Our Own Amusement

There is a room in the lab called the wet lab where crime scene techs package all their stuff. In this room, there is a vault where they keep things until they're logged into property. This vault has a door with a little window.

On the door there was a sign that stated “Loaded Gun on Shelf!!!” (Yes, 3 exclamation points)

So, I screamed the note out loud to Belinda, who was in the wet lab with me, with enthusiasm, like it was intended to be read. Then, being naturally curious, I looked in the window to the vault. On the shelf in the lab there was another note, “Loaded gun” and on that shelf there was a box (presumably containing said gun, which, by the way, I’ve inferred was loaded) and written on that box was “loaded”.

I told Belinda I wanted to go outside of the wet lab to put up a sign, “Loaded Gun on Shelf in Vault!!!!”

To which she countered that she wanted to go outside of the building and make a note, “Loaded Gun on Shelf in Vault in Wet Lab!!!!!”

We just found it ridiculous how many times it said there was a loaded gun, as if the gun being loaded is somehow remarkably dangerous if it’s sitting on a shelf. Like they just go off by themselves or they’re extremely flammable or volatile or something. Plus, it was the end of the day and I was with Belinda and we make each other laugh. And I may have been dancing around and making wild hand gestures about the loaded gun on the shelf in the vault in the wet lab.

I texted Belinda like 3 or 4 times last night telling her there was a loaded gun on the shelf in vault in the wet lab. It was hilarious.

And thus, it will always make me laugh.

Good story.


End Blog.

Speedwalking Is Not My Idea of a Vacation

So, it's finally come to pass. I quit the sports walk after completing 1.25 miles (5 laps) instead of the 2.25 (9 laps) I was supposed to complete. It was a combination of things - not wanting to totally screw my back again, being super out of shape and not being able to breathe properly, the extra poundage I carry around with me everyday now, and the fact that you have to walk... which I still think is ridiculous. It's so fast! Also, I had to slow down since my back was tweaking, and I knew that at the speed I was going, I wouldn't make it... by maybe half a lap or so. So, I accepted the fact that I couldn't do it without really hurting myself and decided that those two vacation days just weren't worth it to me, especially if my back health was at stake. My muscles are still too tight, which the chiropractor even commented on today.

I get, like, 14 vacation days and two personal days off a year. And when I'm there for 5 years, I'll get 18. Plus, I had a hard time using all my days this year. Probably because I didn't take a real vacation this year. So, with the days I took at Thanksgiving, I still had 7 left. Which means I have 7 days to take at the end of the year near Christmas, or I lose them.

Regardless, the whole point of this is to reward people who are in good shape. And because I'm not really in good shape, I think that's a bad idea. You see, they have this thing at work where you can take an hour to go workout in the middle of the day. Right in the middle of your work day. So, you're exercising instead of working and still getting paid. And by doing that, you're getting in better shape so you can complete this sports walk thing. So, you do the sports walk and get rewarded with more time off. So really, the biggest slackers at work - those who take off for an hour in the middle of the day - those are the ones being rewarded with vacation time.

Now, the hard working folks who stay at their desks, those poor slobs aren't in shape enough to win days off. Which is really a shame because they are the hard workers who deserve a reward. Those are the people there all day, everyday. It hardly seems fair.

I could be one of the people that takes off in the middle of the day to workout, but the free gym we have a membership to had a shooting in front of it. And since that happened, I haven't been back. I mean, what's more important, my health or my life?

I'm nothing if not really good at making up good excuses. Besides, I win at a whole lot of other things in life.


End Blog.

Everyday Things

You know, as I was walking down the hall at work today, I thought to myself, "If anyone else saw this, they would think it was unusual. Funny how I see it just about every day."

I was looking at a shopping cart full of long guns being pushed down the hall by a woman. (Things in the rifle/shotgun family... you know, the long kind... It's a technical term.)

The guns were coming to the lab to be logged into property, but for some reason it just struck me as odd today, though I've seen it a hundred times. It seems like something you should see The Joker doing in a Batman movie.

Anyway, thought I'd share... yay random thoughts.


End Blog.

Bloodstain Pattern Analysis

This last week I attended a 40 hour bloodstain pattern analysis class taught by Mike Van Stratton, Holly Wasinger, and Kevin Winer. They are three of only 32 certified bloodstain pattern analysis experts in the United States. Maybe some day I will join their ranks, because I know that I would love to.

The class involved lecture and practical exercises where we broke into teams to observe first hand what types of patterns blood makes when certain events occur. After learning all of the various patterns possible, we determined the characteristic size, shape, appearance, and distribution of stains, learned how to describe them, and how to document a scene.

The final exam included a written test and a practical exercise where we had a staged crime scene. This was probably the most fun and educational training I've ever had. Where else do you get to throw blood around?

Here are some pictures of my team in action. Here we are observing target surface effects on the bloodstain patterns.


This is an experiment observing blood dripping from tools or other possible beating instruments. It's surprising how much blood must be on an item to actually drip off of it.


Here we are putting blood on objects and looking at transfer and contact patterns. I also had my hand in blood, which makes this picture of a bloody hatchet even cooler.


We also did impact pattern studies where we made our own stains. I just got finished hitting a pool of blood with a hammer. Don't try this at home. It's really messy. Even in my Tyvek suit and face shield, I still managed to get blood on my neck. You can see the stains on my clothing and face shield, but if you look closely, there are even impact stains on my neck. Awesome.


This is a projected bloodstain, and a really neat picture. There was some force here, as seen by the spines and radiating stains.


Here one of our instructors is demonstrating another kind of projected blood characteristic of arterial spurts.


This was our first stringing project. We did really well on it, as our area of convergence and area of origin are relatively small. Turns out trigonometry is useful after all.


This is my favorite target. I made it myself! This was blood dripping down a pipe which was then rolled across the floor. Notice the repeating pattern and dilution as it moves on. Someone else liked it too because I didn't take this picture, another team did. Obviously I have a future in modern art.


We did some other experiments as well, but I either didn't want to bore you or didn't have really good pictures of them.

The last pictures are of our final scene. It was a domestic dispute in the kitchen. We determined it was a beating with a cast iron frying pan.




This says: KU, KSU: A marriage made in heaven. Heaven was crossed out in blood and hell was written by it. I pretty much just laughed the whole time. Also - see the phone on the floor in the picture above? When we turned it over, the 9 and 1 had blood on them: Somebody called 911. I thought that was a pretty nice touch for a mock crime scene.


Here is our scene as we started stringing the impact sites. We had three of them in all, which was the most out of everyone. I think they just like making me do math a lot.


Overall it was an excellent class. I had fun learning (because I'm a big dork) and met some great people. I think my team did a good job as well, minus that pairing knife that was stuffed inside the oven mitt that took us forever to find.

I think I'm now one step closer to having my own TV show. Just call me Dexter.


End Blog.

Conviction

We had a big meeting at work today about my testimony yesterday. Mostly a critique, what I could have done better, what we as a section need to do better, and overall preparation for court. But, I was told that I did a good job on the stand and was very professional. There were a few lessons learned, and I hate learning them under the gun, but overall I think we got the outcome everyone expected.

Jury Finds Teen Guilty Of Killing Friend's Mother
Teen Found Guilty In Grain Valley Slaying
Teen Convicted of Killing Best Friend's Mother

Someday I hope that testimony becomes second nature, but getting so few opportunities to actually do it, it's kinda hard to get experience. I suppose there really is no other way though.

Eddie George found guilty at age 18... will spend the rest of his life in jail without the possibility of parole. Kids, take note. Be kind to your parents. This didn't have to happen.


End Blog.

Nikki's First Murder Trial

I testified in Jackson County court, finally, after working in the lab for slightly over two years. Although, it was in the Independence Annex, so I still have yet to testify in the Jackson County Courthouse proper. Regardless, this is my second time taking the stand, and my first murder trial.

Without going into details (maybe you'll get lucky sometime after the trial is over), here is information on the case, courtesy of the local news.

Teen's Confession: I Stabbed Her So Hard the Knife Broke
Prosecutors: Boys Planned to Kill Parents for Months
Dad Takes Stand In Grain Valley Murder Trial

The courtroom was totally packed. I imagine it was family and press, although I don't know. But, there was definitely press there. A lot of them. And a video camera. Although my testimony was rather boring, so I doubt I'll make the news. If only I would have had a really great sound bite, I might have made it. But nothing I can do is going to be more sensational than putting the grieving husband on television.

The two kids in this case are both being tried separately, as adults – so the fun news is that I get to do this trial all over again come August.

I'm glad I didn't go cruising for news stories before I testified. The 911 call and Joe Marquez's testimony were pretty difficult to hear, especially after having seen the crime scene and morgue photos at work.

I'm sure the jury has an important, yet difficult, decision to make. I'm glad I was on the other end of the witness stand.


End Blog.

Bringing Home the Bacon

Okay, so I guess I had always known that if people really wanted to see my salary it would be possible to find. I work for the city, so I'm sure there's a public record of it... somewhere. Well, The Kansas City Star has conveniently posted them online, for anyone to search. So awesome.

So, if you know my last name or job title, and are curious to know how much money I'm raking in, you can check it out. (Even though it's not entirely accurate. I know how much money I make. I'll just let you know that it's more than what they're listing. I think they might have records from last year.)

Kansas City Police Department salary database

You might get conned into registering with a username and password and junk, but then again, you might not. I've seen it work both ways.

And if you happen to know someone in Johnson County, or you want to see the huge salary differences between Kansas City and Johnson County, that might be good for a laugh... Actually, I'll save you the effort, people there part-time are making approximately the same amount as I am. Those that are full time are around $18,000 more - and I'm picking people with the same-ish number of years experience.

But they don't get triple homicides to work, like we do.


End Blog.

If you'd like to see other people's salaries, here's a fun list:
Missouri universities salary database
State of Missouri government salary database
Kansas City salary database
Johnson County salary database

Crime Scene Ride Along

These two stories come from the Kansas City Star and are related to what I was doing tonight at work:

Woman’s body found near Cliff Drive

Kansas City police are investigating the death of a woman whose body was spotted by a walker about 11:15 this morning near a wooded area at Cliff Drive and Lexington Avenue.

Police reported seeing obvious signs of foul play and have ruled the death a homicide. They did not release a cause of death.

Police identify body

Kansas City police have identified a woman whose body was found in a wooded area at Cliff Drive and Lexington Avenue as Denise A. Williams, 24, of Kansas City.

Police said there were definite signs of foul play and are investigating the case as a homicide, the department’s 65th of the year. Police did not release the cause of death but said the body had not been there long.

A walker spotted the body and called police.

Anyone with information about the case should call the Tips Hotline at 816-474-TIPS (474-8477).

Mike Rice | mrice@kcstar.com


I know what the foul play and cause of death were. =P I just spent 5 hours at the scene of the murder. The body in the park was obviously dumped there. Crime scene still has the car to process in the morning. I left as they were still packaging evidence this evening (morning?). And, I was on the lucky end of it. Other CSTs "got" to go dumpster diving tonight, and let me just tell you, they smelled like they most definitely had been.

I'm glad to be home, safe, and on my way to bed. I'm sorry that Denise Williams has made it to her final rest, but we're working on getting the suspect. I'm hopeful the 65th homicide of the year will be solved.


End Blog.

Trace Symposium: Clearwater, FL

The trace symposium in Clearwater, Florida was very informative and actually quite fun. I met some of the leaders in the field whose papers I've been reading for the past few years. We had morning presentations at 7am that were not mandatory, and yet, I still got up to watch them since they were so interesting.

One was about Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, and what went wrong with that trial. One of the guys who presented was the LA crime lab director. From all the things I had ever heard of the case, I thought there were problems collecting evidence from the scene. That was totally not the case - it was OJ's spin doctors that made me think that. They showed us the evidence that was "planted" by the police department, and how that just couldn't have happened. The problems were the prosecutors and defense attorneys not using the specialties of the lab personnel in the right way. They put on their own presentations without consultation. They made this a DNA case, when really, it shouldn't have been. We got to see all the trace evidence (mostly fiber evidence) that either never saw the light of day in a court room, or the importance of which was never understood because the judge wouldn't allow certain things to be said because they weren't properly discovered to the defense. It was fascinating. And while it's not my job to determine guilt or innocence if I'm not on the jury, from the crime scene photos and evidence, I can tell you that OJ Simpson was there... and it didn't appear that anyone else could have been.

Another case we got to see presented was that of the Green River Killer up in Washington. Holy crap... this one was scary. This guy - Gary Leon Ridgway - confessed to killing 48 women, and claims he couldn't remember all of them, but there could be upwards of 70 or more. He'd pick up runaways and prostitutes and kill them, then dump their bodies in groups of 3 or 4 in abandoned, desolate areas. He even said that sometimes he'd come back days after they were dead and have sex with the bodies.

These were all cold cases until the advent of PCR STR DNA technology came along, and they finally linked four of the dead women to him. But, knowing that he was the guy and that he must have killed more women, they called up Skip Palenik (a legend with microscopy) and asked if he could link any more of the women to him. In fact, he could. Unfortunately, it was only women who had been found with their clothing. He linked all the women through tiny balls of hallow paint that form when you spray paint something. It was a very specific kind of repaint from DuPont that was used to paint cars - or in this case Kenworth trucks - where Ridgway worked.

The DNA evidence never flustered Ridgway. Sure, he was known to visit prostitutes. So what? His DNA might be there, but he wasn't the one to kill those women. But when he and his lawyers heard of Skip's work... he made a plea. He promised to plea guilty and tell about all the other women, just as long as he didn't get the death penalty. The deal was made to give closure to families with missing loved ones. He confessed to 48 murders and got a life sentence for each - all because of spray paint.

One of the final "really cool" cases that was presented was that of the DC Sniper (John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo). There was LOTS of trace evidence to connect them, but I don't think any of it was presented in court. I think it was all about guns and bullets. But, I guess it didn't matter much, as they both got convicted.

Much of the symposium was about the influence of DNA on our field and how it's expected that there should be DNA evidence. Not like it was in "the good old days" before we had such technology. Frankly, it was kind of irritating. I don't care what evidence there is, as long as it builds a case against the correct bad guy. Both DNA and trace evidence are not infallible, but when used in combination, they can be much more convincing.

Also, we talked about working trace cases more quickly so that any information we find can be used as investigative leads. That works in a world where we don't have to worry about backlogs and is a fabulous idea. I just don't know how practical it is.

Overall, the symposium was great. I even got a Forensic Files pen. =) And nightly, a group of people would... mingle and make new contacts and share information while drinking alcohol.

The hotel was nice. It was right on the beach and had a lovely pool. And people played volleyball almost every night, although, I think they were a bit too serious and competitive for my liking, so I stayed out of the game. Overall, it was a good trip.






Oh, and I think because it was the trace symposium, they had to make sure that I was still looking at someone else's dirty underwear, even on the beach. Never forget where you come from...


(I know, I have such a glamorous job. Really, CSI doesn't do it justice.)

When I got back to the airport, I found that my car's battery was completely dead. Even my keyless entry didn't work. Did you know that there's no way to open my back hatch when the battery has died and it is locked? Me either. So, after stuffing my suitcase in my back seat, I called the airport service people and they came out and jumped my car... for THIRTY dollars. Because... that costs them a lot.

Anyway, my car is back in order and I still have no idea what drained my battery.

The good news is that I got to see part of the family my first night in Florida, and I swindled a coworker into waiting for my bag after I'd already waited an hour and it was nowhere in sight. I ate dinner with Bethany and the grandparents and made it to the hotel before my people even arrived. They had to wait for our bags for THREE hours. The excuse was something about lightning.

So, there were a few snafus in the overall plan, but the trip in general was pretty great. The food was pricey, but thankfully, I wasn't paying.


End Blog.

Temperature Extremes

Okay, so here's the deal: the outdoor temperature has felt like it's approximately 105 degrees Fahrenheit for the past several days, but the indoor temperature at the crime lab is currently 65 degrees Fahrenheit. That's a 40 degree temperature difference. Today, on casual Friday, I was wearing a long sleeved t-shirt and a sweatshirt all day. And I was slightly chilly. We're under an extended extreme heat warning and I'm shivering at work.

It's actually enjoyable to leave work and get into a 120 degree car just to warm up. Work is FREEZING. I'm sure the CSIs would kill me for complaining about it since they actually have to work in the heat... but man... I'm just about ready to switch places with them for a couple days.

So, if anyone ever asks me how the department could save money, I'd tell them that I would keep the lab 10 degrees warmer in the summer and save money on air conditioning.

40 degrees difference!!! That's completely insane.

End Blog.