Impression Analysis

1. Impression Analysis

2. Impression Analysis • Impressions can be individualized for forensic purposes. • Types of impressions: fabric prints, shoe impressions, tire impressions & tool marks • No two things are precisely identical & that forensic comparison involves matching features of questioned & unidentified specimen with known standards

3. Impression Analysis – Fabric Prints • Fabric prints are sometimes encountered by the fingerprint expert in the form of glove impressions. • With use, gloves become contaminated with substances such as dirt, grease, oils & even sweat that enable them to leave their imprints, either latent or visible. • They may also leave plastic impressions in materials like putty

4. Impression Analysis – Fabric Prints • Cloth gloves may have snags, tears, or holes that make them distinctive along with imperfections in the weave pattern or other identifiable characteristics. • Leather gloves may have wrinkle or crease formations where they do not fit properly or they may exhibit surface cracks, tears or other imperfections or characteristics to individualize them

5. Impression Analysis – Fabric Prints • Developing glove prints requires special care because they are typically less strong than fingerprints & may be destroyed by use of too much powder. • They should first be searched with the aid of a flashlight, laser or other light source & then developed with sparing use of powder.

6. Impression Analysis – Fabric Prints • Rather than lifting the print, the object on which it is found should, if possible, be taken to the lab for direct comparison with a suspect’s gloves. • Comparison prints from the gloves of a suspect are best made on glass which is generally the most convenient even when the original prints are on furniture.

7. Impression Analysis – Fabric Prints • Clear prints may be difficult to make, but results may be improved by breathing slightly on the surface of the glove’s finger. • Other types of fabric impressions may be found at the scene of a crime under certain circumstances such as hit & run accident: fabric impressions from victim may be left in dust on assault vehicle’s bumper, grille, fender or other area.

8. Impression Analysis – Fabric Prints • Whether latent, visible, or plastic, fabric prints should be treated in the manner recommended for glove prints. • In photographing them, the camera should be at right angles to the surface to avoid distortions • Lifting these prints may be accomplished with sheets of lifting material like that used for fingerprints.

9. Impression Analysis – Fabric Prints • New procedure: portable electrostatic device operating on principle similar to static charge on comb to lift paper; used in recovering faint prints on colored surfaces • Fabric impressions may show sufficient class characteristics to demonstrate a garment could have made the print or may exhibit individual characteristics from wear/damage so examiner can conclude the garment did leave impression

10. Impression Analysis Shoe & Tire Impressions • Shoe prints & tire prints are left in much the same way as fabric impressions & other types. • The shoe or tire becomes contaminated with some substance such as blood, oil, or dust & a latent or visible print is left; alternatively, the print may be a plastic or 3-D one, pressed into mud for example

11. Impression Analysis Shoe & Tire Impressions • Latent shoe prints are searched for & developed in much the same way as glove & other fabric prints. • Whenever impression is made by dust or other powdered material, the procedure is first to photograph it (oblique lighting helpful) & then lift it in manner suggested for fabric prints by using sheets of lifting material or by electrostatic technique.

12. Impression Analysis Shoe & Tire Impressions • Comparison footprints may be made by coating the soles with water-based ink applied from a large ink pad; the shoes are then stepped onto an acetate sheet or a sheet of tracing paper. • When the contaminating substance is blood, it may be developed by spraying it with luminol which results in a faintly glowing print observed in darkness

13. Impression Analysis Shoe & Tire Impressions • When either a shoe or tire impression has been left in some moldable substance like clay or snow, it’s first photographed from directly above to avoid distortion & then cast with plaster of paris or dental stone. • With snow imprints, a special Snow Print Wax is used instead. Before plaster or dental stone hardens, identifying information is scratched into the surface

14. Impression Analysis Shoe & Tire Impressions • FBI maintains a vast file of both shoe (sole & heel) patterns & tire-tread designs for such identifications • Example: O.J. Simpson’s size 12 Bruno Magli shoes – designer footwear both expensive and rare – left bloody shoe prints at crime scene that matched his shoes

15. Impression Analysis Shoe & Tire Impressions • Tire tread impressions are almost as useful as shoe prints. There are thousands of tread designs & every tire wears differently or picks up debris from the road making it unique & identifiable. • Each tire on the vehicle can be unique as no two tires wear the same way

16. Impression Analysis Shoe & Tire Impressions • Dimensions may not exactly match due to stretching of imprint from motion, distortion due to pressure, shrinkage by drying of earth or clay or other factors. • What is important is that there be discovered points of comparison (various nicks, scratches & other effects of wear) sufficient to effect a match.

17. Impression Analysis Shoe & Tire Impressions • For presentation of the evidence at trial, photographs of questioned & known prints are placed side by side with characteristic points marked & numbered rather like the minutiae of fingerprints.

18. Impression Analysis - Tool Marks • Tool mark examinations may have begun in Europe around turn of century. They became common in US in 1930s following successful use of comparison microscope for matching striations on bullets & firing-pin impression parks on shell casings. • Methodology used for firearm examination is fundamentally the same for toolmark comparison

19. Impression Analysis - Tool Marks • Comparisons made by demonstrating tool mark produced by a given chisel distinct from marks produced by any other chisels. • Basis of tool-mark comparisons is that implements used for cutting metal or prying apart objects develop nicks on edges with use & produce pattern of striations during cutting or prying process & is distinctive for a given tool.

20. Impression Analysis - Tool Marks • Comparison microscope technique similar to bullet comparison is used. Science involved is called “comparative micrography”. • Cutting tools present a special problem since cutting blade is long in comparison to cut region of item involved. Examiner will want to avoid making numerous cuts in order to find the cutting region.

21. Impression Analysis - Tool Marks • One way to accomplish this is to use chemical spot tests to identify traces of cut material on tool’s blade. • To make striation comparisons, tool mark area is placed under one barrel of comparison microscope & the cut or scraped area of test plate is placed under the other.

22. Impression Analysis - Tool Marks • There may be some differences due to bending of metal during cutting or application of uneven pressure or other factors • Some tools may leave an indentation or impression that is similar to a firing pin mark on a shell case. A hammer blow would represent this type of mark as would indentations caused by a pair of pliers

23. Impression Analysis - Tool Marks • The comparison microscope is sued to compare outer shape of impressions as well as surface scratches, nicks, pits or other defects. • This is another procedure of comparative micrography. There may even be a combination of marks, both striations & indentations.

24. Impression Analysis - Tool Marks • Comparative micrography techniques may be employed in matching a piece of broken metal or other material and the piece it was broken from: auto accident. • Comparison micrography may reveal tool impressions at a series of burglaries were caused by the same tool, thereby linking the crimes.

25. Impression Analysis - Tool Marks • Once tool marks are discovered, they must be protected until they can be photographed & their locations indicated on the crime-scene sketch. • Two photos are required: one showing the mark in its context, the other a close-up photograph to reveal the minute details.

26. Impression Analysis - Tool Marks • When warranted & practical, structure bearing tool mark is removed. Otherwise, a cast or mold may be made with plasticine or modeling clay. • In no event should the investigator place a tool against a tool mark for size evaluations as it may lead to accidental destruction of evidence.

27. Impression Analysis - Tool Marks • When submitting a tool to the crime lab for examination, actual tool should be used; making of test impression/cuts are functions of qualified technicians. • Series of test marks should be made, applying suspected implement of varying angles & pressures to lead plate. It increases likelihood of duplicating details of original mark.

28. Impression Analysis - Tool Marks • Comparative micrography of tool marks was employed to trace the ladder used in the Lindbergh kidnapping case. • This case gave prominence to the science of tool-mark comparisons in much the same way that the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre did for firearms identification.

29. Case Study: Lindbergh Kidnapping • Night of March 1, 1932: 9 pm, mother looked in on baby – he was sleeping in crib. 50 minutes later, nurse discovered him missing. • Colonel Lindbergh found nothing more than a ladder lying beneath the nursery window.

30. Case Study: Lindbergh Kidnapping • Clues police found: ladder homemade built in three sections for easy carrying. Upper rung broken due to kidnapper’s weight. • On upstairs window sill was envelope with ransom note, no fingerprints found. • Profile of kidnapper emerging. Ransom note indicated a man of poor education, almost certainly of German origin.

31. Case Study: Lindbergh Kidnapping • Soon several lines of inquiry pointed to the Bronx. • Friend & public school principal, John F. Condon offered reward in newspaper and received unexpected reply. • Condon placed an ad as requested by the kidnapper, signing himself “Jafsie” from the pronunciation of his initials.

32. Case Study: Lindbergh Kidnapping • Jafsie received phone call arranging meeting • Exchange of money box for note claiming baby being held off Martha’s Vineyard on a boat named Nelly. Lindbergh flew there & searched for two days. • May 12th, decomposing body of a child was found in woods near Lindbergh home.

33. Case Study: Lindbergh Kidnapping • It was the Lindbergh baby which reported died from head injury possibly suffered in kidnapper’s fall from ladder. • Forensic review many years later revealed no skull fracture or brain injury but baby was probably smothered at time of kidnapping to keep him from crying & alerting family or nurse in nearby rooms.

34. Case Study: Lindbergh Kidnapping • Although Lindbergh refused to allow money to be marked, police had secretly recorded serial numbers & banks were alerted to look for the bills. • In 1933 US abandoned gold standard & required people to turn in old bills before May 1st. Not long before deadline, a man signing himself as J.J. Faulkner redeemed $2,990 of ransom money.

35. Case Study: Lindbergh Kidnapping • He went to the Federal Reserve Bank in Manhattan. Bank was too busy to recall what the man looked like. • A Bronx service station attendant wrote down license plate of 1930 Dodge sedan on back of ten-dollar gold certificate. 3 days later, bank teller recognized it as one of ransom bills with plate number on back

36. Case Study: Lindbergh Kidnapping • It was registered to Richard Hauptmann. Police infiltrated neighborhood and worked through the night to gather information on Hauptmann to make decision to maintain surveillance or arrest him. • September 19, 1934 he was arrested for fear he may escape. He had ransom money in his pocket.

37. Case Study: Lindbergh Kidnapping • Money was found in his garage. • Handwriting samples from suspect were matched to writing on ransom notes. • It was confirmed many times over by handwriting experts & is still used in training examiners of questioned documents • The ladder finished off the rest of evidence needed

38. Case Study: Lindbergh Kidnapping • On February 13, Hauptmann was convicted & sentenced to die in electric chair. His petition for clemency was rejected & execution was set for January 17th. Various postponements extended it to April 3rd where he was pronounced dead at 8:47 p.m. He protested his innocence to the end even though the governor promised him he could save his life by telling the truth.