CLPEX Chat Board

Does anybody know what the oldest developed latents are? Some of the literature state 30 years on porous surfaces. Yet I seem to recall a post on this site that mentioned prints developed on documents much older than 30 years. Something about prints developed on Native American treaties?

If this rings a bell or you know of an example beyond 30-40 years old please let me know.

Thanks,

Mike French
KCSO Latent Lab
mike.french@metrokc.gov

Hello Mike!!

I know the FBI developed prints on a postcard from a Nazi war criminal that was hiding in the US (he was a cardinal or bishop in the Catholic church). They used laser only because the German mueseum that had the postcard did not want it damaged. I believe the JFI had an article on it.

Mike,
Two years ago I remodeled my grandparents home that my grandfather built in 1941. I took out areas of the walls and updated the electrical. On a metal Electrical box was a perfectly etched (AFIS VALUE) fingerprint on the back side that had been preserved for approx. 62 years. I was very impressed.

Hi Mike,
I know I have read something about the prints developed on NA treaties as well. I believe these were recovered with Physical Developer, though I have not been able to find the source. "Advances in Fingerprint Technology" does not refer to this study, though there is a section that mentions a 50-year-old print developed with Ninhydrin. I suggest you start by searching for articles on Physical Developer. It has been successful many times in cases that are up to 20 years cold.

The article on the 40 year latent developed by laser appears in Identification News, 34:10 (1984) under 'Interesting Case' by Nick Stames. It was also published in Fingerprint Whorld, 10:40 (1984) under 'Laser Miracle' with no author cited. The 'non-destructive' laser was requested by the (then) West German Government as the postcard came from archives associated with Heinrich Himmler.

The posting you remember was in reference to some research that was done a few years back on a stack of recently-uncovered documents on which Native Americans had placed their hands 100 years earlier. The idea at the time was to trace the outline of their hands and compare hand geometry of populations. The documents had remained untouched until recently, when they were donated for latent print developer research. I believe the project was done by a federal agency utilizing grant resources, and I am unsure on the status of publication. The details were related over the course of a 5 minute telephone conversation on fingerprint aging, and a one-sentence reference was included in a paper I published in the JFI entitled "Latent Print Age Determination... Is There Any Hope?"
-Kasey Wertheim

Although I cannot cite the source, somewhere in the deep dark recesses of my increasingly "mushy" mind, I recall reading somewhere about the alleged successful ninhydrin development of friction skin impressions on papyrus retrieved from inside a pyramid - somthing like 2000 years old. This info would date back to the very late 1960's during the introduction of ninhydrin to our profession.
Doug Monsoor

I know this case doesn't illustrate the oldest prints, but I think it illustrates what can be accoplished.

Last year I was asked to look at a rape and homicide of a sixteen year old female (happened 10-28-1984). The crime happened on the side of a railroad tracks; and sometime during the commission of the crime the perpetrator emptied out the contents of the girl's pocketbook. Most of this included personal papers and polaroid photos. It rained heavily the night of the murder so everything was wet and muddy. Also, a crime scene tech at the original scene processed everything with black powder (unbelievable as it sounds).

Not sure what to do with it, I called Vicki Inlow of the Secret Service and she was nice enough to accept it. Donald Seifert of the Secret Service processed the papers and old photos and obtained over a dozen usable latent prints. I wasn't able to match any of them to a suspect; but some did match the victim. I was, and am, impressed by the USSS.