second evidence report

Evidence Report

Name : Anne Tam Shift : 5

Evidence inspected : Long Bone Case# : 012110


On the second day of crime scenes, I was in charge of the long bone. In this scene, I found the long bone evidence on the back table by the far wall; by the mandible and the pelvis. When the long bone was found, we had to collect it carefully because it was a large piece of evidence. I collected the long bone in our group. When I collected the long bone, I had to make sure I had gloves on, to insure that I did not leave any fingerprints or marks on the evidence, which would make me a suspect as well if my prints were all over the evidence. When the evidence was collected, I placed the long bone into a paper bag, not a plastic bag because the plastic bag could mold and be distorted and the evidence would be destroyed. After placing the long bone into a paper bag, I taped the ends closed with the red evidence tape, making sure it was sealed completely. When that was done, I wrote my initials, location, and time on the front of the paper bag with a black pen. Finally, I gave the paper bag with the long bone inside to my lead investigator, Stacey Klonowski.

When the long bone is found in a crime scene, it is usually collected after all the pictures, sketches, and notes are taken. Having to be careful with it, the long bone is usually collected carefully; using gloves to make sure your fingerprints do not get onto the bone, therefore contaminating the evidence. When the long bone is collected, it is brought back to the lab for the scientists to look at. After the pelvis, the long bone is the second best bone to use to determine the height and sex of the skeleton. Although the long bone is not as trusted as the pelvis, it is still a good piece of evidence to figure out a lot of things about your skeleton or victim. By measuring the long bone, you can use a series of formulas to figure out if the victim is a female or male. Not only can you find out the sex of the skeleton using the long bone, you can also figure out the age range in which the victim is in. During the age group of 6-25 years old, the long bone is the best bone to use to figure out the age. This is because during these years, epiphyseal fusion is happening in the long bones, meaning that the shaft and the end of the bone is starting to fuse together. In the stages before ages 6, the epiphyseal fusion has not yet started to fuse yet, showing the skeleton is under 6 years old. But if the fusion has already finished, that shows that the skeleton is over 25 years old. From this second crime scene, I have found out that the long bone that was collected belonged to an older (fifties) Negroid male. I know this because the epiphyseal fusion has already been completed; the bones are all fused together. I know the bone was male because using the formula to find out if the bone was in the male group or female group, the answer turned out to be a male long bone. I know the long bone was from a Negroid because upon examination, it was seen that the long bone was straighter. Caucasoid and Mongaloid long bones show a more forward curvature, and therefore proves that the long bone found was that of a Negroid male.