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.
I’m sorry but I have no idea. I’ve never worked in Toxicology.
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It depends on what you're talking about--was what contaminated with what? Lots of things can be contaminated with things without results being affected. Take blood, you can mix blood with paint or dirt or maybe oil or types of soap and that won't affect the DNA profile. If you mix it with bleach or other blood, it will. So if you had, say, heroin, and it gets mixed with fingerprint powder or cotton fibers, it's still going to test as heroin. If you mix it with cocaine, maybe it won't. (Controlled substances are not my field.) So 'contamination' is not a one-size fits-all word.
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I would try oblique lighting—try laying the piece down as flat as possible and then hold a flashlight to the side so the light beam travels across the piece instead of down onto it. Adjust the light to where it’s the most helpful. With the ziploc bag you might also put a piece of dark paper inside it to increase the constraint. That’s all I can think of since I’m not an expert in questioned documents. Best of luck!
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Yes. I don’t know if it’s actually from the poop or from the skin cells sloughed off on it, but you can.
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Casino Dealer
Do you find casinos to be depressing places to work?
Bouncer
How often would you find yourself in real danger?
Casting Director
Are the melt-down auditions on American Idol staged?
My guess would be 0.Mostly it’s just kids wanting me to answer their homework questions.
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Fingerprints develop randomly as a child is moving around in the womb before birth, so they are not dictated by genes. That said, there can sometimes be vague similarities among family members (like having radial loops, all arches, or whatever). There are three patterns, loops, whorls and arches, and you can easily have some of your fingers have loops and then a few have whorls, or they can be all one type, or any combination.
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I think that depends entirely on where you live or want to work. If you intend to apply for lab or crime scene work in a large city, then no. If you're going to work crime scene in a remote area with a lot of outdoor scenes and animal activity, then maybe yes. Regardless, an internship at your local forensic facility would be better. If that's not possible, at least call them and ask for their advice.
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