Fingerprint technology tackles USA cold cases

[charlton97]

Folks, here is an interesting article on two fronts. One, the technology, and two, the processes used by the expert concerned in protecting against biasing influences.....interesting!!

Enjoy!

Fingerprint technology tackles USA cold cases


Dr John Bond hopes to be able to help solve an American double homicide, using his revolutionary fingerprinting techniques


Murder detectives in America hope fingerprint techniques developed by Northamptonshire experts will help solve a double homicide that has remained a mystery for a decade.
Forensic scientist Dr John Bond has created a method of retrieving prints from bullets which have already been fired, raising the possibility that hundreds of "cold cases" could now be deciphered.

Earlier this month, the Chronicle & Echo exclusively revealed the technique was being used by US Marines in the hope of tracking down terrorists who plant bombs.

Meanwhile, three police forces in America and two in the UK are exploring whether the method could be used to find killers, and today Dr Bond will meet detectives from Kingsland, Georgia, in the hope of solving a 1999 double murder.

The forensic expert, who is leading the research for the University of Leicester and Northamptonshire Police, said: "All I know about this case is that it is a double murder.

"Beyond that I don't want to know because the more I know about the circumstances, the more it might influence what I'm looking for.

"We have already had some success at enhancing partial fingerprints on shell casings for other police forces, where the cases were some years old, and conventional fingerprinting techniques had been tried and failed."

The cold case review is being led by Detective Christopher King, of Kingsland Police Department, who was due to arrive in Northampton last night with evidence from the murder scene.

Det King said: "The suspect(s) in this case entered a downtown business in the early afternoon, shot and killed the two employees and stole a small amount of cash.

"Four fired shell casings ejected from the suspect's pistol were recovered at the scene, and have been processed for latent fingerprints using traditional methods of dusting and fuming, with negative results.

"We contacted Dr Bond and were invited to bring the evidence to Northampton for processing in the hope that, with the Leicester process, a latent fingerprint might be located on the actual casing itself, which would help to bring more evidence against a possible suspect.

"While we understand that there is no guarantee of positive results, every possibility must be explored to bring the suspects to justice and closure to the victims' families."

[Gerald Clough]

Ah. The ignorance of the reporters. I hit the first part about fingerprints on fired "bullets" and thought, "Now that's really something! Can't wait to see how they managed that." Dang! It's just shell casings. Dr. Bond is a physicist who has indeed done considerable work on development on metallic surfaces. I wonder just what bias he worries about.

[Ann Horsman]

The term 'shell casings' is incorrect, it should read cartridge casings. Pistols don't fire shells, they are loaded with and fire cartridges. Shotguns are loaded with shotgun shells. Big difference! Yeah, I am nit picking.

[Pat A. Wertheim]

I've seen several papers published by university researchers over the past several decades, all of whom had discovered a supposedly reliable new technique for developing fingerprints on fired cartridge casings. None of them have lived up to the promise. There's something about a clean print in the laboratory that does not reproduce real life cases. When the researchers go out to the police firing range, rake up a thousand fired casings of various ages from the ground, and find usable fingerprints on a significant percentage, I'll believe it.