HAIR

1
CHAPTER 8

• HAIR

2
TRACE EVIDENCE

• Hair and Fiber

3
Colin Ross- 1921 Australia

• A 13 year old girl wrapped in a blanket had been
  raped,strangled and beaten. She was left wrapped
  in a blanket on the ground. But no blood was
  found- she had been washed and dried before being
  left.
• A local bar owner admitted the girl was at his
  bar that night.
• Two blankets in his home were analyzed. A 12
  inch strand of reddish-blond hair was found. It
  had been forcibly removed.
• At trial the crime scene hair was distinguishable
  from other patrons of the bar. He was convicted
  and hanged.

4
John Fiorenza- 1936 NYCFibers

• Nancy Titterton,wife of an NBC executive was
  found face down in an empty bathtub, raped and
  strangled with her own pajama jacket. The
  apartment showed signs of a struggle. She also
  had ropes about her wrists and a lone, stiff
  white hair was located with it.
• The rope was traced to its manufacturer in
  Pennsylvania- and sold to the upholsterer who
  employed Fiorenza and who worked on the horse
  hair sofa in the victims home.
• He confessed when confronted with the fiber
  evidence. Fiorenza was convicted and executed.

5
Samuel Morgan- 1940 England

• Mary Hagan, 15, went for a paper and never
  returned. She had been raped and strangled and
  left by the railroad. A muddy, bloodstained
  finger bandage was left at the scene. She had a
  bloody thumbprint on her neck.
• The bandage had a disinfectant that was used by
  the military. Sam Morgan had deserted the
  military recently and was suspected in an earlier
  attack on another woman. When he was detained his
  thumb was still injured.
• The bandage was common- military issue- but it
  was also stitched by hand. That was the single
  detail that convicted him.
• He confessed, recanted, re-confessed, was
  convicted and hanged.

6
John Vollman-1958, Canada Hair

• Gaetane Bouchard was found in a gravel pit near a
  lovers lane area in Edmundston, Canada. She
  had been stabbed and left for dead. Also found
  were a few small green flakes of paint, probably
  from a car.
• Gaetane had met John Vollman earlier and had
  dated him for a time. Friends reported seeing
  them together the night she went missing. They
  were in his green 1952 Pontiac.
• The paint chips matched Johns car, but he
  admitted to parking with Gaetane.
• Also found was a single strand of hair clutched
  in the dead girls hand.
• A new technique, NAA, was used to identify the
  hair and link it to John Vollman.
• He was convicted.

7
Wayne Williams- 1981 Atlanta Fibers

• From October 1979 to May 1981, Wayne Williams
  killed twenty-seven young black boys in Atlanta. 
  As most serial killers are white, it was thought
  that the Atlanta child murderer was a white
  racist.  Most of the boys were taken from black
  neighborhoods where a white man would stand out,
  so police announced that they were looking for a
  probable black serial killer.

8
Wayne Williams

• On 22 May 1981 at 2 AM, police heard someone
  dumping something in the Chattahoochee river.  A
  black man, 22-year-old Wayne Williams, was found
  climbing into a station wagon, and was questioned
  by police then allowed to go.
• When a body (Nathaniel Cater) turned up in the
  river a week later police talked to Williams
  again.  Fibers found on the victim matched one's
  found in William's car and he was arrested.  At
  trial Williams was found guilty and sentenced to
  life imprisonment.
• Yellow green fibers had been found on several of
  the victims bodies.

9
Wayne Williams
The fibers were manufactured by the Wellman Corp
and sold during 1967-74 and sold undyed to other
companies. West Point Pepperell Corp, of Georgia,
made Luxaire carpet in English Olive green- only
between 1970-1971, That kind of carpet was found
in Wayne Williams bedroom.
10
Wayne Williams- The Statistics

• Only about 16,000 yd2 were sold (out of 16
  billion yd2 total)? only 82 homes in Georgia
  should have that same carpet, ten years later.
  The odds were 1 in 7,792 now.
• BUT, Jimmy Ray Payne (killed a month earlier) had
  fibers that also matched carpets in the Williams
  car! This was a 1 in 3828 odds.
• SO- the odds of both fibers found on victims
  matching Wayne Williams carpeting was 1 in 30
  million!

11
Jeffrey MacDonald-1970, NCFiber, hair
Fort Bragg, North Carolina saw the murder of two
small girls, and a young pregnant mother. The
Green Beret father and husband was knocked out
and stabbed in the mid-chest. His wounds were
minor and he gave a detailed account of
Manson-like hippies attacking him and his family.
Because he was a physician he tried to save his
family when he came to.
12
Jeffrey MacDonald

• The living room was messed up in the struggle.
• Pig was written in blood in the master bedroom.
  
• Both girls and their mother were multiply stabbed
  by an ice pick.
• Each of the victims had a different blood group-
  so their movements could be traced. MacDonalds
  blood was limited.
• Jeffrey draped his blue pajama top over her body
  after he found his wife stabbed 21 times.
• Blue fibers were found in each of the victims
  rooms.
• The 48 holes in the pajama top were all smooth
  and round.
• MacDonald was convicted, but released on appeal.
  He is now serving three life sentences.

13
(No Transcript)
14
Introduction

• Trace Evidence--any small pieces of material,
  man-made or naturally occurring (animal, plant or
  mineral)
• Most common examples
• Hair
• Fiber

15
Test Questions for Trace Evidence

• What is it?
• Is it man-made or natural?
• What is its source?
• How common is it?
• Can it be identified to a single source?

16
Hair

• Human hair is one of the most frequently
  found pieces of evidence at the scene of a
  violent crime. It can provide a link between the
  criminal and the act.
• From hair one can determine
• Human or animal origin
• Race
• Body region
• Manner in which hair was removed
• Treated hair
• Drugs ingested
• BUT NOT- age or sex of origin

The age of an individual cannot be determined
definitively by a microscopic examination
however, the microscopic appearance of certain
human hairs, such as those of infants and elderly
individuals, may provide a general indication of
age. The hairs of infants, for example, are
generally finer and less distinctive in
microscopic appearance. As individuals age, hair
can undergo pigment loss and changes in the
configuration of the hair shaft to become much
finer and more variable in diameter.
17
Removal of Hair
When hairs originate from a body in a state of
decomposition, a dark band may appear near the
root of the hair. This characteristic has been
labeled a postmortem root band.
Naturally shed
Forcibly removed
Forcibly removed with root tissue? DNA test can
be done
18
Hair Stages

• Hair goes through phases- growth, resting, and
  dying/loss.

80-90
2
10-18
The average period of growth for scalp hair is
approximately 1,000 days the resting phase lasts
about 100 days. Approximately 10 percent of the
hairs on a human head (100/1000), therefore, are
in the quiescent telogen phase, and a minimal
amount of forcesuch as that from combingis
required to dislodge the hairs from the dormant
follicle.
19
Hair Growth

• Terminology
• Anagen--hair that is growing
• Catagen--hair at rest
• Telogen--hair that is dying
• Length--00.5 mm per day or 1 centimeter per
  month approximately one half to one inch per
  month

20
MORPHOLOGY OF HAIR

• Hair is often found as PE at a crime scene
• Hair cannot be individualized yet
• (unless DNA is present in root ball/follicular
  tag)
• Must be properly collected and can then, be used
  as corroborative evidence
• Hair is an appendage of the skin, and grows out
  from a HAIR FOLLICLE
• Parts of hair are root (or bulb), shaft, and tip
  end
• Shaft has 3 layers- cuticle, cortex, and medulla

21
Hair Morphology The Study of Structure and Form

• Parts of the hair
• Shaft--part of the hair that sticks out of the
  skin
• Tip end point of hair shaft
• Root--lies below
  the epidermis
• Follicle--structure from
  which the hair grows

22
THE CUTICLE

• 2 characteristics that make hair good evidence
  are- 1) resistance to chemical decomposition and
  2) ability to retain structural features over
  long period of time
• These characteristics are due to the cuticle
• Cuticle is formed by overlapping scales that
  point toward the tip end
• Cuticles are formed as special cells that
  keratinize (harden) and flatten as they form in
  the follicle
• Pattern of the scales are sometimes useful in
  determining species of animal

23
Hair Cuticle
The cuticle is the outermost layer of hair which
is covered with scales. Scales also always point
toward the tip of the hair. These scales differ
between species of animals and are names based on
their appearance. Some of these scales are
variations of the same and include

• Mosaic
• Pectinate
• Imbricate
• Petal
• Diamond petal
• Chevron

24
Cuticle Patterns

• Each species has different patterns.
• Cannot determine the specific animal from the
  hair.

25
Scale Types
Mosaic
Chevron
26
Scale Types (cont)
Pectinate
Imbricate
27
Scale Types (cont)
Diamond Petal
Petal
28
Animal CuticlesHuman, Dog, DeerRabbit, Cat,
Horse
29
HUMAN SCALES

• In order to visualize the scales
• paint fingernail polish on a slide
• place a hair on the polish
• lift off the hair and observe the scale imprints
• What pattern is seen in this slide?

30
Human Cuticle
Tip end
Tip end
Imbricate pattern
31
THE CORTEX

• This is the layer below the cuticle
• Made up of spindle-shaped cortical cells that are
  parallel to the cuticle
• Pigment granules here give hair its color
• Color, shape, and arrangement of granules give
  points of comparison between individuals
• Must use microscope to view the cortex

32
Hair Cortex

• The cortex gives the hair its shape.

Straight-textured hair is round in cross section,
Kinky or woolly hair is flat in cross section,
Wavy or curly hair is oval in cross section.
33
THE MEDULLA

• Collection of cells that run in the center of the
  shaft
• Many animals have a prominent medulla- humans do
  not
• Medullae vary from person to person and from hair
  to hair
• Medullae classified as continuous, interrupted,
  segmented/fragmented or absent
• Humans usually have fragmented or absent medullae
• Mongoloid race usually has continuous medulla
• Shape of medullae are also significant- usually
  cylindrical in humans but can be patterned in
  animals

34
Hair Medulla

• The medulla is the hair core, but is not always
  present. The medulla comes in different types
  and patterns.
• Types
• Continuous
• Intermittent or interrupted
• Fragmented
• Absent--not present

35
Medulla Patterns
36
Hair Medulla Patterns
Uniserial Multiserial Vacuolated Lattice Amorp
hous (without a distinct pattern)
37
Medulla Patterns in Different Species
38
RABBIT MEDULLA

• Rabbit medulla is different depending on the
  type (location on the rabbit) of hair. The one
  to the left is multiserial. The one to the right
  is a uniserial ladder and is found in guard hair.

39
Bat
40
Brown Bear
41
Fur Seal
42
Gorilla
43
Orangutan
44
Lion
45
HUMAN MEDULLA

• Human medulla may be continuous, fragmented or
  absent.

46
Medullary Index

• Determined by measuring the diameter of the
  medulla and dividing it by the diameter of the
  hair.

Medullary Index for human hair is generally less
than 1/3. For animal hair, it is usually greater
than 1/2.
47
IDENTIFICATION AND COMPARISON OF HAIR Using
Comparison Microscope

• In trials usually just identify hair as human or
  animal.
• Identifying which human the hair belongs to is
  much harder.
• Need many standards (samples) for comparison to
  suspect.
• Can compare scalp or pubic hairs.
• Again, probability that sample is PE from the
  suspect is the question in a trial.

48
Hair and Racial Origin Caucasoid (European)
49
Mongoloid (Asian)
50
Negroid (African)
51
Hair Comparison

• Color
• Length
• Diameter
• Distribution, shape and color intensity of
  pigments granules
• Dyed hair has color in cuticle and cortex
• Bleaching removes pigment and gives yellow tint

• Scale types
• Presence or absence of medulla
• Medullary type
• Medullary pattern
• Medullary index

52
Collection of Hair Evidence

• Questioned hairs must be accompanied by an
  adequate number of control samples.
• from victim
• possible suspects
• others who may have deposited hair at the scene
• Control Sample
• 50-100 full-length hairs from all areas of scalp
• 25-50 full-length pubic hairs

53
IDENTIFICATION AND COMPARISON OF HAIR- Using
Comparison Microscope

• Age and sex CANNOT be determined by hair (sex can
  be determined by DNA analysis if root tissue is
  present).
• Hair root with follicular tissue may indicate
  hair was pulled out forcibly- by a person or
  comb, etc.
• Currently trying to individuate hair by using
  mitochondrial DNA test.
• Routinely collected during autopsy of victim of
  unnatural causes.