Blood Evidence

• Class evidence for blood would include

blood type. If you can determine the
DNA you would have individual evidence.

• Blood stain patterns are considered

circumstantial evidence in a court room.
Experts could argue many points
including direction of travel, height of the
perpetrator, position of the victim,
left/right hand, whether the body was
1moved, etc.
 Blood Spatter Evidence
A field of forensic investigation which deals
with the physical properties of blood and the
patterns produced under different conditions
as a result of various forces being applied to
the blood. Blood, as a fluid, follows the laws of
physics.
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Bloodstain Pattern Analysis:
is the examination of the shapes,
locations, and distribution of
patterns of bloodstains, in order to
provide an interpretation of the
physical events that gave rise to
their origin.
The following Information may be obtained from a
proper Bloodstain Pattern Analysis:

1. Distance from the blood source to the target

2. Direction of travel and impact angles

3. Nature of the force used to cause the bloodshed

4. The object used to cause the bloodshed

5. Sequencing of multiple bloodshed events

6.Interpretation of contact or transfer patterns

 Properties of Blood
• Why does a drop of blood have a
curved surface when it lands on a
flat surface instead of spreading
out flat?

• Why doesn’t it separate in the air

before it hits the ground?

Gravity, cohesion, adhesion,

surface tension
 Properties of Blood
• Gravity: pulls it to ground
– Droplet becomes longer than wide
• Cohesion: blood mixture is attracted to
similar blood mixtures and sticks together,
not separates, as it falls
– Causes droplet to stay together
• Adhesion: attractive forces of two different
objects
– starts as teardrop because of adhesion
• Surface Tension: the elastic like property of
the surface of the liquid that makes it tend
to contract, caused by the forces of
attraction between the molecules of the
liquid.
– Formation of a sphere
 SPATTER VS TRANSFER:
The simplest type of blood spatter analysis
is determining spatters from transfers.

Spatters are created when blood is acted

upon by force, and travels through the air
before landing on a target surface.

Transfers occur when a blood source comes

in direct contact with a target surface area.
 6 CLASSIFICATIONS OF BLOOD PATTERNS

1. Passive Fall - Blood falling directly to

floor at 90-degree angle will produce
circular drops, with secondary
satellites being more produced if
surface hits is textured
Blood Droplets
• Flat surface – edge of blood
• drop appears smooth and circular
– Glass, marble
• Porous surface – edge of drop of
blood may form small spikes
(extensions) or satellites
– Spikes – attached to make
droplet
– Satellites – not attached to
main droplet
Effect of Surface:

 Smooth surface = smooth sphere

 Rough/porous surface may cause some
splatter
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2. Arterial spurts or gushes – typically
found on walls or ceilings caused by
pumping action of the heart
3. Smears – left by bleeding victim
depositing blood as he or she touches or
brushes against a wall or furniture
– transfers
4. Trails – can be left by bleeding victim
depositing blood as he or she moves from
one location to another.
– Can be round, smeared, appear as
spurts
5. Pools – form around victim who is
bleeding heavily and remains in one
place.
– If victim is moved to another
location, there may be droplets or
smearing connecting the first
location with a second
6. Splashes – shaped like exclamation
points.
– Shape and position of spatter pattern
can help locate the position of the
victim at the time of the attack
Spatter Patterns and Type of Wound
• High Velocity Impact (100 ft/sec)
– fine-mist spatter pattern
• Size of Droplets – less than 1 mm
–Ex. Gunshot wound
toward the gun that fired the shot. This is
known as "back spatter"
The closer to the target
If the bullet exits its target, a larger that the gun is fired...the
amount of high force impact spatter may great the spatter.
be directed in the same direction as the
bullet. This is known as "forward spatter".
HIGH FORCE (VELOCITY) IMPACT SPATTER:
• Medium-Velocity Impact (25 ft/sec)
–Size – 1-4 mm
–Ex. – beating, stabbing
MEDIUM FORCE (VELOCITY) IMPACT
SPATTER: OR PROJECTED SPATTER
• Low-Velocity Impact (5 ft/sec)
–Size – 4 to 6 mm
–Ex – blunt object impact (hammer,
flashlight, etc)
LOW FORCE (VELOCITY) IMPACT
SPATTER/PASSIVE DROPS:
Angle of Impact:
The steeper the impact, the more
elliptical or elongated, the blood drop
Direction:
The "tail" points to the direction of the
blood drop
Finding AOI

LENGTH = 5.9cm
WIDTH = 2.6cm
 SOLUTION:

AOI = SIN-1 W/L

AOI = SIN-1 2.6/5.9
AOI = SIN -1 (.44)
AOI = 26.2°
Do not measure
the “tail”

• it is a secondary
force or event.

Divide the smaller

number by the
larger number
Biological Evidence from
Scenes:
• Fresh or wet blood should
be collected on clean, sterile
gauze and allowed to dry
Four sampling methods for dried blood:

Swabbing – Stain is transferred to a

swab which has been moistened
with sterile water or saline.

Cutting – For stains on objects that are

difficult to submit to the lab. The cut
portion should include unstained
areas around the bloodstain
Scraping – a sharp instrument is
used to scrape the stain off of a
surface & onto clean paper

Elution – using a small amount of

saline or distilled water to dissolve
the dried stain
• The most important
consideration for preserving
biological evidence from scenes
is to thoroughly dry the item
before packaging and then store
in a cool dry environment

Biological evidence must be

packaged in paper containers
that can breathe