Create a Profile Activity:

Each group was supplied with five clues that could be used to analyze the crime scene using a magnifying glass and a microscope.

1. Analyze the Clues

Clue 1: Fingerprints

1= plain whorl

2= ulnar loop

3= ulnar loop

4= ulnar loop

Clue 2: Long Hair Sample

-  Red hair (possibly artificially colored)

-  Caucasian (probably female)

Clue 3: Torn Note

-  "You will never find her"

-  Says that the victim was a female

-  She was abducted= unwilling

Clue 4: Small Hair Sample

-  Corse short hair

-  Starts dark brown/black then turns red

-  Could be a piece of hair that shows the original color of and dyed color of the longer sample.

Clue 5: Possible Bloodstain

-  Smeared stain

-  Could be blood, juice, or lipstick/gloss

-  Red/pink color

2. What do you know? What needs further testing? What don’t you know?

From looking at the clues we know the patterns of the fingerprints and from the note we know that the victim is a woman and was taken unwillingly. Also by looking at the first hair sample we concluded that it was a Caucasian hair, possibly the victim’s and would need further testing to know whether it was artificially colored or not. The small hair sample could have been an eyebrow hair or a fragment of the larger hair sample. More testing would have to be done on the hair to see if it was a piece of the larger sample or if it even came from the same person. The red smudge could have been blood, juice, or makeup but more tests would have to be conducted to tell what the substance was, perhaps a chromatography test. What we do not know about the case is the gender of the suspect, who the prints are from, what the red smudge is, and who the hair belonged to.

3. Create a profile

A woman with red dyed hair was sitting at home when someone broke into her house and tried to abduct her. She struggled and was scratched so her blood smeared on the wall hair was pulled from her head. After the kidnaper secured her he/she scribbled a note for the police to find.

4. How could the case be solved?

After the initial analysis of the clues a forensic team could run the finger prints through an automated system to see if there is a match for either the suspect of the victim. Then tests could be run on the possible blood smear and if it was blood the DNA could be extracted and run through another automated system. Hopefully by running these tests would identify the kidnapper and close the case.