When a suspect comes into contact with various materials or surfaces at the crime scene with blood-soaked hands during the commission of a crime, blood fingerpirnts are left on those surfaces. If bloodstains are collected and enhanced using appropriat...
When a suspect comes into contact with various materials or surfaces at the crime scene with blood-soaked hands during the commission of a crime, blood fingerpirnts are left on those surfaces. If bloodstains are collected and enhanced using appropriate methods, they can serve as evidence to identify the person who left the bloodstains and prove the connection between the suspect and the crime scene. Blood fingerprints are generally easy to see with the naked eye, but blood fingerprints at crime scenes are often faint or left on dark backgrounds, making them difficult to identify with the naked eye. Therefore, appropriate techniques must be used to enhance blood fingerprints that are difficult to observe with the naked eye.
Polystyrene, also known as Styrofoam, is a material widely used in everyday life for various purposes. As polystyrene surfaces are commonly found in everyday life, they are also highly likely to be found at crime scenes. Polystyrene can be divided into expanded polystyrene and polystyrene paper depending on the manufacturing process, and polystyrene paper refers to expanded polystyrene processed into thin sheets. While expanded polystyrene itself has hydrophobic properties, its unique structure, where polystyrene beads are clustered together, gives it a porous nature that allows substances to be absorbed between the beads. This makes it difficult for fingerprints or blood fingerprints to remain intact.
There is a lack of research on methods to appropriately enhance blood fingerprints on surfaces such as expanded polystyrene and polystyrene paper, which have both non-porous and porous characteristics. Previous studies have mostly focused on comparing techniques for developing latent fingerprints on polystyrene surfaces and researching the development of latent fingerprints under various conditions. Therefore, in this study, we conducted research to find the most effective method for enhancing faint blood fingerprints on polystyrene surfaces.
Polystyrene surfaces were selected from white expanded polystyrene, white polystyrene paper, red mesh polystyrene paper, and black polystyrene paper, which are commonly encountered in daily life. For blood fingerprints enhancement reagents, amido black, natural yellow 3, leuco crystal violet, and acidic hydrogen peroxide were used. The depletion series technique was applied to create faint blood fingerprints. The blood volume was gradually reduced by applying the sample three times to a surface of the same material as the sample surface, and then the blood fingerprints from the fourth to ninth applications were applied to the experimental sample surface.
The experimental results showed that AHP was most effective in enhancing blood fingerprints on white expanded polystyrene, while natural yellow 3 caused excessive background staining, resulting in strong fluorescence in the background and making it more difficult to observe the blood fingerprints with the naked eye than before enhancement. On white polystyrene paper and black polystyrene paper, enhancement using natural yellow 3 was most effective, while on red mesh polystyrene, enhancement using amido black was most effective. However, on all polystyrene paper surfaces, enhancement of blood fingerprints using AHP was ineffective, either failing to enhance the blood fingerpirnts or only enhancing their shape.