Witness Experiment

My assembled face

For this activity, we were put into groups and asked to go through magazines and find pictures of faces that were all roughly the same size. We then cut them out and cut them into pieces (eyes, nose, mouth, etc.) After everyone was through, we put all of the pieces in a pile, and everyone made a mismatched face. We showed the face to the person to our left, then mixed the pictures up again, and each person was to re-create the face they had been shown. This tested their ability to remember faces and, in turn, th\eir effectiveness as a witness. It turns out, I’m pretty detail oriented, so I found it easy.

Poison Lab

I was absent for this particular activity, but it is my understanding that the class was given six different substances and six reagents to prove the poison. They tested things like household chemicals that can be fatal if used excessively, sugar water, which is dangerous to diabetics, and substances with traces of metal.

Drug Lab

For this lab, we were given a collection of liquid substances. We were to take the pH of the substance and put a drop of reagent into it to test for the presence of Cocaine, LSD, and Methamphetamine. This showed us how a forensic investigator could test blood or drinks for the presence of drugs. Unfortunately, we were not supplied with the reagent to test the substances that were positive for meth, but we understood the overall meaning of the drug test.

Lip Print Activity

For this experiment, everyone (including the boys) was to put lip gloss on and kiss a notecard. We then analyzed the prints, writing observations such as ‘bottom lip is fuller than top’, or ‘scar on top right lip’. We saw that each person’s lip print was different, and they could possibly be used as a piece of evidence.  After this, each member of the group applied their lip prints to a sheet of paper, and another group had to determine which print belonged to who based on our personalized notecards.

Footprint Analysis

 For this lab we were separated into groups and given a tub of substance; dirt, clay, wet sand, etc. We each stepped on the substance to create a footprint and analyzed them. My group deducted that male's footprints were generally bigger, with deeper treads than the female's.

My Information:

Weather Conditions: Partly Cloudy

Temperature: 75˚ F

Wind Strength/ Direction: Nw 20-25

Relative Humidity: 67%

Most Recent Precipitation: Day before

Substrate: Dirt

Number of Tracks Identified: 1

Length: 25.5 cm

Width:  9 cm

Crime Scene Investigation

We were put into groups and given a handful of clues to knit together a crime scene.



Reads: Please forgive me, I love you all!



Clue 1 -Ripped Up Note:  

 -We decided it was not a suicide because the handwriting matched Lucas Moore’s

-Flowy

-The letters are connected

-G’s curl at bottom, I’s are dotted high and to the right

Clue 2- Hair:

-Caucasian

Clue 3-Print:

-Plain Arch

Clue 4- Dyed Liquid:

-pH=8

-Not drugs

-Not sugar water, aspirin, ammonia, cyanide, or iodine

Clue 5/6- Photos:

-Rotting Skull; active decay stage, 20-50 days after death

-Maggots; butyric fermentation

Clue 7-Footprints:

-Victim’s footprint; height: 6 7/8 in, width: 4 in, athletic treads, running (?), young child

-Perpetrator’s footprint; height: 11 in, width: 4 in, athletic treads, running (?), man

Clue 8-Lifted Print:

-Ulnar loop

Clue 9-Additional Fingerprint:

-Double loop whorl

Clue 10- Fiber:

-looks synthetic, braided, nylon (?)

Clue 11- Syringe

Decided Guilty:

Lucas Moore: fingerprints are both plain arch, hair matches, handwriting matches

Suspected Scenario:

       Lucas Moore’s wife divorced him, taking their young son. He soon went crazy and was admitted to a mental institute. He broke out, stealing what he thought was a drug (unknown substance and syringe). He left a suicide note for the mother, planning on taking the kid. He waited in the woods for his son to pass by on his way home from school. He tried to take the boy, but the child fought back, explaining the missing tooth on the skeleton and the handful of hair (clue 2). Moore accidentally killed his son and fled the scene.