Name______Period______
Serology: It’s in the Blood Case Studies Questions (From the Crime Library)
Chapter 1: The Mad Carpenter
1. What was the crime committed in this case?
The brutal murder and dismembering of two young boys on the island of Rugen, off the coast of Germany
2. When questioned about the stains on his clothes, what did Ludwig Tessnow claim that they were?
Tessnow claimed that they were from wood dye
3. What could the test developed Paul Uhlenhuth be used for?
Then they heard about a test recently developed by a biologist, Paul Uhlenhuth, that could distinguish blood from other substances, as well as mark the difference between human and animal blood.
4. What did Uhlenhuth find when he examined Tessnow’s clothes?
Tessnow's clothing was given to Uhlenhuth for thorough examination and his conclusions marked a turning point in the history of forensic science. He found dye, but he also detected traces of both sheep and human blood.
5. What happened to Tessnow as a result of this new evidence?
With this evidence, Tessnow was charged, tried, convicted, and executed.
Chapter 2: Serology
1. What is serology?
The analysis of the properties and effects of serums (blood, semen, saliva, sweat, or fecal matter).
2. How many pints of blood are getting pumped through our bodies?
10
3. Who discovered the 4 different types of blood type in 1901?
Karl Landsteiner
4. What types of antigens are found on
a. A type red blood cells?
b. B type red blood cells?
c. O type red blood cells?
d. AB type red blood cells?
A = A, B = B, O = none, AB = A and B
5. The most common blood types are _____. The most rare blood type is ______.
A and O, AB
6. What is the difference between Rh + and Rh-?
It is Rh+ if the antigen (rhesus factor) is present in the red blood cells and Rh- if not.
7. What does the nuclei of female blood cells contain that male blood cells do not have?
Barr Body
8. What may cause presumptive tests used for testing for blood to be vulnerable to corruption (in other words, why may these tests not always be accurate?)
If other chemicals are present at the scene to which the test chemicals are sensitive, the presumptive tests may be vulnerable to corruption.
9. How does the luminol test work?
If nothing is seen, but there is reason to suspect blood had been present, a chemical called luminol is sprayed across the scene because it reacts to blood by making it luminescent. It only takes about five seconds. The procedure requires that the room be considerably darkened in order to see the faint bluish glow, and the intensity of the glow increases proportionately to the amount of blood present. It works even with old blood or diluted stains, and can illuminate smear marks where blood has been wiped away.
10 What is the problem with using the luminol test?
However, there is one problem with this test: luminol can destroy the properties of the blood that investigators need for further testing. Its use is limited to proving that blood is present even if not visible.
11. How does the Kastle-Meyer Color Test work?
The Kastle-Meyer Color Test uses a solution of phenolphthalein and hydrogen peroxide on a piece of filter paper, and when blood of any quantity is present, it turns pink. However, it also turns pink in the presence of potatoes or horseradish, so care must be taken at the scene.
12. How do the Takayama and Teichmann tests work?
Sometimes microcrystalline tests are also performed. The two most often used are the Takayama and Teichmann tests. Both add specific chemicals to the blood to make it form crystals with hemoglobin derivatives. These tests are also sensitive to other materials that may be present in a bloodstain.
13. What test is used to determine whether the blood is of animal or human origin?
Investigators use the precipitin test to determine whether the blood is of animal or human origin.
14. If someone is a secretor, what can investigators examine in order to figure out the individual’s blood type, besides blood?
.In the case of a secretor, investigators can tell the blood type by examining the saliva, teardrops, skin tissue, urine, or semen
Chapter 3: Blood Pattern Analysis
1. What does Kennedy say that bloodstain patterns can help investigators understand?
Bloodstain patterns," Kennedy says, "will help the investigators understand the positions and the means by which the victim and suspect moved, interacted, and struggled through the crime scene.
2. What can the shape of a blood stain illustrate?
The shape of the stain can illustrate the direction in which it was traveling and angle at which it struck the surface.
3. What are castoff patterns?
Drops that are thrown off of a swinging instrument in the arc of the swing
4. If blood falls a short distance (around 12 inches), the marks tend to be ______If blood falls several feet straight down, the edges may become ______
Circular, crenellated
5. If the source was in motion when the blood leaked or spurted, what do the blood drops generally look like?
If the source was in motion when the blood leaked or spurted, or if the drops flew through the air and hit an angled surface, the drops generally look like stretched-out exclamation marks.
6. What are shadows and what do they suggest?
Shadows'---the absence of blood where one would expect to find it---suggest movement or removal of objects and changes to the scene.
7. In the 1984 England case, what did blood patterns show about Graham Backhouse? Did they support or disprove what Backhouse claimed happened?
However, the blood patterns showed that Backhouse had been standing still or moving slowly when he was wounded, rather than being in the sort of struggle he described. Disproved.
8. In the People vs. Pallermo case, what did bloodstain patterns show about what actually happened?
"However, the bloodstain pattern analysis and computer models showed the defendant's rendition to have been an impossibility, and it placed the shooter across the room with the victim crawling into the corner to get away from the threat of the gun.
Chapter 4: Blood Trails, DNA, and O. J.
1. What did detectives find when they went to O. J. Simpsons’ home the night of the murder?
Going to his home on the night of the murder, detectives had noted a bloodstain on the door of his white Ford Bronco and a trail of blood leading up to the house
2. Blood tests that compared crime scene DNA with Simpson’s DNA indicated that the drops had ______(number) of factors in common and only one person in ______could produce an equivalent match.
3, 57 billion
3. Whose blood was found in Simpson’s car’s console?
Simpson’s and Goldman’s together
4. DNA analysis of the drops of blood at the crime scene revealed a 1 in______match to Simpson using RFLP and a 1 in ______match using PCR.
170 million, 240 million
5. What did Dr. Henry Lee testify was wrong about the DNA evidence used to match the crime scene blood to Simpson?
Dr. Henry Lee testified that there appeared to be something wrong with the way the blood was packaged, leading the defense to propose that the multiple samples had been switched. They also claimed that the blood had been severely degraded by being stored in a lab truck. Scheck suggested that the control samples had been mishandled by the lab—all five of them.
6. What was the verdict for the Simpson case?
Not guilty
7. What did the jury fail to understand?
They simply failed to understand how damning the DNA evidence really was and how ill-fitting was the defense's logic about certain aspects of the blood at the crime scene.
8. Do you think Simpson was guilty? Why or Why not?
Chapter 5: Analysis Gone Wrong
1. What did Lindy claim caused Azaria’s disappearance one night when her family was camping near Ayers Rock?
A dingo
2. What did a hiker discover 8 days after Azaria’s disappearance?
Eight days later a hiker discovered baby Azaria's clothing in a crumpled heap west of Ayer's Rock.
3. What was so odd about Azaria’s clothes that were found?
Only the baby's jacket was missing, but oddly, her undershirt was inside out and the booties were neatly laced up inside the jumpsuit. On the neck of the jumpsuit and undershirt were bloodstains that were later thought to be consistent with the type of stain that would result from a knife cut, not a bite. There were also no tooth marks on the clothing.
4. What evidence found led to Lindy’s conviction of Azaria’s murder?
There also appeared to be two bloodstained prints on the jumpsuit made by the hands of a small adult, like a woman. A search of the Chamberlain's car produced what appeared to be the blood of an infant on the seats and on a pair of scissors in the vehicle.
5. What was found four years after the trial that eventually led to Lindy’s release from prison?
Azaria’s jacket
Chapter 6: Putting It All Together
1. What did investigators find when they searched Chris Campano’s house shortly after the disappearance of his wife?
A huge brownish patch on the bedroom carpet alerted them to the possibility that it was blood
2. What four tests were used to determine whether the stain discovered was blood?
A hemastick, luminol, blood volume through stain recreation, and DNA analysis Reverse paternity test
3. Based on the splatter patterns revealed using luminol, what did investigators think happened to the victim?
Piecing together from the splatter patterns what might have occurred, they felt certain that the victim had received numerous blows to the head with a blunt object, which collectively would have been fatal.
4. Investigators estimated that a person the size of Caren Campano would have lost at least ______% of her blood
40
5. Could Caren have survived losing that much blood?
No
6. What was found a year after Caren’s disappearance that eventually led to Chris being convicted of his wife’s murder?
Finally, a year after her disappearance, they located Caren's remains, which by this time were mostly skeletal.
Chapter 7: New Chapter Ambiguous Evidence: Suicide or Murder?
1. What did Rod Englert claim caused the mist of blood on Craig’s pants? What did this mean?
Blowback from the spray released upon impact from a bullet, which meant that Craig was nearby when Robert was shot
2. What did Englert claim the blood on Robert’s hands indicated?
Blood on Robert's hands, Englert said, indicated that it was impossible that he had shot himself. It seemed instead to have come from contact with blood on the floor.
3. What did Dr. Michael Cihak think about the way the pistol had to have been held for Robert to have committed suicide?
He seemed to think it was unlikely that anyone would have chosen that position to shoot himself, and showed how awkward it was.
4. What did Stuart James find could have caused the mist of blood on Craig’s pants?
James had done an experiment to support his analysis. He withdrew his own blood, put it into his mouth, and coughed against the same type of material from which the suspect's pants were made. The droplets he produced were similar in size and shape to those found on the pants. When questioned, he said that the velocity of his cough would have been similar to that of Robert Perry.
5. What decision did the jury announce on this case after two days of deliberation?
On June 25, 2004, after two days of deliberations, the jury announced its decision: Craig Perry was acquitted of killing his uncle. Even the blood spatter evidence was ambiguous enough to allow for reasonable doubt.