Title: HAIR
1CHAPTER 8
2TRACE EVIDENCE
3Colin Ross- 1921 Australia
- A 13 year old girl wrapped in a blanket had been
raped,strangled and beaten. She was left wrapped
in a blanket on the ground. But no blood was
found- she had been washed and dried before being
left. - A local bar owner admitted the girl was at his
bar that night. - Two blankets in his home were analyzed. A 12
inch strand of reddish-blond hair was found. It
had been forcibly removed. - At trial the crime scene hair was distinguishable
from other patrons of the bar. He was convicted
and hanged.
4John Fiorenza- 1936 NYCFibers
- Nancy Titterton,wife of an NBC executive was
found face down in an empty bathtub, raped and
strangled with her own pajama jacket. The
apartment showed signs of a struggle. She also
had ropes about her wrists and a lone, stiff
white hair was located with it. - The rope was traced to its manufacturer in
Pennsylvania- and sold to the upholsterer who
employed Fiorenza and who worked on the horse
hair sofa in the victims home. - He confessed when confronted with the fiber
evidence. Fiorenza was convicted and executed.
5Samuel Morgan- 1940 England
- Mary Hagan, 15, went for a paper and never
returned. She had been raped and strangled and
left by the railroad. A muddy, bloodstained
finger bandage was left at the scene. She had a
bloody thumbprint on her neck. - The bandage had a disinfectant that was used by
the military. Sam Morgan had deserted the
military recently and was suspected in an earlier
attack on another woman. When he was detained his
thumb was still injured. - The bandage was common- military issue- but it
was also stitched by hand. That was the single
detail that convicted him. - He confessed, recanted, re-confessed, was
convicted and hanged.
6John Vollman-1958, Canada Hair
- Gaetane Bouchard was found in a gravel pit near a
lovers lane area in Edmundston, Canada. She
had been stabbed and left for dead. Also found
were a few small green flakes of paint, probably
from a car. - Gaetane had met John Vollman earlier and had
dated him for a time. Friends reported seeing
them together the night she went missing. They
were in his green 1952 Pontiac. - The paint chips matched Johns car, but he
admitted to parking with Gaetane. - Also found was a single strand of hair clutched
in the dead girls hand. - A new technique, NAA, was used to identify the
hair and link it to John Vollman. - He was convicted.
7Wayne Williams- 1981 Atlanta Fibers
- From October 1979 to May 1981, Wayne Williams
killed twenty-seven young black boys in Atlanta.
As most serial killers are white, it was thought
that the Atlanta child murderer was a white
racist. Most of the boys were taken from black
neighborhoods where a white man would stand out,
so police announced that they were looking for a
probable black serial killer.
8Wayne Williams
- On 22 May 1981 at 2 AM, police heard someone
dumping something in the Chattahoochee river. A
black man, 22-year-old Wayne Williams, was found
climbing into a station wagon, and was questioned
by police then allowed to go. - When a body (Nathaniel Cater) turned up in the
river a week later police talked to Williams
again. Fibers found on the victim matched one's
found in William's car and he was arrested. At
trial Williams was found guilty and sentenced to
life imprisonment. - Yellow green fibers had been found on several of
the victims bodies.
9Wayne Williams
The fibers were manufactured by the Wellman Corp
and sold during 1967-74 and sold undyed to other
companies. West Point Pepperell Corp, of Georgia,
made Luxaire carpet in English Olive green- only
between 1970-1971, That kind of carpet was found
in Wayne Williams bedroom.
10Wayne Williams- The Statistics
- Only about 16,000 yd2 were sold (out of 16
billion yd2 total)? only 82 homes in Georgia
should have that same carpet, ten years later.
The odds were 1 in 7,792 now. - BUT, Jimmy Ray Payne (killed a month earlier) had
fibers that also matched carpets in the Williams
car! This was a 1 in 3828 odds. - SO- the odds of both fibers found on victims
matching Wayne Williams carpeting was 1 in 30
million!
11Jeffrey MacDonald-1970, NCFiber, hair
Fort Bragg, North Carolina saw the murder of two
small girls, and a young pregnant mother. The
Green Beret father and husband was knocked out
and stabbed in the mid-chest. His wounds were
minor and he gave a detailed account of
Manson-like hippies attacking him and his family.
Because he was a physician he tried to save his
family when he came to.
12Jeffrey MacDonald
- The living room was messed up in the struggle.
- Pig was written in blood in the master bedroom.
- Both girls and their mother were multiply stabbed
by an ice pick. - Each of the victims had a different blood group-
so their movements could be traced. MacDonalds
blood was limited. - Jeffrey draped his blue pajama top over her body
after he found his wife stabbed 21 times. - Blue fibers were found in each of the victims
rooms. - The 48 holes in the pajama top were all smooth
and round. - MacDonald was convicted, but released on appeal.
He is now serving three life sentences.
13(No Transcript)
14Introduction
- Trace Evidence--any small pieces of material,
man-made or naturally occurring (animal, plant or
mineral) - Most common examples
- Hair
- Fiber
15Test Questions for Trace Evidence
- What is it?
- Is it man-made or natural?
- What is its source?
- How common is it?
- Can it be identified to a single source?
16Hair
- Human hair is one of the most frequently
found pieces of evidence at the scene of a
violent crime. It can provide a link between the
criminal and the act. - From hair one can determine
- Human or animal origin
- Race
- Body region
- Manner in which hair was removed
- Treated hair
- Drugs ingested
- BUT NOT- age or sex of origin
The age of an individual cannot be determined
definitively by a microscopic examination
however, the microscopic appearance of certain
human hairs, such as those of infants and elderly
individuals, may provide a general indication of
age. The hairs of infants, for example, are
generally finer and less distinctive in
microscopic appearance. As individuals age, hair
can undergo pigment loss and changes in the
configuration of the hair shaft to become much
finer and more variable in diameter.
17Removal of Hair
When hairs originate from a body in a state of
decomposition, a dark band may appear near the
root of the hair. This characteristic has been
labeled a postmortem root band.
Naturally shed
Forcibly removed
Forcibly removed with root tissue? DNA test can
be done
18Hair Stages
- Hair goes through phases- growth, resting, and
dying/loss.
80-90
2
10-18
The average period of growth for scalp hair is
approximately 1,000 days the resting phase lasts
about 100 days. Approximately 10 percent of the
hairs on a human head (100/1000), therefore, are
in the quiescent telogen phase, and a minimal
amount of forcesuch as that from combingis
required to dislodge the hairs from the dormant
follicle.
19Hair Growth
- Terminology
- Anagen--hair that is growing
- Catagen--hair at rest
- Telogen--hair that is dying
- Length--00.5 mm per day or 1 centimeter per
month approximately one half to one inch per
month
20MORPHOLOGY OF HAIR
- Hair is often found as PE at a crime scene
- Hair cannot be individualized yet
- (unless DNA is present in root ball/follicular
tag) - Must be properly collected and can then, be used
as corroborative evidence - Hair is an appendage of the skin, and grows out
from a HAIR FOLLICLE - Parts of hair are root (or bulb), shaft, and tip
end - Shaft has 3 layers- cuticle, cortex, and medulla
21Hair Morphology The Study of Structure and Form
- Parts of the hair
- Shaft--part of the hair that sticks out of the
skin - Tip end point of hair shaft
- Root--lies below
the epidermis - Follicle--structure from
which the hair grows
22THE CUTICLE
- 2 characteristics that make hair good evidence
are- 1) resistance to chemical decomposition and
2) ability to retain structural features over
long period of time - These characteristics are due to the cuticle
- Cuticle is formed by overlapping scales that
point toward the tip end - Cuticles are formed as special cells that
keratinize (harden) and flatten as they form in
the follicle - Pattern of the scales are sometimes useful in
determining species of animal
23Hair Cuticle
The cuticle is the outermost layer of hair which
is covered with scales. Scales also always point
toward the tip of the hair. These scales differ
between species of animals and are names based on
their appearance. Some of these scales are
variations of the same and include
- Mosaic
- Pectinate
- Imbricate
- Petal
- Diamond petal
- Chevron
24Cuticle Patterns
- Each species has different patterns.
- Cannot determine the specific animal from the
hair.
25Scale Types
Mosaic
Chevron
26Scale Types (cont)
Pectinate
Imbricate
27Scale Types (cont)
Diamond Petal
Petal
28Animal CuticlesHuman, Dog, DeerRabbit, Cat,
Horse
29HUMAN SCALES
- In order to visualize the scales
- paint fingernail polish on a slide
- place a hair on the polish
- lift off the hair and observe the scale imprints
- What pattern is seen in this slide?
30Human Cuticle
Tip end
Tip end
Imbricate pattern
31THE CORTEX
- This is the layer below the cuticle
- Made up of spindle-shaped cortical cells that are
parallel to the cuticle - Pigment granules here give hair its color
- Color, shape, and arrangement of granules give
points of comparison between individuals - Must use microscope to view the cortex
32Hair Cortex
- The cortex gives the hair its shape.
Straight-textured hair is round in cross section,
Kinky or woolly hair is flat in cross section,
Wavy or curly hair is oval in cross section.
33THE MEDULLA
- Collection of cells that run in the center of the
shaft - Many animals have a prominent medulla- humans do
not - Medullae vary from person to person and from hair
to hair - Medullae classified as continuous, interrupted,
segmented/fragmented or absent - Humans usually have fragmented or absent medullae
- Mongoloid race usually has continuous medulla
- Shape of medullae are also significant- usually
cylindrical in humans but can be patterned in
animals
34Hair Medulla
- The medulla is the hair core, but is not always
present. The medulla comes in different types
and patterns. - Types
- Continuous
- Intermittent or interrupted
- Fragmented
- Absent--not present
35Medulla Patterns
36Hair Medulla Patterns
Uniserial Multiserial Vacuolated Lattice Amorp
hous (without a distinct pattern)
37Medulla Patterns in Different Species
38RABBIT MEDULLA
- Rabbit medulla is different depending on the
type (location on the rabbit) of hair. The one
to the left is multiserial. The one to the right
is a uniserial ladder and is found in guard hair.
39Bat
40Brown Bear
41Fur Seal
42Gorilla
43Orangutan
44Lion
45HUMAN MEDULLA
- Human medulla may be continuous, fragmented or
absent.
46Medullary Index
- Determined by measuring the diameter of the
medulla and dividing it by the diameter of the
hair.
Medullary Index for human hair is generally less
than 1/3. For animal hair, it is usually greater
than 1/2.
47IDENTIFICATION AND COMPARISON OF HAIR Using
Comparison Microscope
- In trials usually just identify hair as human or
animal. - Identifying which human the hair belongs to is
much harder. - Need many standards (samples) for comparison to
suspect. - Can compare scalp or pubic hairs.
- Again, probability that sample is PE from the
suspect is the question in a trial.
48Hair and Racial Origin Caucasoid (European)
49Mongoloid (Asian)
50Negroid (African)
51Hair Comparison
- Color
- Length
- Diameter
- Distribution, shape and color intensity of
pigments granules - Dyed hair has color in cuticle and cortex
- Bleaching removes pigment and gives yellow tint
- Scale types
- Presence or absence of medulla
- Medullary type
- Medullary pattern
- Medullary index
52Collection of Hair Evidence
- Questioned hairs must be accompanied by an
adequate number of control samples. - from victim
- possible suspects
- others who may have deposited hair at the scene
- Control Sample
- 50-100 full-length hairs from all areas of scalp
- 25-50 full-length pubic hairs
53IDENTIFICATION AND COMPARISON OF HAIR- Using
Comparison Microscope
- Age and sex CANNOT be determined by hair (sex can
be determined by DNA analysis if root tissue is
present). - Hair root with follicular tissue may indicate
hair was pulled out forcibly- by a person or
comb, etc. - Currently trying to individuate hair by using
mitochondrial DNA test. - Routinely collected during autopsy of victim of
unnatural causes.