My Last Forensics Weeks

March 17th - March 21st By: Megan McDonough

Day One: Background

Monday, March 17th, 2025 By: Detective Garside

“The details of a matter are its most crucial/essential/significant aspect.”

On the first day of forensics week, Detective Garside introduced the class to the basics of forensics in homicides or suicides. In a homicide case, you determine, through physical and circumstantial evidence. Forensic evidence is obtained by scientific methods such as ballistics, blood tests, and DNA tests and used in court. For evidence to be considered forensic evidence, it must be able to be examined and tested by a person with special training and they must be able to give a legal or expert opinion on it. Forensic evidence is only sometimes in a case, it may not be found, there may not be enough to test, there truly is none, or the evidence could have been destroyed. Some different forms of forensic evidence can be from bite marks, footprints, DNA, or even everyday items.

One thing that I found very interesting is that investigators can use flys to determine how long a body may have been located in a certain place. They do this by the amount of living or dead flies, along with thier age ranges and amount of eggs.

One of the most dangerous forms of forensic evidence is digital forensics. Once something is said, posted, or deleted on the internet, it can still be accessed for the next two years. Any law enforcement officer can locate anything that has been posted from your account, even if it has been said to "self-delete". This is one of the most terrifying things Detective Garside teaches every year because I am chronically online. Who knows what the internet might have on me?

The four stages of death will help determine the time of death. These are pallor mortis (increased paleness), algor mortis (cooling of the body), rigor mortis (stiffening of the body), and liver mortis (discoloration of the skin due to blood pooling). These will also help the investigators determine the circumstances of the crime.

To be a good forensic investigator, you must keep up with the common news, religion, lifestyles, and internet trends. You also must pay attention to detail and be able to think outside the box. When thinking, you must be able to see the forest for the trees and think as the detective, prosecutor, suspect, and attorney. When you look at a crime scene, look at the details. Start at the top of the image and work your way in to ensure you see every detail. This is how he asks us to approach our mock scene later this week.

How? + Why? = Who?

Day Two: Footprint Impressions

Monday, March 18th, 2025 By: Detective Garside

Today we learned how to make a forensic footprint impression. This can be used on footprints as well as tire tracks. It is a very specific process to correctly make an impression. He provided us with a bag of Shake and Cast. Once you pop the water into the bag, it will begin to react chemically. After completing the impression, it will take thirty minutes to harden but a total of forty-eight to seventy-two hours to fully harden. It is important to not tamper with the print before at least forty-eight hours in order to not damage the print.

Making the Impression

To make a foot impression you have to be very intentional with your steps. In order for it to correctly chemically react, you must work within a certain amount of time. We were provided with a bag of Shake and Cast and a makeshift footprint. I was elected group leader, which basically means I had to make sure everything went according to plan. First, we had to pop the water container inside the bag to start the chemical reaction. After it popped, I kneaded it for a minute and thirty seconds. This felt a lot like a bag of pancake mix, which was really cool. Once the time was up, my group cut a hole in the corner of the bag about as long as my pinky. Then, they poured the mixture over the footprint. In order to avoid smearing the print, there is a very specific way to pour it. Try your best to follow the flow of the mixture and slowly and evenly spread it. Detective Garside reminded us to make sure we covered all corners of the print. After we finish, we have to wait thirty minutes before it has dried and we can pick it up. Overall, we did an amazing job, with little to no issues. This was so much fun, although it was stressful. We were able to work as a team and come together quickly even though my group was made up of a multitude of different grade levels.

Day Three: Dental Impressions

Monday, March 19th, 2025 By: Detective Garside and Mrs. Donna

Today, Detective Garsided taught us about dental impressions. These are used to connect a possible suspect to a bite mark. Dental impressions can be so specific that they can show someone's permanent retainers. To get this done, criminals are taken to a dental facility. Two professionals must confirm that the set of teeth matches before it can be considered evidence.

To demonstrate dental impressions, Detective Garside picked Mohommad and Sophia to have their own impressions made. Dental impressions are very delicate and take over a few hours to dry completely. I had to leave early that day, but I did get to watch the process. It was very interesting to me to watch Mrs. Donna work her magic.

My Footprint Impression!

Before I left, Detective Garside let me check on my foot impression. My groups turned out really good!! It was so cool to see how each individual indention was marked within the Shake and Cast. Every impression was different, even though they were all of the same footmark. Some were thicker than others and some were definitely prettier than others. Tomorrow, we should be able to fully clean them off and see how well our impressions actually turned out.

Day Four: The Scene

Monday, March 20th, 2025 By: Detective Garside

Today we got to investigate a mock crime scene. Detective Garside gave us five different choices for cause of death, homicide, natural, accidental, suicide, or undetermined. First, he gave us background on the scene.

The date is March 19th, 2025. We arrived at the scene at 10:30 PM. There was an unresponsive woman found in her bathtub. The responding officers arrived at the scene at 9:45 PM. They had a chance to talk to the husband, who found his wife in the bathtub. He said he got off work around 6:30 PM and went to Bonfish with some of his coworkers for drinks. He arrived at home around 9:15 PM. He walked inside and searched for his wife, whom he found in the bathtub. She was completely submerged, excluding her feet and her face. In a panic, he drained the tub and picked her up. He accidentally dropped her since she was still wet. He called the paramedics and did CPR on her until they arrived. Then, he was escorted away by his pastor.

The history of thier marriage is a little shaky. They had been married for five years but were discussing the idea of divorce. She wanted it to end because she had been suspecting him of cheating for some time.

Once we went into our mock crime scene. my group split up into different corners. We discovered multiple pill bottles, prescribed by different doctors. Two for anxiety disorders, one for blood pressure disorders, and one for heart inflammation. She had a total of six broken ribs, which we deduced was from the CPR. A contusion on her head which was most likely from when her husband dropped her.

After coming together and debriefing the evidence we found. my group determined that this was a suicide. Since she had been determined to be depressed and have severe anxiety, she was likely suicidal. The mixture of Xanax and alcohol is almost often fatal. so we assume she took her Xanax and drank enough alcohol to kill herself.

Day Five: Absent

Conclusion

In conclusion, I really enjoyed this forensics week. We did more hands-on activities which were much more exciting than slideshows. I liked the crime scene because although I got it wrong, it was tricky. Forensics week is always one of my favorite weeks in Biomed every year, and I'm sad that this is going to be my last one. However, Detective Garside always does an amazing job and I can't wait to see what he has in store for the Biomed class next year