Forensics Questions

allmaple said:
arent there chemicals released when someone goes into anaphylactic shock? so even though it may not physically obvious during autopsy wouldnt a tox screen find it?
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that's my question too, i've wondered that every time they have an anaphylactic shock victim on the show but never found the answer..
 
In one episode of csi miami. I think it was a season 6 episode, they identified someone who opened a safe with his knuckles because apperently they're as unique as finger prints, yet in the season 9 opener of csi, they said the knuckle prints on warricks car window cannot be identified because they're not unique. Which is the truth?
 
It looks like biometrics researchers have explored the possibility of IDing people based on knuckles but the techniques aren't widely accepted. The only reference I could find was this:

Jungbluth, "Knuckle Print Identification" (Abstract), Journal of Forensic ID, vol. 39, No. 6, (Nov.-Dec. 1989), pp. 375-380.
 
happyharper13 said:
I'm not sure if someone already posted a similar question, but does anyone here know exactly how the procedure of matching bullets works?

If they have the bullets, can they match them to a particular gun (like down to the exact individual gun), or just a general model, or even just to a type of bullet? What about once they get shell casings?

Also, I've seen CSIs send evidence directly from a crime scene to the Lab, via some type of technology. What kind of evidence does this work for? I was assuming it's just a scanner that they use, so that it would only work for fingerprints and other two dimensional images.

One last question (and this is for a fanfiction, not so I can go out and kill someone or purchase a gun)- does anyone have any suggestions for a rare gun used in the 80's? Preferably one that would have been expensive back then.

Thanks,
Harper
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Another good site is http://www.firearmsid.com On the left side there are many links covering everything in depth about the identifying marks on casings and bullets. Specifically at http://www.firearmsid.com/A_nogunid.htm they describe how using general rifling characteristics one can limit it down to specific make, model, and the possible manufacturers of the firearm from which the bullets were fired. If they are sending data directly to a data bank, you are correct in assuming that it would only work with two dimensional evidence, fingerprints.
 
In the CSI: Miami episode "Internal Affairs", a man was killed from a blank at close range. Can the paper inside the shell casing really kill a person? I'm skeptical. Sure, the paper may have been going quickly from the gunpowder, but would it have enough inertia to travel through a guy's throat? Any input on this would be much appreciated :)
 
Actually, ash09, it can definitely happen. Jon-Erik Hexum, the star of 80's TV series called "Voyagers" (not to be confused with Star Trek Voyager) and "Cover Up", killed himself that way. From his bio at imdb.com:

However, on October 12th, 1984 after a long and draining day's shooting on the set of Cover Up (1984) (TV), Hexum became bored with the extensive delays and jokingly put a prop .44 magnum revolver to his temple and pulled the trigger. The gun fired, and the wadding from the blank cartridge shattered his skull, whereupon the mortally injured Hexum was rushed via ambulance to hospital to undergo extensive surgery. Despite five hours of work, the chief surgeon Dr David Ditsworth, described the damage to Hexum's brain as life ending, and one week later on October 18th, he was taken off life support and pronounced dead. However, Hexum's commitment to organ donation, meant five other lives were assisted or saved with organs harvested from him. The youthful & charming Hexum was dead at only 26 years of age.
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Wow... thanks for clearing that up, Dynamo1.
That's so sad... I always thought that they dramatized things to make interesting plotlines. Good to see that they are at least mostly realistic.
Again, thanks for the prompt response.
 
I can't vouch for everything they do on all three of the CSI series, but they do have real life forensics experts as technical advisors. They might exaggerate some of the processes, like DNA tests in minutes or hours instead of days or weeks. But they try to squeeze a case into about 45 minutes so they cut some corners.
 
In Monday's episode of CSI Miami, Horatio ground down a tooth from Eric's father. Instead of extracting DNA as I thought they would, Horatio ran tests on the tooth to determine where his father lived as a young child. They said that the tooth retains an isotopic record of the geographical location the person had as a child or adolescent.

I had never heard of this and I was wondering if anyone knew if this is true or not.:confused:
 
squinn1201 said:
In Monday's episode of CSI Miami, Horatio ground down a tooth from Eric's father. Instead of extracting DNA as I thought they would, Horatio ran tests on the tooth to determine where his father lived as a young child. They said that the tooth retains an isotopic record of the geographical location the person had as a child or adolescent.

I had never heard of this and I was wondering if anyone knew if this is true or not.:confused:
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Out of curiosity I googled your question and came up with this article summary which would appear to confirm that you CAN take an isotopic record of teeth. The 'Abstract' section is where I was reading from.
 
Thanks Egria! I assumed there must be some logic to it, as the writers do use actual forensics specialists to assist them. However, that article confirms it.
 
Dynamo1 said:
Actually, ash09, it can definitely happen. Jon-Erik Hexum, the star of 80's TV series called "Voyagers" (not to be confused with Star Trek Voyager) and "Cover Up", killed himself that way. From his bio at imdb.com:

However, on October 12th, 1984 after a long and draining day's shooting on the set of Cover Up (1984) (TV), Hexum became bored with the extensive delays and jokingly put a prop .44 magnum revolver to his temple and pulled the trigger. The gun fired, and the wadding from the blank cartridge shattered his skull, whereupon the mortally injured Hexum was rushed via ambulance to hospital to undergo extensive surgery. Despite five hours of work, the chief surgeon Dr David Ditsworth, described the damage to Hexum's brain as life ending, and one week later on October 18th, he was taken off life support and pronounced dead. However, Hexum's commitment to organ donation, meant five other lives were assisted or saved with organs harvested from him. The youthful & charming Hexum was dead at only 26 years of age.
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Gosh, I remember him. He was such a good looking guy too. I remember hearing about that, I had watched the show. :(

Similar thing happened to Brandon Lee too, another star who was died way too early. From IMDB
Brandon died at the age of 28 on the set of "The Crow". The film crew shot a scene in which it was decided to use a gun without consent from the weapons coordinator. They handed Michael Massee the gun loaded with full power blanks and shot the scene. Even though the gun was pointed away from Lee, the force from the blank curved the bullet and it shattered his spinal cord. The crew only noticed when Lee was slow getting up. The doctors worked desperately for five hours, but it was no use. After his spinal cord was shattered, he had no chance of survival. He was pronounced dead at 1:04 pm the next day.
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In a episode of csi during a game hodges 'died' from a prefired bullet that was matched via ballistics to a destroyed weapon. It was fired from a small doohicky that presumably (please correct me if I'm wrong) left no extra striation markings.

1. What exactly was the doohicky and how does it work?

2. Is there a way to make or use something that can fire a prefired bullet without adding extra striation markings or distorting the ones already there longer range, say the distance from the roof of one building to the window of another in new york. Or is this only possible at short range?

3. If a prefired bullet is slightly misshapen through previous impact will this affect its trajectory or impact affect?

Don't worry no criminal intent here, just curious.
 
Hey 11krage, I've been googling and trying to find an answer to your question but no luck so far.

wikipedia has an excellent article on ballistics though, you might want to check that out.
 
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