Crime scene investigation

The Clues
Clue 1: High heeled shoe indicates a female victim or criminal.

Clue 2: Note that says “Someone please help me”, matches Tyese Jefferson’s handwriting.

Clue 2A: Note that says “You will never find her” indicates a murder and that the victim was female. The handwriting matches Smokey Johnson

Clue 3: Fingerprint- Plain whorl pattern, matches Smokey Johnson’s print

Clue 3A: Fingerprint- Ulnar loop that matches Sandra O’Connor and Tyese Jefferson

Clue 4: A piece of jewelry, indicates that either the victim or criminal was a female. Also indicates that there was a struggle that caused it to fall off

Clue 5: A piece of nylon

Clue 6: A clear liquid that contained Iodine. Iodine can be used to poison someone with a thyroid problem. Tyese Jefferson had a thyroid problem, indicates that she was the victim of a poisoning intended to kill her.

Clue 7: Large footprint-13.5” long, 4.5” wide. Indicates that either victim or criminal was male

Clue 8: A+ blood sample, matches with Tyese Jefferson and Courtney Smith’s blood type. Indicates that there was a struggle, Could belong to either victim or criminal

Clue 9: A hair strand that matches with black female hair, color was dark brown, light brown, and white. Indicates that there was a struggle that caused the hair to be pulled out, also indicates that the grey hairs would belong to someone old-either Tyese Jefferson or Cindy Brown.

Clue 10: A fingerprint left on glass, could not be identified as to who it was.

The Story

Based on the evidence at hand I believe that Tyese Jefferson was the victim and that Smokey Johnson was the criminal. I believe that Smokey Johnson knew Tyese because they both worked at a school together, he was the cafeteria worker and she was the counselor. Based on the profiles and previous evidence I believe that Smokey stalked Tyese but she put out a restraining order on him which made him angry. Smokey knew that Tyese had a thyroid problem so he poisoned her food with iodine when she went to the school cafeteria to get food, I based this observation off of clue #6. Because Tyese had a thyroid problem the iodine made her sick and she went home early that day. Then based on clue #7 I believe that Smokey went to Tyese’s house and entered her house leaving a footprint on her front yard. Once Tyese and noticed Smokey in her front yard she wrote a note saying “Someone please help me”, this observation was based off of clue #2. Based on Clue #3 Smokey then entered the house leaving a fingerprint on the doorknob. After this based off of clue #9, there was a struggle in which Tyese’s hair was ripped out and her earring fell off. Because of clue #1, and #8 I believe that Tyese tried to run and her but her shoe slipped off of her foot and she fell and her head hit a table killing her and leaving a blood spatter on the table. After this Smokey Johnson had to cover up his crime so he wrote a note saying "you will never find her" then he took her body and buried it in the back yard.

Create A Profile
Given 5 clues that involved a review of my newly obtained knowledge on forensics: fingerprints, hair/ fiber evidence and lipstick my group and I were required to identify the individual who might have committed the murder.

Clue 1: A set of 4 prints, thumb is missing. Through careful observations my group and I determined that the fingerprints were produced from the right hand. Once identified these four prints included 2 whorls and 2 tented arches.  





Clue 2: Being a hair/ fiber sample the evidence had to be observed underneath a microscope to distinguish that this sample was in fact a hair sample that was most likely color treated. 





 






Clue 3: A torn up note was also found and after assembling the pieces the note read, "You will never find her!"







Clue 4: Following the same steps for Clue 2 this sample was identified as African American hair.













Clue 5: This piece of evidence could either be a blood stain or a lipstick smudge. Further investigation would be required to determine the mark.









Drug Lab 

     Through the use of 3 stimulated drugs: "cocaine", "LSD" and "methamphetamine", also known as "meth" my group and I were required to use each drug reagent in order to see if each sample would test positive for any of drug reagents. We were unable to test substances for meth because its reagent wasn't available at the time. Before I was able to start testing the substances I had to put a small amount of the substance into a beaker and shake. This step allowed myself and other classmates to have more drug to work with. After placing a couple of drops on the clear test plates we added each of the reagents to the drops and took its pH to determine if the substances were cocaine or LSD. By completing this lab I was able to get the feel on how forensic scientists are able to determine if an unknown substance is a drug.




Data


With drug analysis we used various indicators on various samples to test for the presence of cocaine, which turns blue, LSD, which turns yellow, and meth. We also tested the pH using pH paper. Test Results:

Drug	pH	Cocaine	LSD	Meth
1	6 (no change)	Positive	Negative
2	9 (dark green)	Positive	Negative
3	3 (orange)	Negative	Positive
4	8 (lime green)	Positive	Negative
5	6 (no change)	Positive	Negative
6	3.5 (orange)	Negative	Positive

Poison Lab

     Prior to starting this lab we were asked to think of possible poisons. But first it helps to know the definition of a poison: a substance that, when introduced into or absorbed by a living organism, causes death or injury. Here are a few that myself and group members came up with: Pesticide, bug bites, antifreeze, and lead. A poison can also be a material that an individual is allergic to for instance, sugar for diabetics, and milk for individuals who are Lactose Intolerant. Symptoms of poison can be enlarged pupils, bleeding out of the eyes, nose, mouth and ears, nausea and a difference in skin tone.
     For this activity we were to test to see if the any of the six given substances were poisonous. For aspirin, iodine, sugar, cyanide,  a household cleaning product and metal poison, each substance had their own indicators located nearby. By completing this lab I realized that poison can play a major role in revealing criminals because there was probably a reason on my a criminal might have used the poison for an individual case. For example, maybe the killer knew that the victim was diabetic so he/ she overdosed the individual as their means of murder. This could now limit forensic scientists to look for individuals who were close to the victim and knew that he/she was diabetic.