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

If a man masturbates a few times on a towel...And his girl friend urinates on it and then wipes her self down there with it. Would it be possible to find semen in or around her vagina?

Asked by Brian over 9 years ago

I really don't know--I suppose it's possible but I don't know how urinating on it would affect it. I also don't know why one would urinate on a towel. And it sounds like you're trying to find an innocent explanation for your girlfriend's parents on the occasion of her unexpected pregnancy. Either way,, good luck.

So unless the gloves and/or surface had some form of dirt or oil or other sort of substance that would make a print form, if both were completely spotless, there would be no gloveprints?

Asked by R-Mod over 8 years ago

Probably not. Fingerprints are left usually because skin has oils and sweat, which of course gloves wouldn't have.

What are the educational requirements for an entry-level position in this line of work?

Asked by Violet about 9 years ago

The requirements are whatever your employer says they are (same with your job title). DNA analysts are often required to have a PhD in genetics. At the coroner's I had to have a BS in one of the natural sciences. At my police department they only require a high school diploma, but give extra points for advanced schooling so we all have BSs. 

Is there a kind of gloves that doesn't leave gloveprints? Asking for a sort of detective story.

Asked by R-Mod over 8 years ago

Sorry I didn't answer this before, I'm on the road. I've seen glove prints occasionally--a remarkable number of burglars don't bother to use them. But I've never compared the prints to a particular glove because by definition gloves are mass produced and therefore not unique like fingerprints. I've seen ones from cloth gloves, which will leave the knit pattern behind, or latex gloves which will sort of look like a group of random bubbles crammed together.

What is you opinion on the product rule used in DNA match probabilities and is this a reliable statistical method to employ when new DNA profiling multiplexes analyse STR markers within the same chromosome?

Asked by andres11 almost 9 years ago

Sorry, but as I'm not a DNA analyst, I wouldn't have any idea.

Hi. Will a combination of chlorine bleach, gasoline and paint thinner destroy blood DNA?
Thank you :)

Asked by Ayden almost 9 years ago

As far as I know, the chlorine bleach alone will do it.



I am Aminul from India. I got 49% in my HSC board exam can I became a forensic scientist.

Asked by Mohammed Aminul Islam shaikh almost 9 years ago

I'm sorry but I wouldn't have any idea what an HSC exam is or what a good score is.Best of luck to you!