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Topics What is Blood? What is blood spatter? Determining Distance of Blood Determining Direction of Blood Types of Blood Stain Patterns Angle of Impact How is blood stain detected at crime scenes

What is Blood?

Introduction to Blood

Blood Spatter (or splatter)

Blood drops form different shapes and sizes

Blood spatter analysis uses the shapes and sizes to reconstruct the crime scene.

Determining Distance Blood Falls

Blood drops fall as small spheres

Blood Spatter > Distance

Determining Distance Blood Falls

Drops form circle when hitting surface Size depends on speed of blood drop

Blood Spatter > Distance

Determining Distance Blood Falls

Faster drop = larger diameter (size)

Higher distance = larger diameter

Due to air resistance, speed maxes out at distances above about 7 feet

Blood Spatter > Distance

Determining Distance Blood Falls

However, size of drop also depends on the volume of the drop.

Volume depends on the object blood originated from (needle = small; bat = large).

Blood Spatter > Distance

Determining Distance Blood Falls

Since the volume of blood is unknown…

The distance a drop has fallen cannot be measured.

Blood Spatter > Distance

Effect of Surface

Smooth surface = smooth sphere Rough surface may cause some splatter

Blood Spatter

Determining Direction of Blood

Narrow end of a blood drop will point in the direction of travel.

Blood Spatter > Direction

Determining Direction of Blood

If more than one drop (from spatter) results, the point of origin can be determined

Blood Spatter > Direction

Determining Direction of Blood

If more than one drop (from spatter) results, the point of origin can be determined

Blood Spatter > Direction

Determining Direction of Blood

This is a 2-dimensional point of origin.

It is possible to determine the 3-D point of origin

Blood Spatter > Direction

Determining Direction of Blood

The angle can be determined mathematically.

Width/Length, then take the inverse sin (sin-1).

This number is the impact angle (90 = perpendicular to surface; <10 at a sharp angle)

Blood Spatter > Direction

For each blood drop, a string can be guided back to the point of origin.

Blood Spatter > Direction

Types of Spatter

Spattered Blood = random distribution of bloodstains that vary in size

Amount of blood and amount of force affect the size of blood spatter.

Can result from gunshot, stabbing, beating

Blood Spatter

Spattered Blood can:

Help determine the location of the origin of the blood source.

Help determine the mechanism which created the pattern.

Blood Spatter

Spattered Blood

In general, for higher impacts, the pattern is more spread out and the individual stains are smaller.

Low impact = beating

High impact = gunshot

Blood Spatter

Types of Spatter

Gunshot Spatter = can result in a mist-like spatter that indicates a gunshot.

Not all gunshots will result in misting.

If misting is present, it is most likely a gunshot.

Blood Spatter

Gunshot Spatter

Gunshots result in back spatter (where bullet enters) and forward spatter (where bullet exits).

Blood Spatter

Types of Spatter

Beating and Stabbing Spatter = larger individual stains

First blow usually doesn’t result in spatter since there is not yet any exposed blood.

Blood Spatter

Types of Spatter

Satellite Spatter = free falling drops of blood that fall onto a spatter pattern.

These drips are usually much larger than impact spatter.

However, blood dripping into blood can create a spatter.

Blood Spatter

Types of Spatter

Castoff Pattern = Blood flung off of swinging object.

Can reconstruct where assailant and victim were positioned.

Blood Spatter

Types of Spatter

Expirated Bloodstain Pattern = Blood can accumulate in lungs, sinuses, and airway. Forcibly exhaled.

Can appear like beating or gunshot pattern.

May be mixed with saliva or nasal secretions.

Blood Spatter

Alteration of bloodstain over time

Blood dries and clots over time. Difficult to estimate the time the blood exited

the body. Clotted smears can indicate time of movement.

Blood Spatter

What does the abbreviation BPA represent? Bloodstain Pattern Analysis

What can an investigator learn from the analysis of a blood spatter? Type and velocity of weapon Number of blows Handedness of assailant (right or left-handed) Position and movements of the victim and assailant during and after the attack Which wounds were inflicted first Type of injuries How long ago the crime was committed Whether death was immediate or delayed

How does a blood droplet

form? Click the image

for an animation.

Source: http://science.howstuffworks.com/bloodstain-pattern-analysis1.htm

• Blood which impacts a surface at a 90 degree angle will be nearly round in shape.

• As the blood impacts at a angles decreasing from 90 degrees the pattern will become more elongated and elliptical.

• The angle of impact is that between the surface and angle line.

Angle of Impact

- Direction of travel refers to the direction in which the blood spatter is moving from its origin to its destination.

- It can be determined from spatters from the “tail” .

-In free flow and swipes and wipes it can be determined by spatial relationships and feathering of the pattern.

A line drawn through the center of the longest aspect (axis) of the stain, and in the direction of the “tail” points in the direction of travel.

Direction of Travel of Bloodstain Patterns

Light SourceInvestigators will first examine the crime scene to look for areas that may contain blood. They may use a high-intensity light or UV lights to help them find traces of blood as well as other bodily fluids that are not visible under normal lighting conditions.

How is blood evidence detected at a crime scene?

Blood Reagent TestsThese tests, referred to as presumptive tests, are used to detect blood at crime scenes based upon the properties of hemoglobin in the blood. Further tests at the crime lab can determine if it is human blood or not.

Examples:

• Phenolphthalein is a chemical that is still utilized today and is usually referred to as the Kastle-Meyer test and produces a pink color when it reacts with hemoglobin.

•HemaStix is a strip that has been coated with tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) and will produce a green or blue-green color with the presence of hemoglobin.

Kastle-Meyer TestVideo

HemaStix

Luminol

This chemical is used by crime scene investigators to locate traces of blood, even if it has been cleaned or removed.

Investigators spray a luminol solution is throughout the area under investigation and look for reactions with the iron present in blood, which causes a blue luminescence.

One problem is that other substances also react, such as some metals, paints, cleaning products, and plant materials. Another problem is that the chemical reaction can destroy other evidence in the crime scene. Luminol

Reaction

LCV or Leuco Crystal Violet, is one type of chemical process that is used for blood enhancement. Using this test helps to make the blood evidence more visible so it can be photographed and analyzed.

FluoresceinThis chemical is also capable of detecting latent or old blood, similar to luminol. It is ideal for fine stains or smears found throughout a crime scene. After the solution has been sprayed onto the substance or area suspected to contain blood, a UV light and goggles are used to detect any illuminated areas, which appear greenish-white if blood is present. It may also react to many of the same things as luminol (copper and bleach).

Fluorescein Reaction in

UV Light

Bloodstain Pattern Analysis Terms

• Spatter – Bloodstains created from the application of force to the area where the blood originated.

• Origin/Source – The place from where the blood spatter came from or originated.

• Angle of Impact – The angle at which a blood droplet strikes a surface.

Parent Drop

Spines

Satellite Spatters• Parent Drop – The droplet from which a

satellite spatter originates.

• Satellite Spatters – Small drops of blood that break of from the parent spatter when the blood droplet hits a surface.

• Spines – The pointed edges of a stain that radiate out from the spatter; can help determine the direction from which the blood traveled.

• Passive Bloodstains– Patterns created from the force of gravity– Drop, series of drops, flow patterns, blood pools, etc.

• Projected Bloodstains– Patterns that occur when a force is applied to the

source of the blood– Includes low, medium, or high impact spatters, cast-

off, arterial spurting, expiratory blood blown out of the nose, mouth, or wound.

• Transfer or Contact Bloodstains– These patterns are created when a wet, bloody object

comes in contact with a target surface; may be used to identify an object or body part.

– A wipe pattern is created from an object moving through a bloodstain, while a swipe pattern is created from an object leaving a bloodstain.

Blood Spatter Movie

Types of Bloodstain Patterns

Use your results to answer these questions.

What did you notice about the diameter of the parent droplets as you increased the height of the drop?   

 How do the spines compare from the different heights?   

Blood Spatter Lab 1 Questions

Use your results to answer these questions.

What happened when one drop landed on top of another one?   

 What did you notice about the diameter of the parent droplets as you increased the height of the drop?    

What do you notice about the diameter of the satellite spatter as you increased the height of the drop?

Lab 1 Questions

Use your results to answer the question.

What did you notice about the shape of the droplets as you increased the angle of the paper?

Lab 2 Questions

Which of the three blood droplets shown would have been created by a wound in the lower part of the leg? Explain.

If you find a trail of blood with droplets that are round and close together, what could this mean?

If you have a blood droplet as shown at left, what does it tell you? Explain.