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

Can a 9mm use 38 bullets

Asked by Dianna over 9 years ago

No. A .357 can shoot .38 bullets (not vice versa, or the gun will blow up) but 9mm can't shoot 38 bullets because they're shaped a little differently. It's confusing because what we call .38 caliber are actually .357, and 9mm is actually .380--in size, but a 9mm gun cannot shoot .380 bullets. You would have to read the forensic report carefully and maybe ask for clarification. I've never worked in ballistics, so perhaps there's a chance that the report is saying that the projectile had a .380 diameter, not that it was a .380 bullet, in which case it could have come from a 9mm gun?

what technologies do they use for fingerprinting identification

Asked by nikki almost 10 years ago

There are numerous techniques for obtaining fingerprints from surfaces--black powders, colored powders, alternate light, superglue, dye staining. Once you can visualize the print, comparing one to another is done by noting all the information (where ridges end, divide, form a dot, have a scar, etc.) in one pattern and comparing it to another print's pattern. This can be done by a computer so that thousands to millions of prints can be searched quickly, all day, every day, all over the world, but is always confirmed by human beings. Despite what you see on TV!

If a baby was born 53 years ago, 7 1\2 months gestation and was stillborn, then wrapped in aluminum foil and buried, if you could find it would there be any human tissue left to prove it was a chld? I want to bring him home and put him with his moth

Asked by martha1954 almost 10 years ago

I'm sorry, I"m sure I answered this question months ago, I don' t know why it didn't post. The answer is there's no way to guess, a doctor would have to look at it. If there's no tissue, DNA might possibly be obtained from bones or teeth.

Can a forensic Scientist help me solve this quetsion? There was only one murderer.

Asked by Sujee Pundaisen over 9 years ago

I'm afraid I'll need some more details than that.

Is there technology that you use in your lab or technology that you have heard of that you find interesting?

Asked by Renee over 10 years ago

I'm very interested now in phone number 'spoofing' that the telephone scammers use to call us, but the technology is a little beyond my ken. Actually a lot beyond my ken. I have a co-worker who could explain it but we never have time.

What is the first thing you look for at a crime scene?

Asked by Lilly123 over 9 years ago

It depends on the crime, but in general I guess you look for how the perpetrator got in, how they got out, and what they disturbed while they were there. Then I look for what we could get information from (such as surfaces that they had to touch that are smooth and glossy and might have prints, whether they left blood or bodily fluids behind that could be tested, whether they wrote something or used something that could point to their identity, etc.).

If the results from a forensic report cums back an says that 501through 507 was fired from the same gun which is a 9mm an then it says 508 and 509 that was removed from the victim caliber 38 class bullet is this saying that there was more than one gu

Asked by Dianna over 9 years ago

See above answer.