NCJ Number
53860
Journal
Archiv fuer kriminologie Volume: 159 Issue: 1-2 Dated: (JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1977) Pages: 23-30
Date Published
1977
Length
8 pages
Annotation
THE POSSIBILITY OF DETECTING SMOKE TRACES, ESPECIALLY ANTIMONY AT THE ENTRY POINT OF A BULLET WOUND AFTER CORPSES HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO FIRE AND WATER WAS INVESTIGATED ON THE BASIS OF TWO CASES.
Abstract
IN THE CASE OF A COUPLE WHO WAS SHOT TO DEATH AND BURNED IN A CAR, AND IN THAT OF A GANGSTER WHO WAS SHOT AND LEFT IN A RIVER FOR TWO WEEKS, ATTEMPTS TO DETERMINE THE DISTANCE FROM WHICH THE VICTIMS WERE SHOT HAD VERY GOOD RESULTS. EFFECTS OF EXTERNAL ELEMENTS ON SMOKE TRACES WERE TESTED BY PLACING PRETREATED SAMPLES OF FABRIC AND SKIN WITH BULLET HOLES IN STANDING TAP WATER, RUNNING WATER, AND RIVER WATER FOR UP TO 900 DAYS OR BY TREATING SAMPLES WITH CHEMICALS. FINDINGS INDICATED THAT ANTIMONY CONCENTRATIONS AROUND THE BULLET HOLE REMAINED HIGH EVEN AFTER FAIRLY LONG PERIODS OF TIME. A FURTHER EXPERIMENT SUGGESTED THAT ANTIMONY DID NOT PERMEATE THE AREA IMMEDIATELY AROUND THE CONTACT ZONE EVEN AFTER LONG SOAKING IN WATER, SO THAT THERE WAS NO DANGER OF MISLEADING ANTIMONY CONCENTRATIONS. AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECTS OF DECAY ON SMOKE ELEMENTS SHOWED THAT THE SMOKE ELEMENTS WERE NOT DEPOSITED ONLY ON THE SURFACE OF THE SKIN AND THAT THEY WERE RELATIVELY RESISTANT TO EXTERNAL INFLUENCES SUCH AS BACTERIA; EVEN AFTER CREMATION OF THE SAMPLES MOST OF THE ANTIMONY COULD BE RECOVERED. IT WAS CAUTIONED THAT DETERMINATION OF SMOKE ELEMENTS DEPENDED ON THE TYPE OF WEAPON AND ON THE MATERIAL PENETRATED BY THE BULLET SO THAT THE FINDINGS OF THESE EXPERIMENTS COULD NOT BE GENERALIZED. A BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SIX ILLUSTRATIONS ARE PROVIDED. --IN GERMAN. (KMD)