Scene of the Crime

by Anne Wingate

  In Real Life: A Murder That Wasn't

  And here's how it once worked in real life.

  Detective Johnny Patton went to a killing. It looked like a murder. The dead woman was sprawled in the middle of the floor; women almost always lie down to commit suicide. There was no suicide note; women almost always leave one. The wound, although very close range, was not contact. The pistol that had apparently killed her lay several feet away from her. The wound went in a slightly downward direction, as if she had been shot by someone taller than she was. She and her boyfriend had been involved in a crime, and they knew that they were facing arrest. The roof, in effect, had caved in on them.

  Neighbors had heard the two quarreling loudly. Neighbors had seen the boyfriend leave suddenly. Nobody had heard the gunshot.

  The boyfriend was the obvious suspect.

  But for some reason he told me he couldn't define, the case didn't "smell" right to Johnny. There was no ident officer on duty. Johnny called me to come in.

  I did a trace metal on the boyfriend's hands. He had not held a weapon.

  I did a trace metal on the victim's hands. She had held a pistol, in normal suicide position.

  I did gunpowder residues on both, and Johnny suspended the investigation until the results came back from the lab.

  The victim had fired a pistol. The boyfriend had not.

  As we reconstructed the crime, the victim had held the pistol at arm's length and slightly up to fire into her chest, letting the recoil throw the pistol away from her, simultaneously committing suicide and framing her boyfriend for her murder.

  Was the frame job deliberate?

  There was no proving it, of course, but Johnny and I always thought it was. And if Johnny hadn't been experienced enough, and good enough, to sense that something was wrong and call me in, the boyfriend might have been convicted. The evidence against him was strong enough that a negative firearms residue and trace metal on him might not have meant anything, if we hadn't also had a positive firearms residue and trace metal on the victim.

  You may have the case if you want it... but I already sold a short story using the forensic part and the legal part, but not the human part, of the case.

  TABLE 3_

  Some Characteristics of Handguns

  • Automatic pistol: may be set for single shot usage, or may be set to go on firing as long as the trigger is depressed and ammunition remains in the magazine; each shot discharges a round of ammunition, ejects the empty, pulls another round into firing position, and—if it is set for full automatic, the trigger remains depressed, and ammunition remains in the magazine—fires again. When it is set for single shot usage, it works like a semiautomatic (see below).

  It is loaded by inserting a magazine, which may be loaded immediately before insertion or may have been loaded earlier. The number of shells in the magazine varies according to make and caliber; in combat situations, people usually carry extra loaded magazines.

  An automatic pistol generally has a safety mechanism to prevent accidental discharge.

  Examples: Beretta 9mm, Glock 9mm.

  • Semiautomatic pistol: frequently referred to as an automatic, although it is not a full automatic because it cannot be set for continuous fire. Before it is fired the first time, a slide must be pulled back to bring the first bullet into firing position. When it is fired, the empty brass is ejected and another shell is pushed into firing position, but the trigger must be released and rede-pressed before it fires again.

  It loads with an insertable magazine, often called a clip. As in the case of an automatic, the magazine may be loaded immediately before insertion or earlier. The number of shells contained in a magazine varies according to make and caliber. The most common automatics have nine-shot clips, but some 9mm pistols on the street carry 30-round clips. In combat situations, people generally carry extra loaded clips.

  A semiautomatic pistol generally has a safety mechanism to prevent accidental discharge.

  Examples: U.S. Army Colt. 45, Browning .22 target pistol.

  • Double-action revolver: probably the most common handgun in civilian use today. It can be fired with a squeeze of the trigger; cocking is not necessary. Depressing the trigger automatically

  pulls the hammer back into cock position and then releases the hammer, causing the weapon to fire. The cylinder then rotates to bring another shell into firing position. The empty brass remains in the cylinder until the cylinder is opened and cleared for reloading.

  To load a revolver, it is necessary to open the cylinder, either by rotating it out to the side or by opening the gun on a hinge so that the cylinder and barrel fold forward from the grips and firing mechanism, providing access to the back of the cylinder. The number of shells contained in a cylinder varies according to make and caliber, but the most common revolvers have six-shot cylinders. Despite the invention of various fast-loading devices, it still takes considerably longer to empty the brass and load six shots into a revolver than it does to pop out an empty clip and snap a full one into a semiautomatic. This is one of the many reasons why police departments tend now to replace revolvers with automatics.

  A revolver does not have a safety mechanism. The device on the side of the gun that some people mistake for a safety is in fact a cylinder-release device.

  Technically a revolver is not a pistol, although almost everyone calls revolvers pistols.

  Examples: Colt or Smith and Wesson .38 service revolver, Dan Wesson .357 Magnum revolver.

  • Single-action revolver: an older-style handgun than the double-action revolver, it cannot be fired without cocking. To fire, it is necessary to cock it first by pulling back the hammer manually, usually with the thumb.When the trigger is then depressed, the weapon fires, but the cylinder in most models does not rotate to bring another shell into firing position until the revolver is cocked again. The empty brass remains in the cylinder until the cylinder is opened and cleared for reloading.

  To load a revolver, depending on the make it may be necessary to open the loading-gate (located at the back of the cylinder on the left side), or to open the cylinder by rotating it out to the side or by opening the gun on a hinge so that the cylinder and barrel lean forward from the grips and firing mechanism, providing access to the back of the cylinder. Of course, any revolver may be loaded or unloaded by pulling the cylinder pin and removing the cylinder entirely, but this is rarely done. The number of shells contained in a cylinder varies according to make and caliber, but the most common revolvers had six-shot cylinders, so do not confuse single-action with single-shot. The "six-shooter" of the Old West (see below) was a single-action revolver.

  A revolver does not have a safety mechanism. The device on the side of the gun that some people mistake for a safety is in fact a cylinder-release device.

  Relatively few single-action revolvers are still manufactured. The few that are range in price from Texas Longhorn Arms's $1,500 (but they make it in any caliber you want) to Uberti's $350 for a Model 1873 .38 special or .357.

  • Agatha Christie novels occasionally mention an "automatic revolver." The name baffles me. I finally concluded that either she meant a double-action revolver, or else she wasn't nearly as up on guns as she was on poisons.

  • Handguns that have names are usually named for their manufacturers: e.g., Smith and Wesson, Dan Wesson. The caliber (muzzle diameter) is usually also mentioned in millimeters or hundredths of inches.

  Some confusion has arisen in the case of the prolific gun designer John M. Browning. In Europe, automatic pistols are called brownings (small b); that is the word in Russian. The Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) is named for him because he designed it and because it was manufactured by the Browning Arms Factory in Belgium. His most famous handgun, the military .45-caliber, was manufactured by the Colt Arms Works in Connecticut. The American military calls this weapon the Browning Pistol Model 1911; most of the public, however, speaks of it as a Colt .45. This is probably because the most remarkable handgun of th
e Wild West was a Colt .44 revolver. The equally renowned Winchester .44 was a repeating rifle.

  To make NATO's forces more compatible, the Browning .45 manufactured by Colt has been replaced, in military usage, by the Browning 9mm manufactured by Beretta in Italy. Browning is considered the Leonardo da Vinci of firearms design; every manufacturer is eager to use his name.

  Don't worry, we'll get back to the Jackson Street Corpse, discussed in chapter one, eventually.

  Although the American military service has begun DNA "fingerprinting" for positive identification of bodies that could not otherwise be identified, even DNA fingerprinting cannot totally replace real fingerprinting and its associated palm prints, toe prints, sole prints, lip prints and even ear prints, because these prints can be located in places that DNA cannot.

  Fingerprints, fingerprints, how I love fingerprints! And always have. When I was a kid and my father was making model airplanes, I would always beg him to coat my fingertips with glue so that I could peel the glue off and examine the marks made by the ridges of my fingertips.

  As an adult, I worked with fingerprints—as well as with all other details of both major crime-scene search and photography— the rape squad, and the police department speaker's bureau, for five and a half years in Albany, Georgia. Then I commanded the identification section of the Piano Police Department in Piano, Texas, for a year.

  Within my first year in Albany, Captain Luther (head of ident) and I had taken about 10,000 unclassified, unused and misfiled fingerprint cards, classified them, invented a system for and drew up locator cards, created a general file and several special files (including a palm print file, a burglar file, and a sex-crimes file), and made idents (sometimes as many as twenty to twenty-five nonsuspect idents a month without a computer—a phenomenal record). We began requiring major case prints, which included palm prints and prints of the entire length and tips of all fingers and the sides of the palms, from all forgery, robbery and burglary suspects. I began to memorize some fingerprints I was particularly eager to locate (the FBI says that is impossible; I do not know their rationale for that assertion), and I made several nonsuspect idents from palm prints. (That, also, is impossible, according to the FBI, though their rationale on that one is clearer: Their files are too large to permit manual searching.) I cleared one robbery case—on a fingerprint I had memorized—a year to the day after the robbery took place.

  What Holds Fingerprints?

  This cannot possibly be all, but here are some things I know of that hold fingerprints: aluminum windowscreen frames, paper of all kinds, painted surfaces, unpainted wooden surfaces, live plants, tomatoes, Band-Aids, glass, copper pipe, human skin (if you're fast enough), galvanized metal, firearms, ejected brass from an automatic, shells left inside a revolver, automobile bodies, plastic, and the insides of rubber gloves left at the scene. With very thin gloves and hands with pronounced friction ridges, the prints may be left even through the gloves, a fact that badly confuses the perp when he finds himself arrested on fingerprint evidence after using gloves. There are some things you cannot get prints from: most undressed wooden surfaces (unless they're extremely smooth and previously unhandled), bricks, most rocks and stone, most cloth, most extremely dusty surfaces (although there is a new electrostatic process that makes lifting of prints made in dust possible, it is comparatively expensive and out of the financial reach of smaller departments).

  In defense of my fellow identification technicians, I must hastily add that it is impossible to be able to count on always getting prints from any surface. There are too many variables, including the heat and humidity of the surrounding air, the cleanliness of the surface, and the condition of the hands of the person who left the prints. So for fictional purposes, you decide whether you want prints to have been left in this case or not.

  How Long Do Fingerprints Last?

  Again, there are many variables. On a hard surface, in cold, dry weather, the print may be gone almost instantly. On the same surface, in warm, humid weather, the print may last for weeks if it is undisturbed. On absorbent surfaces such as unglazed paper, the print is almost certainly there permanently; in an experiment, scientists using ninhydrin were able to locate the scribe's fingerprints on an ancient Egyptian papyrus.

  And for an absolutely terrific scene of fingerprinting—definitely the best I ever saw in fiction—read Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park, the scene where detectives fingerprint the workshop that was making the fake antiques.

  Fingerprints and the Jackson Street Corpse

  Now let's get back to the Jackson Street Corpse. You still don't know who he is. And once again, you're Detective N.E. Boddy.

  You've already taken care of the evidence outside the house, what little there was, because there was so little that once the photographs and measurements were made and the corpse was removed, there was nothing left to do outside. You've already taken the photographs and measurements inside. Now it's time to get to work with fingerprint powder and evidence bags.

  Chain of Custody

  Figure 4-1 is an evidence tag. All the information on it is absolutely critical; the last two-thirds of the tag consists of what is called the chain of custody. (You may remember that I mentioned chain of custody in chapter three, in reference to the Sacco-Vanzetti case.)

  Without a complete chain of custody detailing in whose custody the evidence was at all times between the time it was collected and the time it was presented in court, the evidence becomes inadmissible - as it should. Although even a proper chain of custody does not

  totally prevent anyone from tampering with the evidence, it at least makes it possible to begin to find out who did the deed if evidence has been tampered with.

  If the evidence is small enough to put in a bag, you'll use a special bag (either paper or plastic) that has an evidence tag printed on it. If the evidence is too large for that, you'll either tie or tape the evidence tag onto the evidence—but you won't do either of those until after you've fingerprinted the evidence; otherwise you might put the tag right where a fingerprint might be.

  The blank card in Figure 4-2 is what you're going to put lifted latent fingerprints on, after you develop them with black powder. In common with any other evidence, the fingerprint lift must be very carefully labeled.

  Now that you have your labels in order, it's time to start fingerprinting. How do you go about that?

  The kit contains black powder, white powder, gray powder and red powder, often referred to as dragon's blood because it's a finely ground powder of dried sap of the dragon tree. When fingerprinting first began about ninety years ago, these powders were often made of lead—black lead, white lead, red lead, and a gray mixture of mercury and chalk. The mortality rate among early fingerprint technicians must have been terrific; unfortunately, no really adequate white or gray fingerprint powder other than white lead and the gray mercury mixture has ever been developed. So every kit contains nice, safe white and gray powders that virtually no fingerprint technician ever uses because they tend to fill between the ridges when used to develop latents; the fact is, almost all fingerprint technicians use the black powder almost exclusively. Although the vials of powder that fit inside a field kit hold only about two ounces, Doc Luther and I began after about a year to buy two-pound jars of powder and refill the field kits.

  Dusting for Prints

  The kits come with stiff brushes that I don't like because the bristles tend to cut the print. I prefer a very expensive, large, fluffy fiberglass brush. Here's the technique:

  • First, examine the item with a flashlight, pointing the light in several different directions, as very often a latent (invisible until

  developed) print is in fact patent (visible) under light coming from the appropriate angle.

  • Then, twirl the handle of the brush between the palms of your hands to fluff out the bristles.

  • Next, dip the very tip of the brush into the powder.

  • Begin to brush the dust very lightly onto the print
(or onto the item to be dusted, if light has not revealed a print).

  • As soon as a print becomes visible, brush very carefully and lightly in the direction of the flow of the print.

  • If necessary, blow excess powder off with your breath. Most of the time, the brush will take off the excess powder, but sometimes stray grains remain when more brushing might damage the print.

  • Then, using special pressure-wound tape, press the tape very carefully, leaving no air pockets, down on the print.

  • Using your thumb, forefinger or pencil eraser, press the tape down onto the print as hard as possible.

  • Then, in one motion, because pausing will leave lines on the tape, lift the tape from the item.

  • Press the tape down on the edge of a lifting card.

  • Only then do you cut it from the roll, preferably with a sharp pocketknife.

  • Immediately—not waiting till later because you will certainly forget even if you think you won't—label the lift card, note it in your notebook, and put the lift in a safe place.

  Sometimes, if the print was still quite moist when you began working with it, you can make two or three lifts from the same dusting with increasing clarity each time. But if you do that, be prepared to explain in detail to the jury how and why you did it.

  You may, if you read very old mysteries, have come across a description of people dusting for fingerprints with a gadget called an insufflator. I never saw one, but I have in my mind that it's sort of a cross between an ear syringe and a bulb-spray-type perfume atomizer. Suffice it to say, nobody uses them anymore.