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** This is an archived, static copy of the Casebook messages boards dating from 1998 to 2003. These threads cannot be replied to here. If you want to participate in our current forums please go to https://forum.casebook.org **
Effect of technological advances on the continuing investigation
Casebook Message Boards: General Discussion: Research and Dissertations:
Effect of technological advances on the continuing investigation
Author: David Geer
Friday, 21 June 2002 - 11:40 am |        | | I would be very interested to have input at this thread from people knowledgeable in varied technical fields. I am interested to know what technological advances that we are likely to see over the next thirty years could open up new avenues of discovery, both as to new evidence in the case and new ways of analyzing previous evidence? |
Author: Scott E. Medine
Friday, 21 June 2002 - 02:52 pm | | The various forensic sciences have made tremendous progress over the last 20-30 years. Sadly to say there is not much that can be done in terms of the case short of time travel. Forensic Time Scientist.... that’s a job! However, there are facts that can still be gathered from the existing information found in the news paper transcripts of the inquest and in police records. Forensic psychologist, astrologist...yes there is such a thing..... and forensic written statement analyst, hand writing experts, document examiners all are digging through the evidence.
The problem with this case is that it is so old. The key players, minor players and those not yet on the bill are all dead. Since so much forensic science deals with actual hands on activity of the victims bodies and crime scenes we are left with nothing.
Burial rituals are vastly different today than they were in Victorian times. Today bodies that were buried 40 and 50 years ago can be exhumed and restudied. This of course all depends on the skills of the mortician. The body of slain civil rights leader Medger Evers was exhumed after almost twenty years and the body was in pristine condition. Evers’ widow saw the body and stated that time had appeared to stand still as he looked as if he were simply asleep.
Depending on the job needed to be done exhuming the body may not be the answer at all as the internal organs are removed. In Victorian times the poor were buried in mass graves one on top of the other. Bodies not encased in coffins were literally sandwiched between those that were. In fact just because a tomb stone may have someone’s name on it does not mean that the particular body being marked is the only person in the grave.
Fingerprints and DNA are another issue. Basically they are useless. If Patricia Cornwell is as smart as she would like to have everyone think she is, she would have realized that before destroying the Sickert paintings. If she were lucky enough to retrieve Sickert DNA what good is it? She would need to exhume the bodies of the victims. And as previously stated just locating them and trying to locate them would be a job. So let’s say she does recover a body...pick one...pick your favorite victim. She now has to hope the body is more than just bones. She is going to need skin tissue. Fingerprints and DNA are not on the bone it is on the skin and clothing. Fingerprints stand a better chance of surviving through the sands of time on skin and not clothing. She would have to try and located Sickert’s DNA on the body. The most logical places to check are the vagina, anal area, mouth and under the fingernails. Lets keep in mind that DNA will erode with time, especially if it was ever exposed to heat. Suppose she found DNA on burial dress or shroud and that DNA is not Sickert’s what then? To whom does it belong? The victim, a detective, mortuary attendant, the victim, the doctor, Jack? Maybe it was a family member or friend who was a little over zealous in their mourning, a person who simply gathered on the morning to view the body ie, Cross and Paul.
Let’s say Cornwell found no DNA but a fingerprint. That’s great! No its not. To what is she going to compare it to. Unless Walter Sickert submitted to finger printing after the turn of the century we have no idea to whom it belongs nor can we date the print...... yet.
There are advances being made in the field of fingerprinting. Lasers enable detectives to be able to retrieve fingerprints off of objects previously thought unable to yield any prints. Objects whose surface is extremely porus, or rough like wood, tree bark and even hair. As a police detective I was able to pull fingerprints off of a living person. It was a rape case and the victim stated had her ankles tied to the bed post. When questioned she stated that the rapist took off his gloves and fondled her feet and toes while she was being raped. Finger prints of the perp were found on the sole of her right foot, ball of her left foot and the big toe of the right foot. DNA was not found as he always used a condom. A method of detecting and photographing fingerprints is also being researched that will allow police to detect fingerprints even though the perp wore heavy leather gloves.
There is always on going research in the field of forensic psychology that may aid in the case. Philip Dowe will know more about that subject than I .
Peace,
Scott |
Author: Rosemary O'Ryan
Friday, 21 June 2002 - 06:50 pm | | Dear Scott,
Do these advances in detection make the world a safer place to live? The cynic might say...there are a thousand killers born every second.
:-) |
Author: Scott E. Medine
Saturday, 22 June 2002 - 08:44 am | | To the cynic I would say be careful what you wish for.
The Vicar of Bray |
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