Forensic Scientist

Forensic Scientist

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.

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Last Answer on July 21, 2022

Best Rated

Are you pretty much a unsworn detective? Do you do pretty much everything a detective does with the exception of arresting people or charging people?

Asked by Rae over 4 years ago

No. I do lots of stuff detectives don’t do, like lab analysis, scene reconstruction, latent print comparison, etc. And they do tons of stuff I don’t do, like track down victims/witnesses/suspects and interview them, run criminal histories, request search warrants, and so on. So our jobs are really very different. We are there to provide the forensic support for the case, but forensic topics are only part of any case. Hope that helps!

What's the best way to highlight and uncover gloveprints left by Nitrile gloves from a surface?

Asked by Richard over 5 years ago

Usually simple black powder will show gloveprints as well as fingerprints. The bubbly sort of pattern they make will be visible.

What is something other scientists do as well as officers such as patrol and detectives that annoy you or even piss you plumb off

Asked by Johnathan over 4 years ago

Usually I'm annoyed most often by people asking for things to be done immediately while ignoring a) that we are working on more cases than just theirs, b) that some processes take time, and/or c) that what their asking for isn't going to prove anything for them anyway.

As for fellow scientists, the worst offenses are a) finding typos in my reports and b) taking the last piece of cheesecake out of the communal fridge.

Why do you delete so many questions?

Asked by Terry over 4 years ago

Why do you post questions that need to be deleted? Most people have better things to do.

How would you determine if the dye on two pieces of thread are the same? Would you use Ramen Spectroscopy?

Asked by Mike almost 5 years ago

That's an excellent question that unfortunately I can't answer. One probably would use it, but back when I did hairs and fibers it was generally thought that the only way was to extract the dye and do thin-layer chromatography, which we didn't have. We also didn't have a Ramen, so all I could do was microscopic comparison.

Best of luck!

Also, what is your opinion on auditors?

Asked by Cale about 5 years ago

I don’t know what you’re referring to.

Since my finance passed away a month ago and there's been something eating at me now and I don't want anyone to think I'm going crazy. I found him on the floor but how can his legs bend perfectly and his knees
directly on top of each other perfectly

Asked by Shell over 5 years ago

I’m sorry for your loss. What was the cause of death?