Biology & Forensics in the Holmesian Canon

1. Biology & Forensics in the Holmesian Canon Dr. Kelly C. Kissane Professor of Natural Sciences Blinn college – Brenham campus

2. Forensic science is the use of science in criminal or civil law. • Forensic science includes: • Biological • blood typing, DNA sequencing, decomposition rates, etc. • Physical • ballistics, blood splatter, footprints, tire/foot prints • Chemical • toxicology, presence of blood /body fluids, gunpowder residue • Psychological • profiling, handwriting analysis).

3. What forensic science did Sherlock Holmes use? Sherlock Holmes was a polymath. He used them all!

4. Blood detection A Study in Scarlet: “I have found a re-agent which is precipitated by haemoglobin, and by nothing else "The old Guiacum test was very clumsy and uncertain.” “…he threw into the vessel a few white crystals, and then added some drops of a transparent fluid. In an instant the contents assumed a dull mahogany colour, and a brownish dust was precipitated to the bottom of the glass jar.”

5. Was there a test as described in A Study in Scarlet? No. Not then, not now.

6. The Guiacum test Guiacum test: plant based extract that turns blue in the presence of heme (hemoglobin) and hydrogen peroxide. • Still used to detect colon cancer The problem? Guiacum reacts to ALL heme – thus any vertebrate blood will result in a positive reaction. • Other substances that can cause false positive results include iodine, melons, horseradish, broccoli, figs, and turnips.

7. Presumptive blood detection tests used: Kastle-Meyer test Kastle-Meyer test: developed in 1901. • Used the chemical phenolphthalein Blood catalyzes the colorless form of phenolphthalein into the oxidized form, which is a bright pink color. • Cannot indicate species the blood is from. • Any oxidizing agent present can lead to a false positive.

8. Presumptive blood detection tests used now: Luminol Luminol is a fluorescent test that will produce a blue glow if iron (found in hemoglobin) is present. • Also reacts to copper, bleach, and anything containing horseradish. • Excessive smoke in an enclosed space can also cause a false positive.

9. Confirmatory blood detection tests: The Precipitin Test Ludwig Tessnow: a German carpenter who murdered two young girls in 1898 and two young boys in 1901. • Said that the blood stains on his boots and clothing were carpenter’s dye. • Precipitin test indicated it was human blood • Executed by beheading in 1904. • Said that the blood stains on his boots and clothing were carpenter’s dye. • Precipitin test indicated it was human blood • Executed by beheading in 1904.

10. Precipitin Test Highly sensitive, detects only human antigens present in blood. • Produces precipitates like Holmes’ test. • But does not react with hemoglobin.

11. Confirmatory Blood detection methods: RSID test Also uses human antibodies.

12. Footprints Adventure of the Beryl Coronet: “There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second double line what I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked feet. I was at once convinced that the latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the other had run swiftly, and his tread was marked in places over the depression of the boot” Boscombe Valley Mystery: “These are young McCarthy’s feet. Twice he was walking, and one he ran swiftly, so his soles are deeply marked and the heels hardly visible.”

13. Footprint analysis before 1900s Footprint analysis was first used in 1816 to solve the murder of a young maidservant in England. • Police used shoe impressions to determine the suspect was a local farmer. • Match sole impressions • Also matched bits of wheat grain imbedded in the footprint.

14. Footprint analysis can be used to determine: • Shoe size, Brand name and style of footwear. (OJ Simpson case) • Height and weight of the person . • Direction of movement and speed of movement. Plaster cast Snow impression wax

15. Footprint analysis can be used to determine a person’s gait and other identifying marks (shoe wear, damage). • Look at your shoes and determine what kind of gait you have based on your wear pattern.

16. Other ways footprint analysis can help: • Type of soil left at crime scene. • Pollen left behind by footwear.

17. Fingerprints Adventure of the Norwood Builder Lestrade: “You are aware that no two thumb-marks are alike”? Holmes: “I have heard something of the kind” Lestrade: “Well, then, will you please compare that print with this wax impression of young McFarlane’s right thumb?”

18. Fingerprint data was first proposed to solve crimes in 1877. The first case using fingerprint data was in 1892 in Argentina. • Francisca Rojas murdered her two sons and cut her own throat to throw blame on another person. Dusting was not used until early 1900’s • One powder, invented in 1936, is still in use today.

19. Fingerprint analysis is not an precise science. • Requires qualitative analysis rather than quantitative. • Fingerprints are often partials, making it more difficult to analyze. Fingerprint analysts err on the side of innocence rather than guilty • Because of this, the false negative rate is 7.5%

20. How well can you determine if a fingerprint is a match or not? 1 2 3 4 5 6

21. Not a match Match Match Not a match Match Not a match

22. Gunshot residue (GSR) The Reigate Puzzle: “The wound upon the dead man was, as I was able to determine with absolute confidence, fired from a revolver at the distance of something over four yards. There was no powder blackening on the clothes”. The Adventure of the dancing men: “Unless the powder from a badly fitting cartridge happens to spurt backwards, one may fire many shots without leaving a sign”.

23. Gunshot Residue before 1900 First case using gunshot residue was in 1784. Newspaper wadding was used to create a seal between the bullet and the gunpowder. Wadding left in the victim’s wound was matched to newspaper pieces found in the suspect’s pocket. Police looked for powder burns/marks and other residue. Highly inaccurate, as contamination and distance can affect the presence of visible powder marks.

24. Gunshot Residue detection 1911: Paraffin-Diphenylamine test • First test to detect gunpowder residue, detected unburned nitrates. • Declared invalid in court in the 1970s due to unreliability • Many false positives and false negatives.

25. Today: Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis and many other tests detect gunshot residue. • Gunshot residue can be recovered up to 16 months after shooting, even if the clothing is washed multiple times. Another method is used in airports: Ion Mobility Spectroscopy. • Highly accurate and highly sensitive for explosive residue AND narcotics.

26. Handwriting analysis Adventure of the Reigate Puzzle “…there cannot be the least doubt in the world that it has been written by two persons doing alternate words…” “…they belong to men who are blood-relatives…I have no doubt at all that a family mannerism can be traced in these two specimens of writing.”

27. Handwriting analysis was first used in Japan in 1000 BC. First book on graphology was written in 1622. First murder case involving handwriting analysis was the Roland Molineux murder trial in New York. (1898). • Sent a parcel containing Bromo seltzer mixed with cyanide of mercury to Harry S. Cornish, who was the director of the Knickerbocker Club – an athletic club.

28. Handwriting analysis Handwriting analysis is still used today • Richard Hauptmann • Zodiac Killer (still unknown) • BTK killer • Robert Durst

29. Blood stain pattern analysis The Adventure of the Second Stain “Why, it is simple enough. The two stains did correspond, but the carpet has been turned round.”

30. Blood stain pattern analysis was proposed as a forensic science in 1895 by Polish academic Dr. Eduard Piotrowski, who wrote the book "Concerning the Origin, Shape, Direction and Distribution of the Bloodstains Following Head Wounds Caused by Blows”. First case to use blood stain pattern analysis was the Sam Sheppard murder trial in 1955. • This case was the inspiration for the television series “the Fugitive”

31. Blood stain pattern analysis is a mix of several sciences: Biological analysis • Blood characteristics and behavior Physical analysis • Cohesion, capillary action, velocity Mathematical analysis: • Geometry, distance, angle, etc.

32. Blood stain pattern types Velocity impact patterns • Low: blood falls from wound due to gravity. • Medium:blunt force (beating) • High: gunshot or high speed machinery Expirated blood • Blood expelled by nose, mouth or respiratory system. Cast off patterns • Blood flung from a weapon Swipes vs Wipes • Swipe: blood transfer to an unstained surface. • Wipe: an object moves across an existing blood stain. 2 3 5 4 6 7 1

33. Swipe High velocity impact 2 5 Wipe Cast off Low velocity impact 3 4 Expirated blood Medium velocity impact 6 1 7

34. Psychological profiling The Yellow Face “Pipes are occasionally of extraordinary interest,” said he. “Nothing has more individuality, save perhaps watches and bootlaces. The indications here, however, are neither very marked nor very important. The owner is obviously a muscular man, left-handed, with an excellent set of teeth, careless in his habits, and with no need to practice economy.”

35. Profiling techniques have been used since Middle Ages • Used to identify heretics The first psychological profile used in a criminal case: • “The murderer must have been a man of physical strength and great coolness and daring... subject to periodic attacks of homicidal and erotic mania. The characters of the mutilations indicate that the man may be in a condition sexually, that may be called Satyriasis” • “The murderer in external appearance is quite likely to be a quiet inoffensive looking man probably middle-aged and neatly and respectably dressed. I think he must be in the habit of wearing a cloak or overcoat or he could hardly have escaped notice in the streets if the blood on his hands or clothes were visible. • …he would probably be solitary and eccentric in his habits, also he is most likely to be a man without regular occupation, but with some small income or pension. 

36. Dr. Thomas Bond constructed the profile of Jack the Ripper in 1888. • Based his profile on the autopsies of the victims.

37. What about DNA? Neither Holmes nor Conan Doyle would have known about DNA. DNA was not determined to be the genetic material until 1943. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was not developed until 1983.

38. Arthur Conan Doyle was not a zoologist • Snakes do not hear, nor do they drink milk. • (Adventure of the Speckled Band) • Lion’s mane jellyfish are not deadly. (Adventure of the Lion’s Mane)