Here though we have on offer some of the art works that this demented and evil individual painted before his death. In the next few weeks we will write up a paper detailing everything that went on in the case as well as put up crime scene photos, transcripts from his interrogation and comments made by legendary FBI profiler Robert K Ressler (retired), who coincidentally is one of my favourite true crime writers and has personally been involved with hundreds of well known cases in his time. From memory, one of these art works was actually painted for Mr Ressler, i believe the self-portrait, but i will confirm that at a later stage.

The main purpose of studying said remains is to establish race, gender and age and also attempt to discover any trauma to the bone structure, that is, whether it has been cracked, smashed, has cut marks from a knife blade etc. This can be a very handy thing indeed as it can help prove mode of death as there is no flesh for a pathologist to conduct a traditional autopsy upon.

We will continue to add more articles to this section as time goes by regarding every aspect of forensic anthropology, so stay tuned!

As can be anticipated, most peoples conception of what a forensic psychologist (or psychiatrist) does is fairly generalised; the vast majority envision that a forensic psychologist is simply a ‘profiler’, working in some capacity within law enforcement advising police and other detectives of their UNSUB’s (unknown subject) criminal profile. This is probably the most glamorous role within the field, and something i would personally hope to do in the future! But realistically there are a large number of jobs that be conducted by a forensic psychologist, least of which is the aforementioned one. Lets talk about some of these now…

To start with, forensic simply means ‘pertaining to a court of law’ or ‘of the law’, so a forensic psychologist or psychiatrist is simply a psychologist/psychiatrist that specialises in the criminal justice system. The more common roles that a forensic psychologist will undertake include:

1. They provide expert psychological evidence in trials, sometimes verbal but more often through the means of written reports (psychological testing of a defendant etc is often undertaken to analyse competency or in cases where child protection is an issue).
2. They consult with legal/law and other related professionals on various things ranging from impact of court proceedings on witnesses and testimony, liaise with police investigations, help with crime prevention, child protection and victim’s needs among others.
3. They develop and conduct research, and provide clinical services to persons within the criminal justice system. This includes things such as treatment of people with substance abuse disorders, therapy for crime victims, assessing and treating offenders – usually during incarceration and after release on parole as well as things such as counselling children who have been affected by the divorce of their parents.

In time we will be adding various articles on to this section of the website covering every aspect of forensic psychology, statistical analysis and other key areas of study you need to be au fait with.

Usually the first responder will be a local police officer, and it is their job to do their best at taking detailed field notes about what they deem to be the crime scene after initially establishing weather there are victims and any assailant still at the scene. While establishing this they also need to ensure the safety of everybody involved and secure the scene ensuring as little interference as possible (preferably none) with said scene as this can disturb vital evidence. These field notes as well as the first responder’s initial impressions of the scene can contain crucial evidence relevant to the outcome of the investigation.

When it comes to this type of unfortunate event safety is always the number one priority. While providing any urgently needed first aid to people at the scene those undertaking the first aid must also be weary of destroying, damaging or losing evidence that is on a person’s body or clothes. They need to ensure that they don’t wash or remove any clothing as this can lead to the loss of blood, hair, skin or other evidence such as fibres which could be used in the investigation.

It is also the responsibility of the first units on scene to keep track of where the injured or victims are taken to. Generally speaking, depending on a combination of variables including the injuries of persons involved and the paramedic units that respond to the scene they can be transported to one if not two or even more hospitals/medical facilities so ensuring adequate information is collected about the individuals being transported away is important. Another strategy commonly used is to send a police officer along with paramedics to the hospital.

On top of this it can also be a good idea to keep an eye out for individuals or even groups, depending on the crime, that are acting suspiciously. A number of criminals, depending on their psychological makeup (as well as other influences) are known to stick around the crime scene and observe the ‘goings on’.

Having gotten the situation under control, offering first aid where needed while keeping an eye out for likely suspects or offenders first responders also need to take care of another aspect touched on earlier – security. As one is likely aware the role of first responders requires a large amount of multi-tasking, and although all these requirements are being addressed somewhat separately in this article it really is more a case of doing them all at the same time.

While securing the physical scene those that are first on site should attempt to take note of any entrances or exits, while also noting the movements of individuals and vehicles, noting times, number plates and other descriptive elements. This will be invaluable information for the investigators, giving them a head start in the investigation and also ensuring any physical evidence is left un-tampered with through either deliberate or unintentional interference.

Upon the investigation team arriving it is the initial responders job to give them a run down of the crime scene, including providing them with any notes or diagrams they have taken or drawn. This, as previously stated, gives the investigation team a head start in rapidly receiving the information required to launch their investigation from.

Once investigators have officially taken control of the scene they begin looking for further clues, search the area and speak to any witnesses that are available. This is another case of first impressions counting as investigators only get one chance of doing an initial search. Goes without saying right? The point one is trying to make is that by conducting a search those on the scene disturb the area as they go over it, hence they only get one chance at gaining a true impression of what the location was like when the incident took place.

While always expressing care with evidence collection those tasked with the job must also act quickly for a number of reasons. Firstly, depending on the evidence, it can deteriorate, get washed away by rain, get contaminated by other outside influences. Further to this, depending on the location of the incident, the area might need to be opened to the public again as soon as possible – it is unlikely that the only staircase in a multistory unit block can be kept closed for an extended period of time, the same goes for public roads and various other types of locations.

Lastly investigators need to be discriminatory when it comes to what constitutes evidence and what doesn’t as collecting too much evidence and submitting it for processing can overwhelm even the biggest of forensic laboratories. As you would expect, the nature of the incident will have a large influence over what evidence is constituted as useful. If you are investigating a plane crash such as the tragedy of Flight 103 http://www.lifetakers.com/the-lockerbie-tragedy-flight-103 then the size of the crime scene will be 1000′s of times larger than if the incident was a murder that took place in a single room of a house.

Once evidence has been identified as important then it is imperative that a large a sample as possible be collected to ensure testing can be carried out on it. Larger samples are not only cheaper to test but a defense attorney or defense team may ask for samples of the evidence so as to have their own experts examine them. This is becoming a much more common scenario with both prosecutors and defense lawyers presenting their own ‘expert’ witnesses with contradicting analyses.

One very important thing to keep in mind when apparent evidence has been detected, and this is another one of those situations that you would think went without saying, but it is absolutely essential that those on the scene do not attempt to ‘connect the dots’ then and there. What is meant by this is an investigator should never take two separate pieces of evidence that they think are somehow connected and try to connect them, as this will be done later in a laboratory under strict protocols to prevent the evidence from being contaminated, damaged etc. For (an unlikely) example, a rape victim is found to have teeth marks on her shoulder – and investigators find a pair of false teeth at the scene that they believe match the teeth marks on her person. Under no circumstances should they attempt to match the teeth with the marks on her as this will destroy the evidences value (let alone cause the person involved additional psychological trauma).

It is for this reason that evidence samples are stored separately from one another under very regulated protocols, and depending on the type of evidence it will also be kept away from sources of light, heat and sometimes even refrigerated such as the case with biological materials.

In addition to collecting evidence from the scene, and depending on the crime, forensics experts or investigators will search any detained suspects as well as take evidence from the unfortunate victims. No matter who undertakes these searches the processes and procedures will be exactly the same – every piece of evidence is carefully put into a sealed bag and documented with notes about its current condition and where it was found (on the ground, on a person etc.). Without this documentation the evidence is useless when conducting a trial as even with a chain of custody there is still no way to prove where the evidence was collected, or when the evidence was collected – a gold mine for a defense attorney.

Lastly it is also important to remove suspects from the scene as soon as possible (if caught at the scene) and if caught elsewhere, to try and avoid bringing them back to the scene as every contact leaves behind evidence through transference. The reasons for this are to avoid giving suspects the ability to claim that footprints, or other evidence, are there as a result of the visits they made to the scene of the crime directly after it had been committed. Another aspect of this final stage is ensuring that all eyewitnesses or people with any sort of witness information are kept away from each other in order to avoid contamination that is to ensure independence of their statements.

The Boeing 747 aircraft disappeared from radar screens before slamming into the ground with the force of a small earthquake on top of the small town of Lockerbie. As a result the 259 people on board as well as 11 people in the town were killed.

At the time, investigators had no clue as to why the aircraft had broken up mid air but thoughts quickly fell towards foul play due to the way the wreckage had spread across a large proportion of the Scottish countryside in two distinct trails – any seasoned investigator would know that this generally meant a sudden separation of the two halves, creating the two distinct trajectories.

However with every general rule one still needs to prove the assumption scientifically and in the case of this particular tragedy that means collecting every piece of evidence available, an enormous task at the best of times but when you consider the wreckage was spread over almost 2,600km in 4 million individual fragments the phrase ‘needle in a hay stack’ doesn’t really cut it when searching for the cause.

That being said the experts involved in this particular investigation did an absolutely breathtaking job reconstructing the entire plane from its debris. Each individual piece was taken to a military depot near Carlisle, Scotland where they tried to seamlessly connect each piece with the next.

Upon analysis of the debris that fell in certain areas it was found that the pieces of the aft luggage hold had fallen in a particularly small area whereas the fragments of the forward hold were spread much more widely. What this suggested to forensic investigators was that the aft luggage area had been one of the first parts of the aircraft to break up and unsurprisingly let them to begin suspecting a bomb had been placed in luggage.

This suspicion was confirmed when two of the cargo containers that were on the aircraft were found to have blast damage from a high velocity explosive. Upon closer inspection a tiny fragment of printed circuit board (PCB) was found embedded in a crease having been forced into it by the energy of the blast. This was then traced to a particular model of Toshiba radio/cassette player and it was established that this not only contained the explosive but also other fragments revealed that the cassette player had been concealed inside a brown suitcase which had been loaded in on the outside of a container so as to be closest the aircraft’s outer skin.

All of the aircraft’s various fragments were sent to the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnbrough, England and courtesy of computer technology a three dimensional re-construction was able to establish the breakup sequence. The flight recorders also shed light onto the sequence of events as the explosion was clearly heard on the cockpits voice recorder before a total power outage prevented further audio from being captured. Further to this, parts of the cables that held the curtains up that screened the luggage containers were found inside one of the engine air intakes – a sure fire sign that the fuselage had broken up while the engines were still running.

In addition to the forensic methods already mentioned blast analysis experts conducted a series of tests to try and establish the amount of explosives used by the terrorists. Using identical radio/cassette players and identical baggage compartments they were able to ascertain over a series of explosions that only 1kg of explosive had been used in the attack. The damage caused by the initial explosion aboard the aircraft was carefully compared with the resultant damage from their experiments and this also contributed to them being able to establish the amount of explosive used.

Subsequently the position of the luggage within the hold showed that the offending bag, that is, the one that contained the cassette player, had been transferred from a connecting flight arriving from Frankfurt before the doomed Flight 103 was due to take off from London. Clothing fibres that were also found in the luggage were able to be traced to Malta, and had only arrived in Frankfurt the day before. Further enquiries traced the clothing to unknown Libyan’s and it wasn’t until some 12 years later, under threat of economic sanctions, that the Libyan government identified the two terrorists as members of their own intelligence services.

Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah and Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi were put on trial in a specially convened court in Holland and were held under Scottish Law – representing the victim’s country. Then on January 31st, 2001 after a gruelling nine month trial Fhimah was acquitted but thankfully Al Megrahi was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, to be served in Glasgow’s Barlinnie Prison.

X-Ray Diffraction
The whole purpose of x-ray diffraction is to determine the atomic structure of a substance, but how does it work i hear you ask. By firing x-rays at a sample of the substance results can be recorded onto a sheet of photographic paper when said rays collide with the its own atoms.

The X-rays bounce off and form unique patterns on the photographic paper based upon the nature of the atoms they actually hit.

Electrophoresis
When it comes to DNA profiling there are a number of different procedures that can be conducted on biological matter in order to determine a genetic fingerprint. One of the ways that this biological matter is separated is through electrophoresis. Both blood and semen can be submitted to this process – it uses an electric current in order to separate the different sized molecules in proteins, enabling them to be submitted for further analysis.

Chromatography
There are a number of different methods that exist in chromatography, all of which are based around a similar scientific principle and all of which have been scientifically proven. It is primarily used to identify different chemicals as in dyes, drugs and residue found in dirt. It also has the ability to identify DNA, proteins and genes from tiny samples. At the end of the day the process is designed in such a way that it separates out the various components from each substance in order for them to be identified.

Spectrometry
After individual components of a sample have been separated is when this forensic method comes into its own. What it does is test a components light absorption and reflection qualities by by using a device called a spectrophotometer. By using this device, forensic experts are able to see exactly which colours of light are affected by a sample, and subsequently compare the obtained sample with samples of material they already have in their databases with results represented in graphs.

Mass Spectrometry
While it contains the title of the previous forensic technique, the actual methods utilised are completely different to its predecessor. Mass spectrometry uses high energy electrons in order to literally ‘knock’ electrons out of the samples molecules which in turn causes them to fall apart. After this process is completed a mass spectrometer uses an electrical or magnetic field to measure each individual pieces mass.

Particular molecules will always break into a predictable range of pieces with no chance that two different molecules will break into identical pieces. Given this, forensic professionals are able to take any sample of material and ascertain exactly what chemical components are within it.

Neutron Activation Analysis
This is one of the most amazing and accurate forensic techniques in the book – not that forensic techniques are ever inaccurate, but this particular method can detect whether atoms from a particular element are present in a sample down to levels as low as one part per billion. This particular forensic method exposes samples to gamma rays in order to look through to the centre of an atom within a sample thereby identifying what atoms are actually present. It is used to detect trace elements in not only drugs and gunpowder but also metals, paint, soil and hair.

But what is forensic ballistics exactly? What is included in this field?

First off, a definition; Firearms identification (forensic ballistics) is defined as “The identification of fired bullets, cartridge cases or other ammunition components as having been fired from a specific firearm.”
Technically the field of forensic ballistics falls inside toolmark identification, as the gun used, being of a harder substance than the bullets being fired from it, leaves its own unique markings on each round as it exits the barrel – just like a pickaxe when swung with force leaves markings on the stone it collides with.
In addition to the well known facets that a firearm examiner undertakes in their daily activities (comparing rounds recovered from victim’s bodies to rounds test fired in a lab) they are also responsible for:

1. Testing of firearms, making sure they function correctly.
2. Examining garments of clothing and other items for gunpowder residue and shot patterns in an attempt to establish the distance from the victim of the attacker.
3. Determining the manufacturer and the calibre of ammunition components including standard rifle or handgun rounds as well as shotgun/shell ammunition.
4. Determine what model or manufacturers weapon has fired a particular round or shell.

Further to these analyses firearms examiners are required to give written reports detailing their findings as well as give expert testimony in criminal proceedings.

In time, we plan to discuss the science of toolmark identification with a main focus on forensic ballistics as well as add additional educational resources and information on how to get into this field.

How does this all work though i hear you ask?

Back in the 15th century in Vienna a gentleman by the name of Jaspard Zoller invented what is known as ‘rifling’ – this was added to weapon barrels of all sizes to enable the projectiles to spin along their long axis, gyroscopically stabilising the round and improving their stability and accuracy during flight.

In the past, as with muskets and other weapons that were loaded through the muzzle, there was no rifling within their barrels, assigning them to the category known as ‘smoothbore’. In addition to this, due to the fact that they were loaded with a single round at a time through the muzzle, the ammunition for smoothbore rifles and other weapons was very loose fitting. Subsequently, when firing these types of weapons the ball-round bounces down the barrel as opposed to travelling smoothly in a single direction, and as you can imagine, when leaving the barrel the trajectory of this type of ammunition is inaccurate and unpredictable to say the least.

While rifling was invented in the 15th century it did not become commonplace in weapons until the 19th century.

It is this rifling that gives firearms examiners the ability to compare a bullet removed from a victim to other rounds test fired in a forensics lab. Here’s an example…

A victim has been shot with a handgun and the round has been recovered from their body. Later, the police arrest a suspect and find a handgun in his car. Both the recovered round and the handgun are sent to a firearm examiner who test fires the weapon, usually into a water tank, so they can recover the round easily and without any damage to it.

If this was a smoothbore weapon it would be impossible to determine whether the rounds had been fired from the same weapon or not but as the weapon is modern and has rifling, we can. The rifling imprints the same unique marks on each round as it travels along the barrel and leaves the weapon. Studies have shown that weapons can fire thousands of rounds without ever having to worry about the rifling suffering abnormalities or damage that change the marks it leaves on rounds (although this has been called into speculation recently by a National Research Counsel report)

The examiner then users a special macroscope called a comparison macroscope to examine both rounds next to each other. That’s right, macroscope – a microscope generally magnifies to levels above 100x while a macroscope for use in ballistic analysis generally magnifies to a selection between 10x and 50x at the most.

This device is simply two macroscopes side by side connected via an optical bridge and then linked to a computer screen. By having a brace under each macroscope that the firearm expert can manipulate he or she is able to align the striations on the round as made by the rifling, in an attempt to find a match.

Our next article in this series will examine the actual methodology used by a forensic examiner when they conduct comparisons of this nature and we will also have a closer look at the different equipment used.

Forensic pathology is yet another important field within the forensic sciences, yet not for those with a weak stomach. If you have ever seen how they conduct an autopsy you’ll know what i’m talking about, and for those of you that haven’t, just imagine systematically slicing open sections of the body and organs, including removing the brain, emptying the stomach and a few other things that although necessary, look very macabre – like something out of Silence of the Lambs.

That being said, without forensic pathologists we wouldn’t have anybody to identify peoples bodies, nor would we have anybody to establish a cause of death which is something that is unfortunately needed in the vast majority of forensically related cases. Continuing throughout our pathology section we will be adding all types of resources for those interested in this field, and we are open to suggestions as to the type of content we should include. Please feel free to comment below.

Forensic Psychology

Victims Support Services

Sexual Predators / Rapists / Pedophiles

General Crime Related