LIsa Black
Cape Coral, FL
Female, 49
I spent the five happiest years of my life in a morgue. As a forensic scientist in the Cleveland coroner’s office I analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. Now I'm a certified latent print examiner and CSI for a police department in Florida. I also write a series of forensic suspense novels, turning the day job into fiction. My books have been translated into six languages.
Lividity can be patchy depending on areas of pressure. So you can have reddened areas where the blood flowed in and stayed next to clear areas where the body was pressed against a surface and the blood couldn't pool. You would need to talk to a pathologist for more thorough information. I'm sorry for your loss.
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That’s a good question…I know that the human body will either decompose or desiccate, so if the conditions were right and she dried out instead of breaking down, then the body might be largely preserved. But what could be determined from an autopsy would be a question for a pathologist, I’m afraid. Sorry I’m not more help.
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I”m sorry but I”ve never used thin layer chromatography. If I had, it most likely would have been to distinguish extracted fiber dyes. As far as I know it’s the only way to determine if natural fibers likely had the same source.
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The ability to find 'contact' DNA, the improvement and proliferation of video cameras and the improvement and proliferation of downloading cell phone data. I think those are the major points.
Hope that helps!
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That's never happened to me at the police department, but then there's only my forensic unit with access to our refrigerator so it's not a problem. But it used to happen in the lunch room at the coroner's office all the time! I injected candy with hot sauce once. That stopped it for about a week.
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Our police officers do, but I'm a civilian forensic specialist, so I didn't. (I also don't carry a gun, don't interview or arrest people and make a lot less money.)
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Yes, certainly. I didn't manage to find the one piece of evidence that solved the whole thing, but I have worked on several. In my department a double homicide finally broke open after 30 years: https://www.news-press.com/story/news/crime/2020/10/01/joseph-zieler-suspect-two-cape-coral-homicides-seeks-dna-expert/3584935001/
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