Articles

TASA ID: 16621

As DNA profiling has become increasingly sensitive, I have seen a steady increase in the use of DNA evidence in felon weapon cases. Often the weapon is recovered in the suspect’s home. In other cases, the weapons are found in a glove box or under the seat of a vehicle. The weapon is swabbed, the DNA is profiled, and more often than not, the resulting profiles are a mixture of 2-4 or more individuals.

TASA ID: 18027

Chemical suicides are defined as “self inflicted death by mixing various chemicals designed to release toxic fumes in an enclosed space.”  This type of incident is also referred to as a “Detergent Suicide.”  It is “advertised as a quick and painless way to end one’s life.

This technique that is credited with starting in Japan and has gained popularity in the US thru instructions posted on the internet.  It is estimated that 500 Japanese men, women and children took their lives in the first half of 2008. There were a total of 208 persons that committed chemical suicide in a three-month period alone. They did so by following instructions posted on various Japanese websites that describe how to mix bath sulfur (bath salts) with a toilet bowl cleaner to create a poisonous gas (H2S). One site goes so far as to include an application to help calculate the portions needed of each ingredient in order to correctly fill a rooms volume with the deadly gas. It also has a downloadable PDF consisting of a ready-made warning sign to alert neighbors and emergency workers to the deadly hazard.

TASA ID: 8635

After the tragic Pittsburgh synagogue shooting that claimed 11 lives, the faith-based community and other gathering places have found themselves left with an almost unfathomable, but inevitably relevant question: “what if a shooting happens here next?”

TASA ID: 2774

The Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School by Nikolas Cruz was initially blamed on the poor response from the Broward County Sheriff’s Department and school security.
However, an investigation by the SERAPH School Safety team has found a much darker series of failures by adults in Cruz’s personal life and school life.

TASA ID: 8673

Ricochet Characteristics: 

Smaller, faster moving bullets tend to fragment upon impact rather than ricochet so they would have a lower or more acute critical angle than larger, slower moving bullets.  With this in mind, a .45 ACP moving at approximately 800 fps is an ideal cartridge to use when conducting experiments with ricochets.  Investigators in the field typically would not have the requisite information available to estimate a critical angle when a ricochet marking is discovered at a crime scene so field testing with a similar cartridge and the same or similar substrate would be a benefit to the CSI’s analysis when calculating the approximate critical angle is necessary.