LIsa Black
Cape Coral, FL
Female, 49
I spent the five happiest years of my life in a morgue. As a forensic scientist in the Cleveland coroner’s office I analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. Now I'm a certified latent print examiner and CSI for a police department in Florida. I also write a series of forensic suspense novels, turning the day job into fiction. My books have been translated into six languages.
Nothing that is nationally famous.
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I’m not sure what you mean—when I decided to go into forensic science (in which case it would be “that sounds really cool, like I could solve mysteries without being a cop”) or more like my very first day on the job (which would be “I hope I don’t screw up “).
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My guess would be no. I would think the formaldehyde would destroy the DNA in the cells, though I don’t know for sure, and in any event they weren’t doing DNA in the 70’s so you’d have to find something of the person’s to compare the eyeball DNA. If you have something of the person’s retained from the 70’s, especially hair for example, perhaps there is mitochondrial DNA in some cell in the eyeballs that could still be obtained and compared to the mDNA from the hair.Otherwise I doubt ophthalmologists would take or save retinal scans back in the 70’s. Hope that helps. Best of luck!
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Usually we can assume what kind of cells will be on it depending on where it was collected from—if from a pop can, it will probably have saliva and skin cells. From underwear might have semen. If from a dark stain, probably blood. How long it takes depends on the type of analyses done and the type of DNA testing—STR, ySTR, mitochondrial, etc. It will take at least a day or two, and after that it depends on the lab’s backlog. We send our DNA to a state lab and it will take between a month and four months to get the results back. If detectives or prosecutors want it faster and someone’s budget is willing to pay for it, we can send it to a private, accredited lab and pay for a faster analysis. They can do it in as quickly as three days or up to a week or two depending on what you want to pay for. If you want it in a week it will cost a few thousand dollars—something like $600 a sample plus upcharges for expedited service and an overall charge, if I’m remembering correctly. If you want more like three days it will be more like $5000. That’s for the basic three samples—victim, suspect and questioned sample.
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I have no idea. They didn't have forensic science degrees when I went to school. But I will check with a friend of mine who teaches.
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Sure, email me at: lisa-black@live.com
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At a guess, I would suggest: slash marks that are too wide for a knife, some partially healed, would indicate animal claws inflicted at different times, but none deep enough or near vital arteries to cause bleeding out. Then water in the lungs would indicate drowning, though that is not always a definite indicator. Drowning is an elimination diagnosis, as in you eliminate other possible causes.
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