Fascinating

Facts About
Forensics

Luminol

Luminol is a powder made up of oxygen,

nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon that
glows blue when it comes into contact with
the
hemoglobins
in
blood.
This
chemiluminescence is the same process

that causes fireflies to glow. Luminol can

detect minute amounts of blood even
after an area has been washed, even
years later. The glow only lasts about 30
seconds but can be captured with longexposure photography.
It is often used as a last resort, since the
chemical reaction can destroy the very
evidence it reveals, but it can still prove
incredibly useful. For example, it might
reveal an assailants shoe prints or show
investigators where to look more closely.
Blood on carpet that may be invisible to
the naked eye can be revealed, prompting
investigators to look for much larger,
visible stains in the wood beneath. Those
working with luminol must be wary of false
positives, however, as it also reacts to the
presence
of
urine,
copper,
and
horseradish sauce.

The Washing Away of Wrongs

The first

known

alternately

book

on

titled Collected

forensics was

Cases

of

Injustice Rectified or The Washing Away of

Wrongs. It was written in the 13th century
by a highly conscientious Chinese judge
named

Song

Ci.

He

laid

down

strict

regulations

to

ensure

that

coroners

would not be corrupted-

The Washing Away of Wrongs explained

how to tell the difference between a victim
of drowning and a victim of strangulation,
and

contains

forensic

the first

entomology,

known

or

the

use

of

study

of

insects. In this case, a villager was found

hacked to death. First, Song Ci slashed at
a

carcass

with

wide

variety

of

implements and compared these cuts to

the

wounds

on

the

villagers

body,

determining that they were caused by a

sickle. He then asked every villager to
bring out their sickles and lay them out in
the town square. It was midsummer, so
flies

gathered,

swarming

almost

exclusively on one particular sickle. From

this, Song Ci knew that it was the murder
weapon, and its owner quickly confessed.

For 16 years, Germanys most-wanted serial killer

eluded police. Beginning with the murder of a 22year-old policewoman in Heilbronn, the Phantom

began a puzzlingly erratic crime spree that included

six murders, the robbery of some Vietnamese
gemstone traders, and a string of motorcycle thefts.
Although she managed to avoid ever being seen, she
wasnt careful enough to prevent leaving DNA
evidence at over 40 crime scenes.
In March 2009, police were investigating the
immolation death of a male asylum seeker when a
routine forensic test returned some strange results.
When they analyzed his DNA, two results came back:
his own, and the Phantom of Heilbronn. This was so
unlikely that they ran tests on all the equipment used
to analyze DNA. Sure enough, every cotton swab
tested positive for the supposed Phantoms DNA.
She wasnt a master criminal, just a line worker at
a medical supplies factory in Bavaria.

Glitter Is The Perfect Trace

Evidence

The ideal piece of trace evidence transfers easily

from one person to another but is not easily
dislodged from that second person. It should be
seemingly innocuous and difficult for a perpetrator
to notice, so that, unlike blood, they wont take

much care to remove it. It also shouldnt be too

hard for an investigator to findfor example, by
shining a flashlight at the area. It shouldnt
degrade, or it wont be admissible by the time
investigators find it. Its best if only a very tiny
quantitya single fragment, evenneed be present
in order to identify it with certainty. It should have
highly

specific,

individualized

characteristics.

Fortunately, these are all properties of glitter.

The End Of
Arsenic

For centuries, the two most common

poisons were cyanide and arsenic. While
cyanide left a tell-tale scent of almonds
in
the
victims
body, arsenic
was
undetectable through much of human
history. Its symptoms closely resembled
those of cholera, and since many common

household products contained arsenic,

obtaining it was easy. In France, it was
known
as poudre
de
succession, or
inheritance powder.
In 1775, the first method of arsenic
detection
was
developed,
involving
treating the suspected fluid with nitric
acid and zinc. If arsenic was present, the
resulting solution would emit a gas that
smelled like garlic. This method, however,
was unstable and short-lived.
The next breakthrough came in 1832, when
John Bodle was put on trial for poisoning
his grandfathers coffee. A chemist
named James Marsh was asked to test the
coffee for arsenic, but the jury was
unconvinced by his methods. Bodle later
confessed, and a furious Marsh became
determined to develop a more foolproof
test. The Marsh Test, as it became
known, created a silvery black deposit
when arsenic was presentfar more
convincing than a whiff of garlic. It was
simple and cheap, could detect even tiny
amounts of arsenic in a victims body,
and
did
not
give
false
positives.

Deliberate
declined.

arsenic

McKinley Valentine

poisoning

soon