added the .5m KSCN with the chromium it turned out to be negative for metal poison. When we used KI  added to chromium it turned out to be negative for metal poison.



Possible sugars

                                                                                                         

When sugar test reagent is added, a purple color will form.       




1. The first test it turned out to be negative.There was no purple color.
2. The same test results.
3. The same test results.

Household ammonia

Household Ammonia       


      To see if household ammonia was a metal the results had to have three rules. The first rule was it must have odor. The second rule was the ph had to be above seven. The third rule was the phth is pink or purple in the solution.These are our test results.The first household ammonia was positive. It had the odor , the ph was above seven and the phth is pink or purple in the solution.The other two household ammonia tested negative. These trials did not meet the criteria for being a poison.






Aspirin

   This experiment has two rules also in order for it to be considered a poison. The ph is below 7 and the BTB is yellow. The first trial with aspirin passed the test. It had a ph of 3 and the BTB turned yellow. The other two trials of aspirin however did not pass the test to be considered a poison.





Cyanide Experiment
This experiment requires only  one rule to be considered a poison. If the result turns blood red when Fe +3 is added, then it is considered a poison. The first and third result however did not turn a bloody red but the second trial did turn out to be cyanide which was a poison.



Through these experiments I learned a lot about poison. I've always knew poison could kill you. I  did not know what kinds of poisons there are. Everybody knows bleach is a poison.I really did not know how to test to see if it was really a poison. It is important to know these certain poisons to save your life. I did not know that house hold ammonia  could be a metal poisoning either.



Citations

Studio, Dezzain. "Poison Tips and Prevention." Philippine Medicinal Plants. Web. 05 Dec. 2011. <http://philippinemedicinalplants.blogspot.com/2011/10/poison-tips-and-prevention.html>.

narrative

Crime Scene Investigations Narrative

In this experiment our group matched different clues to recreate what had happened during a crime. In our class we were split into groups for different crime scenes. Therefore I was at crime scene 3. These are the clues we collected as a group.

High heel shoe

Clue 1: High heeled shoe that was discovered indicates a female victim or criminal.

Clue 2: We discovered a note that says “Someone please help me”, matches Tyese Jefferson’s handwriting.

Clue 2A: Note that says “You will never find her” indicates a murder and that the victim was female. The handwriting matches Smokey Johnson.

Clue 3:   We discovered a fingerprint that is a Plain whorl pattern   and matches Smokey Johnson’s fingerprint.

Clue 3A: We discovered a fingerprint that was a Ulnar loop that matches Sandra O’Connor and Tyese Jefferson.

Clue 4: We discovered a gold earring and it does indicate that either the victim or criminal was a female. This also indicates that there was a struggle that caused it to fall off. 

Clue 5: This clue was a piece of nylon. It had a green color too it.

Clue 6: A clear liquid that contained Iodine. Iodine can be used to poison someone with a thyroid problem. Tyese Jefferson had a thyroid problem, indicates that she was the victim of a poisoning intended to kill her.

Footprint

Clue 7: There was a large footprint that had the measurements of  13.5” long and 4.5” wide. This indicates that either victim or criminal was male.

Blood

Clue 8: There was a A positive blood sample found . It matches with Tyese Jefferson and Courtney Smith’s blood type. This particular clue indicates that there was a struggle and it could belong to either victim or criminal.

Clue 9: A hair strand that matches with black female hair the color was dark brown, light brown, and white. The clue indicates that there was a struggle that caused the hair to be pulled out, and it also indicates that the grey hairs would belong to someone old either Tyese Jefferson or Cindy Brown.

Clue 10: A fingerprint left on glass could not be identified as to who it was.

Tyrese Jefferson

After we analyzed the clues , we came up with ideas of the things that could of happened between Tyrese Jefferson and Smokey Johnson. We made all the clues come together to make a story.This is my story of what I think happened.

Smokey Johnson

      Tyrese Jefferson who was a school counselor went to the cafeteria during lunch time. Smokey Johnson decided to go over to her table and apologize for hitting her when she said she was tired of having an affair with him. She threatened him that she would tell his wife because he hit her. So while they were talking Smokey Johnson gave her some tea to relax and to give her a token of apology. She accepted the tea but she still said she was going to tell his wife. So Smokey Johnson got mad but did not show it in his face. So Smokey Johnson offered to give the tea a little bit of honey. Tyrese Jefferson really did not know that Smokey Johnson was going to put iodine in her tea. We know that Smokey Johnson put iodine in her tea because of clue 6 analyzed as iodine. Iodine is used to poison people with thyroid problems. You see Smokey Johnson knew Tyrese Jefferson had thyroid problems. I think that she had thyroid problems because her profile told me so. After Smokey Johnson gave her the tea and she drank it,Tyrese Jefferson claimed she was feeling ill. So she went home.


          Smokey Johnson followed Tyrese Jefferson home without her even knowing about it. Tyrese Jefferson opened her front door walked upstairs. As she was walking upstairs, she heard a strange noise. She thought her mind was going crazy. So she continued  upstairs.Smokey Johnson thought the coast was clear. So he made his move. He opened the backyard gate. Which had new fresh dirt on the ground with no grass. He walked to the backdoor.  Then he opened the back glass sliding door. I think this because of clue 3 the fingerprint of a plain whorl pattern matched to Smokey Johnson. Suddenly Tyrese Jefferson heard the noise again now she knew it was business.She took off her black bow high heel shoe. We know this because of clue one. Clue one is a high heel shoe. She took it off and used it for a weapon. Smokey Johnson was hiding in the shadows behind a closet in front of the stairs. Tyrese Jefferson slowly walked down the stairs and had a shoe as a weapon in her hand. When she immediately turned in the direction of the closet. Smokey Johnson rushed out of the door hitting her in the face. The blood was coming out of Tyrese Jefferson's mouth and pouring out on to the floor. I think this because of clue 8 is blood. I  think  it is Tyrese Jefferson's blood because her blood type is A positive blood type. Then Tyrese Jeffferson started to pull on him and tore his sleeve off. I think this had happened because of clue 5 which is a piece of nylon. The nylon could have been from his work suit.

        Smokey Johnson then took her by the hair and threw her across the kitchen table. Some of her hair fell out on the ground. I  think the hair that fell out is Tyrese Jefferson hair because clue 9 had  been analyzed to be African American women hair. Then Tyrese Jefferson went immediately upstairs and hid in the closet quickly . In the closet she wrote a note saying "someone please help". I  think Tyrese Jefferson wrote this note because her handwriting matched to the one on her profile. Smokey Johnson found where she was hiding.He tore up the note. She fought like it was her last chance. She kept on hitting him and her earring fell out. I think this because of clue 4 which is a gold earring.  Then Smokey Johnson strangled her and  she lost consciousness. He took her and went to the backyard. Then he  burried her alive. I think that Smokey Johnson went to the backyard and buried her alive because of clue 7. The footprint is 13.5 inches long and 4.5 inches wide. The measurements are large they might  match to a male suspect. After that he went to the kitchen wrote a note saying "you will never find her". I think this because of clue 2A which matches to Smokey Johnson's handwriting. Then he leaves out the door.

Drug Analysis

Drug Analysis Lab   

Drug 4 picture courtesy of Alexis
Bell

Cocaine and meth are very powerful drugs that  can destroy the body and can effective the future of people's lives. In the drug analysis experiment, my group used certain chemicals to test the cocaine reagent and LSD reagent. We mixed the white substance in the water . Then we took the mixed substance and the chemical reagent dropped it little of each on the petri dish . To tell if each drug was cocaine or not, the color would turn blue. The LSD reagent would turn yellow if it is positive. The last step is testing the ph of the drug. The ph of the drug should turn the color yellow and have the Ph of 7 to be positive.There was meth reagent we were going to do but we did not have the necessary tools to do that particular part of the experiment. Presented below this is the data we collected on all six drugs.

Drug(listed in order)	LSD(yellow +)	Cocaine(blue +)	Meth	Ph(the color also)
1	Negative	Negative	Not Tested	6 -yellow
2	Negative	Positive	Not Tested	10-blue
3	Positive	Negative	Not Tested	3-
4	Negative	Positive	Not Tested	7-green
5	Negative	Negative	Not Tested	7-yellow
6	Positive	Negative	Not Tested	4-red

Drug station 4 picture courtesy of Alexis Bell

The History of Meth

Meth is a extreme powerful central nervous system stimulant that has a high potential for use in abuse. Meth was orginally created in Germany. In the 1920s, the drug started the use of a cure or treatment for those who had depression to decongestion.   The meth plant is created from a group of shrubs called ephedra and is found in China, Pakistan, India, and America. Nazi soldiers in World War II gave out meth for sailors and pilots just so they could get on high on the meth .Through the meth pills given to German soldiers caused health effects as a boost for fighting ability. Then in the 1950s meth started in America. Students began to pop pills to keep awake and meth had a use for the treatment of obesity. In the 1960s, Doctors in California gave injections of meth to heroin addicts. Then transcending in the 90s Meth was continuously growing in urban communities. There was alarming growth of meth everywhere in America such as South Dakota. Meth was a major threat in this area.

The Effects of Meth

Meth can destroy the brain, teeth, tissues, and blood vessels but the body cannot repair these organs in our body. People who take meth tremendously amount times over again can age quickly and deteriorate. Meth addicts that use meth on a day-to-day basis usually have poor diets, rotting teeth, and bad hygiene. Meth can additionally change the physical appearance of meth users. Meth causes blood vessels to shrink which means there is no steady blood flow to the parts of the body. Some continuous users of meth can start to create unhealed sores because of obsessive skin picking brought on thought that they might have bugs crawling on them.

The Brief History of Cocaine

Cocaine was created in the years between 1858-1860, by the 1860s it was used for many illnesses. Theodor Aschenbrandt in 1883 gave the soldiers of the Bavarian army cocaine. They discovered that it helped the soldiers persistently keep in action on the battlefield. Then cocaine started to sell over the counter. Cocaine was used for helping in toothaches cures and patent medicines. Another medical use for cocaine was it was an excellent anesthetic.  Cocaine was use for surgical procedures such as the one conducted by William Halstead. William Halstead unfortunately experimented with an injection of cocaine and became an addict. His cocaine habit lasted the rest of his life. There is a soda named after cocaine named Coco-Cola it was introduced to prevent nerve afflictions. In the year of 1903 the serving of Coca Cola had 60 mg of cocaine in it but today Coca Cola is made out of coca-leaves.

cocaine

The Effects of Cocaine

The effects of cocaine can eventually create permanent damage of the body parts, addiction and death. There are short term effects and long term effects that can take hold of the user. The short term effects that he or she may experience are decreased appetite, dilated pupils, constricted blood vessels and blood pressure. The long term effects on a day-to-day user are strokes, seizures, and breathing problems. There are methods of taking in cocaine that can produce health effects. Snorting in cocaine can cause nosebleeds, loss of smell, and problems swallowing. Ingesting cocaine into your system can cause severe bowel infections that reduce the blood flow to the intestine. Injecting cocaine in your system can cause high risk of HIV, Hepatitis and other blood-borne diseases.

LSD

LSD is also known as Lysergic acid diethylamide is chemical that effects a person’s mood, thoughts, or perceptions.LSD was created from a fungus that grows on various of grains such as rye. Albert Hofmann in 1938 created LSD for the use of stimulating circulation and breathing. After Albert Hofmann left the experiment he was doing containing LSD, he came back and accidentally absorbed a bit of LSD which caused him to be dizzy, crazy, and have weird visuals. He immediately experienced effects of LSD.

The Effects of LSD

LSD also known as lysergic acid diethylamide is very powerful drug. One single grain of LSD can cause many of effects. There are behavior effects of people that use LSD including chills, muscle weakness, confusion, fear and increases blood pressure. For day-to-day users they have to immediately absorb LSD so they will not have greater effects by it .The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 says that the penalty of anyone have 1 gram of LSD gets 5 years in prison.




In my personal opinion drugs have been around forever. In the 1990s drugs were a real problem in the black community too. Drugs can destroy a persons future in a twlinking of an eye. After hearing about effects of cocaine and meth, I know I willl not be trying drugs anytime soon. I have actually saw people be effected by drugs . The sight of a  drug addict looked like the drugs were the only thing that kept them breathing. Drugs are so powerful. After learning about these drugs I think will help people in my community to get drug addicts help.Even if its just passing out flyers to the addicts on the streets it may help them  go to a rehabilitation and get some help.

Citations

"Neuroscience for Kids - LSD." UW Faculty Web Server. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. <http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/lsd.html>.

This website gets the credibility for the definition of LSD and the effects of LSD


"History of Cocaine." Promises of Reovery- Alcohol,Narcotis,adult Child,CoDependancy Anonymous. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. <http://promises.www4.50megs.com/cocaine.html>.
This website gets the credibility of the research about the history of cocaine.

 "Cocaine." Cocaine Effects, Cocaine Withdrawal, Cocaine Treatment. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. <http://www.cocaine-effects.com/>.
this website above gets the credbility of the idea about the short and long term effects of cocaine

"A Brief History of Meth." Mapp-SD A Project of Prairire View Prevention Services. Web. 2 Dec. 2011. <http://www.mappsd.org/Meth%20History.htm>.
This website gets the credibility of the defintion about Meth.

"How Meth Destroys The Body | The Meth Epidemic | FRONTLINE | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/meth/body/>.
This website gets the credbility of the idea about the effects on the body using meth.

"A Brief History of Methamphetamine - Alcohol and Drug Abuse Information." Vermont Department of Health. Web. 03 Dec. 2011. <http://healthvermont.gov/adap/meth/brief_history.aspx>.
This website gets the credibility of the idea about the 1950s teenagers popping meth pills to keep awake.


"DEA, Cocaine Images." Welcome to the United States Department of Justice. Web. 05 Dec. 2011. <http://www.justice.gov/dea/images_cocaine.html>.
This website gets the credibility for the image of cocaine.

"History of Methamphetamine." Montogomery County Sheriff's Office, a Full Service Law Enforcement Agency. Web. 2 Dec. 2011. <http://www.montgomerycountytn.org/County/sheriff/meth/methHistory.aspx>.

This website gets the credbility of the research on the history of meth.

Links

 http://www.methproject.org/

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/cocaine_abuse/article_em.htm

Create a Profile

In this experiment called, create a profile I was presented with five clues that I had to analyze. The five clues were fingerprints, a letter, a longer piece of hair, a shorten length of hair, and  a pink smeared stain. I was reflective in all my clues of what I saw. The profile is very interesting and these are the facts I presented for each clue.

The first steps to create a profile were to analyze the clues. My first clue was fingerprints. I researched all the types of fingerprints on the computer and tried to link those fingerprints to the ones on the card. These are all the types of fingerprints I saw on clue one.

In clue number one, there are four fingerprints present with all different types of characteristics.

First Fingerprint: Plain Whorl

Second Fingerprint: Central Pocket Loop

Third Fingerprint: Central Pocket Loop

Fourth Fingerprint: Ulnar Loop

In this part of the experiment, I analyzed piece of long hair strand that was clue number 2 . These are characteristics below I discovered about the hair strands.

I determined the hair came from an African American. The edges were bluntly cut, the shaft was scaly, and there was kind of a railroad shape.

Clue number three was a  letter that said “ You will never find her” these are the characteristics below I found about the handwritten note or letter. I used the 12 handwriting characteristics to asses analyzing the letter.

The handwriting had large loops. In the handwriting, there was a mixture of cursive and print letters. The writing flows very well, although some of the y’s are disconnected to the rest of the lowercase letters. There were abundant of largely spaced words.

Clue number four was a shorter length of hair and these are some of the characteristics below I found about the hair under a microscope.

The hair strand could have possibly been synthetic hair. The hair strand was very thick and dark throughout. The hair strand was the color of black. 

Clue number five was a pink smear of blood or pink lip gloss stain that was on presented on a note card.

I did not find a lot of information about this clue.

After analyzing, the clues there were questions that I had to answer about these clues.

2^nd Step:  What do we know for sure?

We know the different types of fingernails such as the 1^st fingerprint is Plain Whorl, 2^nd  and 3^rd fingerprint were being defined as Central Pocket fingerprint, and the 4^th fingerprint which is Ulnar Loop. On the 1^st hair /fiber strand we know that the hair edges were bluntly cut and there was a railroad shape. There are different types of handwriting styles of the letters in the note including spacing, loops, and disconnected letters. The second hair which was shorter style was very thick and dark throughout the strand.

What do I need to know but need testing to be conclusive (Be Specific?)

I  need to do a paper chromatography test for the particular pink smear substance to determine of the smear is lip-gloss or blood. I need to also try to examine and compare the different finger prints to identify who is the criminal of the crime scene. Closely note that I need to dust the note or letter for fingerprints so we can find the particular criminal of the crime scene. In addition to, I need to do DNA analysis of both hair samples to identify.

What do I not know?

I do not know if the particular identity of the fingerprints, the DNA of the hairs, who wrote the note, and what the stain is.

Third Step:  What is my initial profile?

That a African American female was raped by a white male as she was going to her car at a parking gargage. As she was struggling to get away, maybe the the pink smear was blood that came from her. The criminal left the four fingerprints on the black window of a van. Her hair got caught in the door and fell out on the floor. He wrote a letter that he left on her car at the job. The note  said " You'll never find her ".

Fourth Step: What are my next steps?

My next steps are getting DNA test for both of the hairs. I must do a chromatography test to identify if the pink smear is blood or lip gloss. The note must be dusted for fingerprints. Finally, I must examine and compare the fingerprints.

In this experiment I learned a lot about analyzing clues and how to create a profile. I learned how to set my self  procedures of what to do in the crime . It was also a struggle trying to analyze those fingerprints. The hair was fun to see. There was a struggle trying to analyze the shorter piece of hair for me. Over all this experiment revealed great knowledge to me of how to correlate and compare clues together.