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

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.

How many hours do you put in a day

Asked by jon57 over 8 years ago

Whatever you’re scheduled to work—depending on your agency’s setup you might work 8, 10, 12 hour shifts, maybe plus overtime call-outs.

As a forensic scientist, do you use the diameter of blood splatters as clues to how the crime happened?

Asked by Rylee over 8 years ago

Yes, the arcsin of the width divided by the length of the stain will give you the angle of impact at which the blood struck the surface (usually a wall). The direction of the stains can be traced back to a point of convergence and from there the angles can be traced back to a distance from the wall, giving you the approximate point in space where the blow was struck.

Do forensic scientist have to specialize into one field like serology, latent print, toxicology, etc. or can they be multidisciplinary in the sense that one day they work on entomology another they do blood spatter and so on?

Asked by Chicken Jr. almost 9 years ago

see question above.

Is there a way to tell the person's weight from their skeleton? I know you can tell age, race, old injuries and so much more. Would you be able to tell that the bones belonged to a 400lb man?

Asked by Desiré over 9 years ago

That's an excellent question but you need an anthropologist to answer it. I'm afraid I don't know. Sorry!

Can I interview you on this for a school project?

Asked by Samantha almost 9 years ago

Sure, email me at lisa-black@live.com.