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

Sample of which body part do you use to perform a dna check of a john doe if you have to

Asked by Mystery about 9 years ago

From live people we usually take a buccal swab from the inside of the mouth. From a deceased person, we can use any part from which we can extract DNA, such as blood, bone, teeth, etc.

Can you figure out someone's identity by a blood sample? Like figure out their DNA and who they are?

Asked by Ashton almost 9 years ago

You can say that this blood came from this person. But you have to have a DNA sample from that person to compare it to. (A swab from inside the mouth is fine, it doesn't need to be blood.) or they need to be already in the DNA database.

When measuring blood splatters, does the type of blood affect the diameter measurement?

Asked by Rylee almost 9 years ago

There's only two kinds of blood, blood and menstrual blood, and as far as I know there's been no studies using menstrual blood.

If someone were to conduct an experiment using fake blood spatters, would it change the results to that of real blood splatters?

Asked by Rylee almost 9 years ago

I'm sorry, I wrote a whole answer to this but somehow it didn't post. It may, depending upon how much different from real blood the fake is, for instance if it's significantly more or less dense. But in terms of fluid characteristics it may not change it enough to even be noticeable or make much of a difference in the final analysis.

What kind of hours do you work

Asked by Angel over 9 years ago

We work 40 hours a week plus overtime when needed.Right now I'm on four 10's but I was on 12 hour rotating shifts, 6 am to 6 pm, and will be going back to that next year. I liked that schedule.

How long does it take to determine how someone died and when they died

Asked by pkdk882 over 9 years ago

I'm sorry, I answered this a week ago but somehow it didn't post. A pathologist will usually estimate time of death during the autopsy. It can be very simple and require the body temperature and not much more, or it can be very difficult and cover a wide range of possible time, especially if a lot of time has elapsed since death. The more time, the harder it gets.

Do clothes play a key role in terms of clues? If so… how?

Asked by bart white over 8 years ago

Again that depends entirely upon the circumstances. If someone is shot from a distance, then the clothes aren't going to tell you anything. If someone gets close enough to leave their own blood or their hair on the clothing, then they might.