Forensic Scientist

Forensic Scientist

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.

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Last Answer on July 21, 2022

Best Rated

How anonymous are people really on the dark, deep, and even on the regular internet? What about websites where people talk about bad things they have, doing, or going to do without signing up or anything?

Asked by Dan about 6 years ago

I'm sorry, but I have no idea. I don't work in digital forensics.

Hi! I was wondering something about timing. Say a kidnapping takes place in a hotel room. How long is the room cordoned off? At what point is the evidence collected and taken away? When can the room be let again? (Working on a novel!)

Asked by Nico over 6 years ago

We’ll hold the scene as long as we need to get everything done, and that could be a day or two or three, but for a kidnapping it probably wouldn’t be more than a day, just enough to collect all the victim’s stuff, and collect fingerprints, hairs, fibers, anything that might belong to the kidnapper. We eventually get tired and want to go home (though we can go and come back, so long as it hasn’t been ‘released’) and the police department don’t really want to hold it longer then absolutely necessary, because they have a cop or two sitting there doing nothing but guarding the scene, and it takes them off the road. Hope that helps!

Do you see yourself doing this job in the next ten years?

Asked by Trump 2020 MAGA KAG over 6 years ago

Yes.

Can a hair test that came back false positive for alcohol be retested by another lab?

Asked by Joe over 6 years ago

I don’t see why not. But I wasn’t aware hair could be tested for alcohol, I thought it was only drugs and heavy metals.

what does it take to become an forensic investigator? I am currently in sixth form and looking for a course in forensic investigation and wish for some extra information on what else would be needed.

Asked by Hannah brown over 6 years ago

titles and job requirements aren't uniform, so the only way to know is to call the crime labs in your area or whereever you might be interested in working and ask them. At the coroner's office we had to have at least a bachelor's in a natural science (this was before they had forensic science majors). At the police department where I am now, they only require a high school diploma but you get more points in the interviewing process for having a four year degree, so we all have one. You can also go on the websites for professional organizations such as the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and check out their job vacancy postings and see what the various positions require. Good luck.

I have not used cocaine in a year, why is my hair still testing positive for cocaine?

Asked by Terence J Donnelly almost 7 years ago

Hair is just dead cells, so once something is there, it stays there. Hair grows at about 1/2 inch per month, in general (mine, to my frustration, grows much more slowly). So if your hair is longer than say 6 inches, the cocaine will still be there. If your hair is much shorter, then I don’t know what’s happening.Hope that helps.

Assume a swimming pool on a yacht was filled with regular tap water and chlorine. A person drowns in the pool. The body is dumped over board and found within hours. Could lung water be tested chemically to help discern the true facts?

Asked by PT O'Neil about 7 years ago

As far as I know that is possible. Whether a medical examiner’s office would actually test the water in the lungs in a case of apparent drowning is another matter. There is also the possibility of ‘dry-drowning’ in which the throat closes and no water gets in the lungs. A pathologist told me once that drowning is sort of a ‘negative diagnosis’ in that, if no other cause of death presents itself and the person is found in water, then drowning is assumed. Sorry I can’t be more help!