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.
That depends entirely on where you work and what your job is. If you’re a ballistics expert, you’ll spend your days looking at guns and ammunition. If you’re a DNA analyst, you’ll be in a lab with micro tubes. If you’re me, you spend a lot of time looking at fingerprints and sometimes go to crime or death scenes.
I’ve done microscopic comparisons of animal hairs, when I was doing hair and fiber comparisons at the coroner’s office, to establish a connection between items found on a suspect’s clothing or environment and items found on a victim’s clothing or environment. That’s about it.
On the victim’s body? Most likely not because after that much time the victim would most likely be skeletal remains only, if buried and certainly if on the surface. If the body was in some kind of container, sealed, it might be completely decomposed, mummified or preserved, depending on circumstances. If the killer’s blood or semen got on some object that was with the body, it could conceivably survive if protected, but it would be very unlikely to yield a usable DNA profile.
Hope that helps!!
Trace Evidence, my first book, was optioned and I wrote the screenplay for it. But the producers couldn’t sell it and had to give up. I’ve had nibbles on other books but nothing yet. I keep hoping!
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Because that's not our job. That's the detective's job. They're in charge of and responsible for the investigation.
I think it would absolutely help your chances. But all agencies might not be looking for the same things. I would check the websites for all the agencies you’re interested in to see their job postings.
Best of luck to you!
I have absolutely no idea.
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