Forensic Science Project: Murder Mystery

Project Description:

The purpose of this project was to examine both the evidence of a crime scene and family histories in order to figure out who committed the crime. Throughout the project we investigated many types of evidence including fingerprints, blood samples, DNA fingerprinting, and ink chromatography. We then looked at family histories and the suspects backgrounds to create pedigree charts and figure out the motives of each suspect. Once we have completed the evidence portion of the of the project we then moved on to connecting each piece of evidence and tying it to one suspect to determine the killer.

Forensic Project Presentation

In our presentation we concluded that Nancy Normal and Sam Sophomore worked together to commit the crime. We concluded this due the various times in the evidence that shows Sam or Nancy showed up as a possible murderer. Sam has a family history of Huntington's syndrome, his fingerprints were found at the crime scene, his pens ink matches the ink on the warning note, his karyotype emerges, and lastly his fingerprint DNA is close to the first scene in color. And for Nancy, her pen also matches up with the note, her blood is also identified on the crime scene, her karyotype emerges from the samples and lastly her DNA fingerprint is identical to the DNA fingerprint at the second crime scene.

Content:

Victim: Carlton Comet (Thomas Sandstone)

Suspects:

  • Theresa Terra

  • Fred Flimmer

  • Glen Glee

  • Sam Sophomore

  • Nancy Normal

Evidence:

  • Blood Sample (Blood Results and Karyotypes)

  • Hair sample (DNA testing)

  • Broken Glass (Fingerprints)

  • Steak Knife (Fingerprints)

  • Threatening Note (Ink Chromatography)

Forensic Examination:

-The Blood type was determined using anti-bodies from each basic blood type and mixing them, if the blood clumped to the anti-bodies then the blood type was a match. The blood from the crime scene was then compared against each suspects blood, and it was found that the two types of blood found belonged to Carlton and Nancy.

-The DNA of the blood sample was found using gel electrophoresis meaning that the DNA was placed within gel ran through an electric field. This caused the DNA to be pulled towards the positive end of the electric field, which was then analysed based on the distance the DNA fragment traveled then compared to the suspects.

-The finger prints were dusted from both the streak knife and broken glass, and then lifted from this objects using tape. The fingerprints were then examined and compared to each suspects given fingerprints. We looked to see which fingerprint shared the same whorl, arch, or loop pattern of the ones found on the glass and streak knife.

Reflection:

In this project we worked together to find and figure out who the murderer was which was interesting considering we got to do detective work. My group and I worked well together and we came up with a valid conclusion as to who did it; Sam Sophomore and Nancy Normal. Two 6C's our group used well was communication and critical thinking. Our presentation went well and our explanation for our motive involved the critical thinking skill. Two 6C's we could've used better would be communication and conscientious learning. Some of us ended up doing more work than others because we were a bit behind in the project at times. But overall we did well in this project.