Smith 1

Mckenna Smith Overby English 2 Per 3 12 February 2013 How Blood is Used in Forensic Science Blood is the most useful evidence at a crime scene because it can solve what type of weapon was used, blood types, where it happened, and how. The amount of information you can get from a few drops of blood is so much greater than the amount of information you can get from any other kind of evidence. Blood is a complex substance, consisting of liquid and solid components (Lyle 85). In the liquid part of blood there is something called plasma. The plasma has protein that helps the clotting in blood. After the proteins in the plasma is clotted, it creates a liquid called serum (Lyle 85). When blood first starts to clot, it forms a dark, jelly like substance. Blood is an example of a colloid which is a fluid substance where very small particles are dispersed (The Forensics of Blood 6). Blood is described as a non-Newtonian viscoelastic fluid (Wonder 8). Blood can drip, ooze, flow, gush, or spurt. One of the two kinds of ways blood can exit your body is called passive bleeding. Passive bleeding is only based on gravity. Passive bleeding is when the blood most likely drips. The other type is called projected bleeding. Blood is projected when a person or object uses a force other than gravity.

Smith 2

Arterial spurts, cast off blood, and impact spatter are examples of projected blood (Lyle 87). A blood drop is created when it breaks away from a larger amount of blood. When a falling drop of blood strikes a surface, it splashes in all directions, spattering in a circular pattern around the point of impact (Lyle 88). The shape and size of the blood spatter pattern depends on the size of the drop, how fast it falls, at what angle it hits the surface, and what kind of surface it hits (Lyle 88). Terminal Velocity is the fastest speed a drop of blood reaches when it falls. The terminal velocity of blood is approximately 25 feet per second, and a drop can reach that speed only after a fall of 20 to 25 feet (Lyle 88). Blood looks different depending on the type of surface it hits. Expirated blood is when blood sprays from your mouth when you exhale. The impact angle is the slant at which the blood drops strike the surface, and the directionality is the course the blood drop followed (Lyle 90). The impact angle can help investigators to find the point of convergence and point of origin. Investigators usually first look for voids in the blood spatter. Voids are empty spaces in a blood spatter where objects or people were in the way. Often this void indicates where the attacker stood because his body prevented the blood from spattering on the surfaces behind him (Lyle 91).

Smith 3

There are three different velocities of blood spatter. There is low velocity, medium velocity, and high velocity. Low velocity spatters occur when an object moving less than five feet per second strikes a surface (Lyle 92). This impact results in fairly large spatters, typically four millimeters or greater in diameter. Low velocity usually is when blood is dripping or oozing. Another low velocity blood source is cast off blood, or blood that is flung from an object because of centrifugal force (Lyle 93). Cast off blood is generally found on ceilings or walls. The next velocity is medium velocity. medium velocity spatters come from objects moving between five and one hundred feet per second(Lyle 94). These spatters are typically smaller than spatters from low velocity droplets and vary from one to four millimeters in diameter (Lyle 94). High velocity is more of a spray or mist type spatter. High velocity spatters result when an object strikes the victim at a speed faster than one hundred feet per second (Lyle 95). Many high velocity blood spatters are caused by stabbings or bullets. Transferred patterns result when an object soaked with blood comes in contact with an unstained object (Lyle 95). This is where bloody finger prints and shoe prints would go. There are some bloodstains we cant see, which are called latent. Investigators can use luminol to find the latent blood. Luminol is a chemical that reacts with the hemoglobin in blood to produce a complex substance that luminesces(Lyle 97). Inves-

Smith 4

tigators darken the room and spray the luminol over areas where they suspect blood to be (Lyle 97). Blood is the most common evidence left at a crime scene. Blood cells come in three different types called Leucocytes, Erythrocytes, and platelets. Leucocytes are white blood cells while erythrocytes are red. Platelets are tiny cells involved in clotting. From a forensic point of view, the two most important components of blood are the RBCs and the serum (Lyle 214). With those two you can know the blood type of any blood taken from evidence. The RBCs contain extremely important molecules called antigens, which not only instigate immune reactions within the body but also determine your blood type (Lyle 214). The ABO blood type system involves checking the surface of the red blood cells for two antigens known as A and B, with blood type being named after the type of antigens it contains -A, B, AB and O (Blood analysis). If you were to have type A blood, then you would have A antigens. Type AB blood has both A and B antigens. Someone with type O blood has neither A or B antigens. Another antigen in the blood is called the rhesus or Rh factor, which sometimes is referred to as the D antigen (Lyle 214). You are Rh positive if you have those antigens. A person with A-positive blood possesses the A antigen and the Rh antigen in his RBCs (Lyle 214).

Smith 5

Blood serum contains special proteins called antibodies, and for every antigen there is a matching antibody (Lyle 215). There has to be a lot of blood at a crime scene for it to be useful to investigators. Serology studies the fluid portion of blood (serum) for its antibody content (CMV serology test). At crime scenes when more than one person sheds blood, blood type information and antigen-antibody complexes help investigators reconstruct the crime scene (Lyle 215). Serologists can tell if blood is really blood. Serologists conduct tests of two basic types: presumptive and confirmatory (Lyle 216). Presumptive tests are easy and cheap. When they are positive, presumptive tests indicate a likelihood that blood is present but dont establish that as a fact (Lyle 216). Confirmatory tests can actually confirm that blood is there. Tests used for finding out which species blood came from are antigenantibody reactions, like the ones used for blood typing (lyle 218). An antiserum must be created that reacts with antigens specific to humans rather than with A and B RBC antigens (Lyle 218). Standard blood typing uses liquid blood and a positive reaction is indicated by agglutination (Lyle 219). Agglutination can occur only if the blood is liquid and the RBCs are intact (Lyle 219). Absorption-elution is the process that extracts the antigens (Lyle 219). RBCs contain more proteins, enzymes, and antigens than those used in ABO classification system (Lyle 220). Just by typing a blood stain at a crime scene,

Smith 6

investigators suspect list can change drastically. Wether it be a blood spatter analyst, medical examiner, or serologist, They can all take blood from a crime scene and uncover critical information. Blood can tell you when, where, and how.

Smith 7

Works Cited
1. "CMV Serology Test: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia." U.S National Library of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d.. 2. 3. Lyle, D. P. Forensics for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2004. Print. "The Forensics of Blood." ChemMatters Feb. 2008: n. pag. Education Division of the American Chemical Society. Web. 4. 5. Wonder, Anita Y. Blood Dynamics. San Diego: Academic, 2001. Print. "Blood Analysis." ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation, n.d. Web.