On the Australia/New Zealand level, the Annual General

Meeting will be held at the Symposium in Auckland in this

week. One major item of business will be that the current

Committee will be stepping down, and a new one shall be

voted in. One other item on the agenda will be the new

Professional category of membership. A link has been

provided on the SA Branch facebook page and an email

sent to members regarding this. Please send any remain-

ing Proxy form to executive@anzfss.org prior to the AGM

on Wednesday 21st September.

For South Australia, we have recently had our own AGM immediately prior to the Nation-

al Science Week presentation on Wednesday 17th August, with a significant change in

office bearers. The new Committee for 2016-2017 is:

President: Natasha Mitchell Secretary: Danielle Butzbach

Vice President: Luke Volgin Editor: Emily Rowe

Treasurer: Kerryn Mason Merchandise Officer: Lenara Scandrett

General Committee Members: Kate Grimwood, Steve Kinsman, Cheryl Brown, Andrew

Bosley, Julianne Henry, Andrew Murphy, Stewart Walker and Silvana Tridico.

Those that retired from the Committee were Adrian Linacre, Carolyne Bird and Darren

Bails—we thank you for your many years on the Committee!

Adrian Linacre (Immediate Past President) provided his Annual Report and the Treasur-

er (Kerryn Mason) provided the years financial statement. Following this Adrian finally

(after more than 6 months) presented Darren Bails with his SA Branch Award for Ser-

vice!

ANZFSS 2016 in Auckland

This week our Symposium Travel Award Recipients will be presenting their work in Auck-

land! Congratulations to all of those who received a Travel Award. Details on the

Presentations at the Pub Meeting where all our recipients gave a 3 minute presentation

on their work will be provided in the next newsletter.

Society News

ANZFSS SA Branch Newsletter

September 2016

Edition

Inside this issue:

Unrecovered War

Casualties

2

Callington Homi-

cide Case Study

3

Fire Investigation 5

Remotely Piloted

Aircraft Systems

6

Merchandise 8

AGM 2016 9

Contact details 10

On Wednesday 13th April we heard from Major Aaron Tucker from the Australia Army Re-

serves regarding the efforts that are undertaken to retrieve the remains of deceased Aus-

tralian service men and women from battlefields in Papua New Guinea. In his other em-

ployment, Major Tucker is qualified as a criminal investigator and intelligence analyst and

has worked with South Australia Police, the Department of Defence’s Directorate of Securi-

ty Intelligence and Investigations, and Australian Customs and Border Protection Service

and the Australian Border Force.

The Unrecovered War Casualties – Army operates in numerous countries including Papua

New Guinea, Turkey, France, East Timor, Malaysia and Indonesia. In Papua New Guinea

alone, there are over 2,800 servicemen who remain unaccounted for. Investigations are

usually initiated because human remains have been found and they may belong to Austral-

ian servicemen, or an investigation may

begin when information is received that

indicates the location of deceased Aus-

tralian servicemen. Each investigation

begins with research by forensic and his-

torical experts looking at data and rec-

ords relating to the service history of the

soldier and the forces that were in the

area. If there is sufficient evidence to

indicate that remains of Australian ser-

vicemen are present, permission is ob-

tained from that country (in this case,

Papua New Guinea) for an Australian Ar-

my recovery team to be sent to conduct

reconnaissance and hopefully recovery of

remains.

Prior to a recovery team being dispatched, there is a lot of research and planning that

needs to be undertaken. Sources of information include the Australian War Memorial,

National Archives, Unit War Diaries, locals where the deceased may be found, non-

Government organisations and other Government agencies. Once the Investigator has

prepared a report with their recommendations, and a recovery team is approved, detailed

planning and risk assessments must be performed. The team is comprised of Australian

Defence Force reservists and civilians covering roles such as case management, operations,

investigators, photographers, medical personnel, mapping and imagery specialists.

The working conditions for the teams can often be quite trying. The roads to get to a buri-

al site are more likely to be tracks, with terrain including swamps, isolated beaches and

forests. The living conditions are usually very basic and there is potentially very high work

volumes which can cause problems with worker health. Other problems could include the

local wildlife, tropical infections and diseases and water and food security. The team must

also be very security minded and be constantly vigilant, especially when they enter battle-

fields that still contain unexploded ordinance (UXO). For this reason, metal detectors are

taken to all the worksites to scan for both UXO and to help search for artefacts.

Archaeologists examine the site and look for soil disruption from graves, and the locals are

Unrecovered War Casualties - Major Aaron Tucker, Australian Army

Page 2 ANZFSS SA Branch

Major Aaron Tucker, Australian Army

On Tuesday 24th May we heard from Sgt David Veldhoen from SAPol’s Forensic Response

Section (FRS) and now retired Major Crime Detective Steve Kinsman about the murder of

Pirjo Kemppainen in the small town of Callington in September 2010.

At 12:34 am on Saturday September 11, 2010, 63 year old retired nurse Ms Kemppainen

made a phone call to Police about two boys that claimed earlier to be looking for a dog,

but at around 12:30am threw a rock through her sliding glass door before running away.

16 hours later her brother attended her home and discovered the body of Ms Kemppainen

who had multiple stab wounds and blunt-force injuries. One ambulance officer entered

the house to pronounce Ms Kemppainen deceased.

Mt Barker CIB were on the scene at 5:50pm on the 11th, and Forensic Response Section

(FRS) were called out at 6:15pm. By the time FRS packed up their vehicle and drove out

from Adelaide to Callington it was getting dark. It was decided that the external site would

be guarded overnight to protect any evidence rather than potentially missing evidence if it

was searched using torchlight, with the priority being to get access to the deceased. Due

to the positioning of Ms Kemppainen’s body and

the quantity of fragile evidence in and around

the body, FRS had difficulty gaining access to her

body which meant that they had to process the

surrounding scene to clear the way. On the steps

leading up to the door, there were numerous

shoe marks – the shoe marks of the ambulance

officer were taken to exclude them from the sce-

ne. The steps and door were removed to gain

access to the body before any examination inside

the house could be undertaken. Access to the

house was gained at 6am on Sunday 12th when

the pathologist, Dr Cheryl Charlwood, could undertake her scene examination of Ms Kemp-

painen. A concrete slab was on top of the body of Ms Kemppainen which had cracked in

two during the murder. Inside the house, all the rooms had been ransacked, the phone

was off the hook and the light globe was smashed above the previously broken sliding

glass door.

The source of the concrete slab was found nearby and a pair of sunglasses was on the

Callington Homicide Case Study—Sgt David Veldhoen (SAPol) and Steve

Kinsman (SAPol, Ret’d)

Page 3 ANZFSS SA Branch

interviewed to find out any of the history of the area relating to the battles that took

place. Artefacts that are useful when found at potential grave sites are dental remains

and any personal effects of the soldier and any issued kit items. While the team is working

at the site, they also undertake humanitarian work in the villages such as helping with a

medical clinic, assisting any injured or ill locals, engaging the village leaders and providing

short-term employment for locals while at the site – this all works to build trust and good-

will with the locals.

Unrecovered War Casualties - Cont’d:

Ms Kemppainen (Source: ABC News)

Page 4 ANZFSS SA Branch

ground in that location. The rest of the block was searched and a three dimensional shoe

mark in soil similar to those in the house was found near a fence – that part of the fence

was taken for examination. The lower half of a broom stick, two buckets and a torch were

found in reeds on the river bank near Ms Kemppainen‘s home. From inside the house, there

were multiple partial shoe impressions. Without a complete impression to work with, in-

structions were given to target any shoes with a herring bone pattern, so that Sergeant

VELDHOEN as a shoe mark expert could make a determination if they were involved. Police

went to the school and got a list of 13-16 year old males based on Ms Kempainnen’s earlier

call and doorknocked the houses of those students. At one of these properties, Steve Kins-

man found a pair of shoes with the appropriate herring bone pattern consistent with those

at the scene (and reportedly got quite excited) and took them in for further examination by

FRS. Further examination, not only confirmed a match of general class characteristics, but

also minute amounts of dilute blood on the external surface and appeared that someone

had tried to wash them. These were the shoes that belonged to suspect “B”. Inside the

house, three of B’s fingerprints were found in blood on the washing machine in the laundry,

where Ms Kemppainen’s body was found. The shoe marks from B’s were later confirmed to

be responsible for the shoe marks found throughout the laundry, on the outside steps and

on the hallway runner located with luminol (a chemical search tool that produces a visible

chemi-luminescence in the presence of blood). These blood stained shoe marks from the

laundry were examined both before and after treatment with amido black. A fingerprint

from suspect “A” was found on a purse in the bedroom – this and two shoe marks con-

sistent with A’s shoes in the hallway were the only evidence linking A to the scene. In total,

there were over 30 blood samples collected from the laundry, 28 shoe marks and 4 finger-

prints and a total of around 120 exhibits collected over four days of the initial scene exami-

nation.

Suspect B made full and frank admissions to police when questioned and plead guilty to the murder. He was 14 years old at the time. A chilling insight into B can be found in an article by Sean Fewster at http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/inside-the-mind-of-the-teen-killer-who-murdered-pirjo-kemppainen/story-fni6uo1m-1226678701596. He was sentenced to jail for life with a non-parole period of 15 years. He will be eligible for parole in September 2025. Suspect A, also 14 years old at the time, plead not-guilty and was acquitted at trial for the murder of Ms Kemppainen.

Callington Homicide Case Study— Cont’d

Sgt David Veldhoen (SAPol), Branch President Adrian Linacre and Ret’d

Detective Steve Kinsman (SAPol)

Fire Cause Investigation—Station Officers Rod Kersten and Marty

Miller, SAMFS

Page 5 ANZFSS SA Branch

On Wednesday 6th July we heard from Station Officers Rod Kersten and Marty Miller from

SAMFS about investigating the origin, cause and development of fires.

The SAMFS Fire Cause Investigation Team works, along with the CFS and SAPol when re-

quired, to identify hazards and safely access a fire scene. They also determine if there was

any illegal activity at which point the investigation is taken over by SAPol. The SAMFS only

control the fire investigation when it is accidental, undetermined or non-suspicious.

Rod and Marty went through some of their processes when they arrive at a fire scene. First-

ly it needs to be made safe-this can be done by several methods. A multiRAE device is used

to monitor atmospheric gases, and positive pressure ventilation (a fan) can be used to clear

out the air of a fire scene. The team follows the protocols as explained by a document from

the National Fire Protection Association (USA) called NFPA 921 which covers the scientific

steps for investigating fires. These include defining the problem, identifying the problem,

collecting data, analysing data, develop a hypothesis, test that hypothesis and select the

final explanation of a fire based on those previously tested hypotheses.

We then learnt about indicators at fire scenes. One of these is spalling in concrete, where

white spots are visible in soot covered concrete. This used to be thought of as an indicator

of incendiarism, but is now known to occur under various conditions. The speed with which

glass cools after being exposed to the heat of a fire can give different appearances. If glass

cools quickly such as after exposure to water during fire-fighting measures, it will be more

cracked than if it cools slowly. There are also directional indicators visible at fire scenes that

can allow the investigators to find the location of ignition. One example is light globes,

which will bulge out towards the heat source. The presence of soot on surfaces can also be

very useful. For instance, if a fire starts a point at the base of a wall, there will be a V-shape

of soot on the wall pointing down to the fire. This can also apply to vertical surfaces such as

table or chair legs that are exposed to a fire – those surfaces facing the fire will be darkened.

One other possibility where a fire is a clean burn – that is there will be

sooting outside of the V-shape but none within – the fire has burnt so

efficiently that there isn’t any carbon left to be deposited on the wall di-

rectly above the fire.

Marty and Rod then went through some case studies. The first one was a

row of 4 connected shops that were only connected by stud walls and

shared a common ceiling. After the fire, a glove was found in an alley one

end of the building, along with a funnel, plastic bottle and a gel-like sub-

stance on the wall of the building. The gel-like substance smelled like fire

starter gel. This was an example of a deliberately set fire. Another case

study was a fire at a commercial bakery. Pancakes were being made on

glycerine-filled hot plates which were not constructed properly, which

subsequently ignited. One other case study was the Pinery Fire in No-

vember 2015. The point of origin was believed to be a store of fertiliser;

however there was also a semi-trailer with fuel tanks on site and a rub-

bish dump to the south of the fertiliser and truck. There is as yet no definite cause of that

fire that resulted in two deaths and the destruction of 91 homes, numerous vehicles, farm

machinery, other buildings, the loss of up to $40 million in crops and livestock with a fire

front of over 210 kilometres.

Pinery fire (Source: www.bunyippress.com.au)

On Wednesday 17th August we heard from Brevet Sgt Chas Theakstone of SAPol about re-

motely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS). Chas joined SAPol in 2002, became a bomb techni-

cian in 2005, and in 2013 became the chief pilot for RPAS.

In August 2013 the SA Government put $200k towards the procurement of RPAS for use by

SAPol. Following the procurement process, putting out a tender, the training of 5 pilots

and testing by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), the SAPol pilots obtained their

Unmanned Operators Certificates. The first operational deployment of the SAPol RPAS

was at the double fatality accident at the bottom of the South-Eastern Freeway in August

2014 when a truck travelling at high speed hit stationary vehicles waiting at the traffic

lights. The image provided by the RPAS clearly showed the path of destruction as shown in

the image below. This greatly assisted the investigating officer as they could see and direct

which images to collect in real time from the ground. This is also advantageous in other

cases where a jury can be shown a scene in much better detail and from multiple angles.

The fleet of RPAS that SAPol has include the Aerialtronics Altura ATX8 and the DJI Phantom

2 Vision Plus. Both systems can collect video and still images, record in high definition and

provide a live feed to the pilots on the ground. The Altura also has thermal imaging capa-

bilities. These aircraft are classed as rotary wing and they can hover and sit in place and

only require a small take-off and landing spot. The fixed wing RPAS are suitable for longer

range and longer duration of use and can track and follow a target. Disadvantages of these

types are that they cannot stop mid-flight to observe something, require a larger take-off

and landing space or may need catapult launchers. There are also helicopter types, blimps,

hybrids (that can glide and hover) and some rather interesting looking homemade ver-

sions. RPAS can range from manually operated to fully automated systems. They can also

Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems—Brevet Sgt Charles Theakstone (SAPOL)

Page 6 ANZFSS SA Branch

RPAS image of the crash site at the bottom of the South-Eastern Freeway, August 2014 (Source: SAPol)

Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems—Cont’d

Page 7 ANZFSS SA Branch

have a wide range of sensors on board, most commonly including GPS, altimeters

(altitude), accelerometer (3D movement) and compasses. Other less commonly used

sensors include gas detectors (used in environmental work), LIDAR/ground sensors (2D

and 3D mapping) and magnetometers (used in the mining industry). One rather

unique application of RPAS systems has been by a mango farmer who flew his RPAS up

and down his mango crop to search for fruit that were at the perfect shade of red to

indicate that the fruit was ripe for picking. The farmer could then use the GPS point

provided by the RPAS to collect his early ripening mangos to sell whilst they were at

their highest value, thereby increasing his profits.

SAPol use their RPAS fleet for various operations, including Coronial matters, major

crashes, operational support and training. Some of the advantages of RPAS are that

they are very cheap to run once purchased and pilots are trained – one can be used for

about 70 cents/hour to operate versus the thousands of dollars for a manned helicop-

ter. If the RPAS fails and crashes, there’s nobody on board - this is a very beneficial

safety feature. The rotary wing RPAS are very easy to deploy and can be carried in a

vehicle to the deployment location. The RPAS are also much less intrusive than a tradi-

tional helicopter and can be flown in areas where the terrain makes it impossible or

unsafe for a helicopter to fly. Some of the disadvantages are that they are still being

accepted by the rest of the police who still tend to request use of the helicopter PolAir,

the public have fears that the police will use them to “snoop” on members of the pub-

lic, the legislation is still playing catch-up with the use of RPAS and finally, that flying an

RPAS well takes a lot of practice. But the advantages do greatly outweigh the disad-

vantages!

SAPol RPAS on display at the National Science Week Meeting

SA Branch Annual General Meeting 2016

Page 9 ANZFSS SA Branch

President’s Report: Adrian presented his final President’s Report as he has stepped

down from the SA Branch. His tenure over the last two years has been made very easy

and highly enjoyable due to the work of the committee, and he has witnessed many

interesting talks as well as changes to the society. Some of the highlight’s from Adrian

over the last year were:

2015 National Science Week Event with David Malin,

Dr Claire Ferguson on Staged Homicides,

Branch Dinner at the King’s Head Hotel with Dr Rebecca Heyer speaking on Biomet-

rics,

Michaela Kenneally and Silvana Tridico speaking about various aspects of forensic

hair testing,

Major Aaron Tucker speaking about the repatriation of Australian War deceased,

Callington Homicide case study by Steve Kinsman and David Veldhoen, and finally

Fire Cause Investigation by Rod Kersten and Marty Miller from SAMFS

Other news from the Branch over the year included Nat Mitchell receiving the Allan

Hodda Award. This supported her travel to laboratories and a conference in the USA.

Paul Pigou (Forensic Science SA) was awarded the Public Service Medal in the Australia

Day honours for his work on illicit drugs. This year also saw five people receive the SA

Branch Award for Service for their efforts in a very successful 2014 ANZFSS Symposium

in Adelaide: David Eitzen, Ted Silenieks, Nat Mitchell, Darren Bails and Carolyne Bird.

We now have a stronger online presence with a facebook page (see next page for de-

tails) and the memberships and fees are now centrally located online at the website.

Treasurer’s Report: Kerryn Mason provided the financial statement for the Branch at

the AGM detailing a summary of income and expenses. Our main sources of income

were memberships and profits from the 2014 Symposium, with our main expenses

being the 2016 Auckland Travel Awards and the Dinner Meeting in November.

From the out-going Editor

I’d firstly like to welcome Emily Rowe into the role of SA Branch Editor! I’m sure she

will do a fantastic job—this will be my last newsletter. Also welcome to our new Com-

mittee members and any new members that have joined over the last year. We look

forward to seeing you all at meetings in the future!

If anyone has suggestions for speakers at future meetings, or would like to submit arti-

cles to the newsletter, please feel free to contact the Committee via the email address

sabranch@anzfss.org We are here for the members after all!

If members cannot make it to meetings, Stan Jezioranski has been very kindly video

recording then editing them to put up on the website—they can be found here: http://

anzfss.org/videos/

WARNING: The ANZFSS (SA Branch) Committee wish to advise that the

material presented at some ANZFSS meetings can be of graphic or ex-

plicit nature. Some of the material presented may disturb or offend

some people. Persons attending meetings do so at their own risk. For

this reason, we recommend that persons under the age of 17 years do

not attend meetings.

Views and opinions expressed within this publication are not necessarily those of

the Australian and New Zealand Forensic Science Society or the SA Branch.

The Australian and New Zealand Forensic Science Society, SA Branch Inc

GPO Box 194, Adelaide SA 5001

Phone: 82267700, Facsimile: 82267777

Web: www.anzfss.org/sa

Email: sabranch (at) anzfss.org

We’re also on Facebook as ANZFSS South Australia