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.
If you could find out what kind of analyses they do, then be sure to point out your experience with that equipment, that would probably be helpful. They might have a summary online, or detailed in the job description, or if you know anyone who might work with them either at the lab or as a law enforcement officer you could ask them. Know what they mean by chain of custody. Good luck!!
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Unless he actually ejaculated in his underwear, I don't see why there would be sperm in underwear he simply wore. But maybe that's one of those questions about men I'd just rather not know! I'm also not sure that semen would go back into solution when re-wetted like sugar or salt. So it might be possible, for all I know, but you'd probably have to ask a serologist or DNA technician. I'm sorry I can't be more help.
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I work 4 10 hour days, but previously I've worked 8-5 Mon-Fri and on rotating 12 hour shifts from 6 am to 6 pm. It all depends on what's needed. I love investigation but didn't want to be a cop. A typical day depends entirely on where you work and what you do. If you do only crime scenes, you might have to go out to a car accident, a suicide and an industrial accident. If you're a DNA analyst, you'll spend all day in the lab with test tubes. If you're a fingerprint examiner like me, you might spend 8 hours in front of a computer looking at fingerprints. At a smaller department like mine you might do all three things in one day. Or any of the above might spend all day sitting at the courthouse waiting to testify. So there really is no such thing as a typical day.
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I don't solve cases. Detectives solve cases. I suppose I actually 'solve' them when I get a fingerprint hit for a burglary where there would have been no other way to ever identify the burglar. That happens maybe 5-10 times a year. Otherwise forensic science is usually confirming or eliminating factors that are already suspected, and often provides information (say, what caliber of gun was used or where the burglar got into the house) that doesn't point to the identity of the criminal but adds details to the overall event.
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Is the "women and children first" rule still in effect?
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See above.
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Yes, rain can be extremely damaging, if the evidence is something that can be washed away, like blood, fibers, fingerprints, small bits of anything, even bullet casings. Something permanent like a bullet hole, not so much. It depends on what the evidence is and how hard it rains. A (fresh!) tarp can help unless it's something wet, like blood spatter, that a tarp would smear.
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Wow, that's specific. Unfortunately I can't really tell you--that's more of a pathology question. It takes a lot longer when the body is not exposed to the elements, so I would think at least a few years. I had a buried body that still had quite a bit of flesh after 2 years. I had a body in an attic that was a skeleton where it had been exposed and still had flesh where it had been wrapped in plastic after 3 years. The process will also be affected by temperature, so if the building is not heated then the heating/cooling cycle of the seasons will make it go slightly faster than if it were at a nice consistent A/C setting. Also if the room is very well sealed and the atmosphere is not very humid, the body might turn into a mummy instead of a skeleton.
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