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Homicide and Questioned Death Scene
Determination and Reconstruction
Length of Seminar: 2 Days
Instructor: Sandra
C. Mays
Course Overview:
This two (2) day training module will provide the information, knowledge and skills to interpret homicide and questioned death crime scenes. Through the use of lecture, case history and practical exercises, attendees will be provided the basic skills of blood spatter interpretation, bullet ballistics and trajectory as evidence.
Blood As Evidence:
All blood at crimes scenes, on victims, suspects, or witnesses (clothing or persons) can be considered significant and treated as such when documenting, collecting and preserving. There may be some differences in the degree of documentation of blood which is collected for laboratory identification (DNA) and the blood in bloodstain patterns which will be used for bloodstain pattern analysis and crime scene reconstruction.
Traditionally blood at crime scenes has been documented and collected for identification, now through DNA, at a crime laboratory. Although the documentation and collection occurs at the scene, the primary identification occurs in the laboratory. If these samples are properly documented and collected at a scene, these samples can give you information as who and how many people were bleeding at the scene.
Bloodstain pattern analysis from a crime scene may provide investigative leads, as well as, supportive or non-supportive evidence for victim’s, suspect’s and witness’s statements. If you are using the bloodstain pattern analysis to assist in a crime scene reconstruction, it is critical that complete documentation of the blood take place. A person who was not present at the scene, should be able to reconstruct from your documentation what occurred. Without adequate documentation, later reconstruction may not be able to be done and your analysis may not be verified.
Why Look At Patterns:
Investigative leads: Bloodstains may give the investigator information as to who was involved at a scene, what may have occurred at a scene, when an action took place, where the action occurred and how it occurred. Bloodstains may not tell you why it occurred.
Supportive or non-supportive evidence of victim’s, suspect’s and witness’s statements: Information gained through crime scene analysis may allow the investigator to evaluate statements made by victims, suspects and witnesses as to what occurred during a particular incident. At times, one of the parties may no longer be able to give their side of what occurred and you may have just one subject’s statement or no statement at all. A statement from the subject may or may not fit with the overall bloodstain pattern analysis. Bloodstain pattern analysis when used in conjunction with other evidence from the scene, victim(s) and suspect(s) assists in the overall crime scene reconstruction.
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