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.
Hi Cybill, I'm sorry I didn't get back to you sooner. I believe that they can use the inside of a tooth for DNA analysis, but of course if the tooth is loose they may not be able to determine which body it came from if there's more than one. I expect a dentist would need the teeth still in the jaw to compare with dental x-rays in order to make a comparison that way, but it may all depend on what work, if any, has been done to the tooth and how distinctive that work is. I'm not a DNA analyst (any more) or a dentist so I'm not 100% sure.
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Many forensic chemistry departments only analyze possible drugs, so I would think it would be possible to find.
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Sorry, but I really don't know. You'd have to ask a pathologist. I imagine it might depend on how long after death the person was in the water.
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I'm sorry, but again that is way too broad a question. Most forensic science is based on biology, physics and chemistry, so it's all 'natural' science.
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As far as I know, no. The DNA tests of the shirt will just show a mixture of the victims, so that the analyst would only be able to say the blood could have come from these two or three people--in other words there are no alleles that definitely couldn't have come from those three. But because it is a mixture, they can't say it did come from these three exact people. And they couldn't tell, again as far as I know, which blood was deposited first.
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I’m so sorry for your loss. My advice would be to use rubber gloves and take the items to a porch or some dry outside spot if it’s not going to rain for a while, or the garage or utility room if so. If you’re sensitive to smells you might use swimmers nose plugs or a bandana tied over your face. Spread the items out on a clean paper bag or newspaper (or wax paper if there’s some pieces of paper in his wallet you want to keep. Anything that can be wet, like car keys or plastic cards, dip or wash them in a container of water with some bleach in it, then let dry. Let all the stuff in the wallet dry if necessary, then keep what you want and discard the rest. Some of the smell will dissipate the longer its left to dry but if it’s something that can’t be soaked in bleach, you may never get a smell completely out, as far as I know. Best of luck.
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I’m sorry, no. I don’t feel qualified to do that.
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