Forensic Science

Nam Nguyen
1B






Lynn DeJac was found guilty of strangling her 13-year-old daughter during a night of
drinking and bar hopping. On Wednesday, Ms. DeJac walked out of the Erie County courthouse
free, and the first woman in the United States to have her conviction for killing someone
overturned based on DNA evidence. The 44-year-old Ms. DeJac whose husband and twin
sons were seated behind her in the courtroom began weeping after Judge John L. Michalski
ordered her released on her own recognizance. After her release, Ms. DeJac left the courthouse
with her husband, Chuck Peters, whom she married while in prison, and their sons, who were
born during her first year in prison. She did not speak to reporters. Despite Ms. DeJacs legal
victory, she faces another legal hurdle. Frank Clark, the Erie County district attorney, said he
planned to retry her on a charge of second-degree manslaughter because, since her conviction,
the legal definition of murder due to depraved indifference had changed. As a result, Mr. Clark
said, even if Ms. DeJac was found guilty at a second trial, she would probably not return to
prison because she had already served nearly the maximum sentence possible for the lesser
charge. Explaining why he planned to proceed with the case, Mr. Clark said: The question of
guilt or innocence still has not been determined. Thats why we have every trial. Earlier in the
day, Judge Michael L. DAmico, who presided over her trial and sentenced her to 25 years to
life, set aside Ms. DeJacs murder conviction. He ruled that new tests showing that bloodstains in
the room where the body of her 13-year-old daughter, Crystallynn Girard, was found on the
afternoon of Feb. 14, 1993, contained DNA belonging to a former boyfriend of Ms. DeJacs,
Dennis P. Donahue. But Mr. Donahue will never be tried for Crystallynns murder, even though
members of the Buffalo Police Departments cold case squad suspect him of committing the
crime. Mr. Donahue, a 55-year-old former bartender, who was charged in September with the
1993 murder of another Buffalo woman he had dated, cannot be charged in Crystallynns death
because prosecutors granted him immunity in exchange for his testimony before a grand jury and
at Ms. DeJacs trial. Ms. DeJacs lawyer, Andrew C. LoTempio, urged the police to re-examine
evidence found at the crime scene after Mr. Donahues arrest. Later, tests not available at the
time of the trial indicated that a mans DNA was present in skin cells found in a smear of blood
on a wall, on bedding and in the vaginal cavity of Crystallynn, who was menstruating at the time.
Eric Ferrero, a spokesman for the Innocence Project, a legal clinic based at the Benjamin N.
Cardozo School of Law in New York, said Ms. DeJac was the first woman to be exonerated of
murdering someone among the 209 people cleared through DNA evidence since 1989. At Ms.
DeJacs trial, prosecutors said she had strangled her daughter during an all-night drinking binge
that took her and Mr. Donahue to a wedding, back to her home, and to several local taverns. At
the trial, Mr. Donahue admitted having confronted Ms. DeJac and another man that night, and
that at one point he put a knife to the mans throat. Although prosecutors said there was no
physical evidence connecting Ms. DeJac to her daughters murder, they relied on the testimony
of a man convicted of forging checks, who said she confessed to the killing in a bar several
months later. The circumstantial case also hinged on Ms. DeJacs behavior on the night of her
daughters death: she made a 911 call shortly before midnight, then did not answer the door
when the police responded about 15 minutes later. Several witnesses from the working-class
neighborhood of Buffalo where Ms. DeJac lived and her mother owned a tavern described her as
a troubled woman, a heavy drinker and erratic mother. They said she frequently left the girl and
her 8-year-old brother alone while she stayed out all night. Crystallynns stepfather was
convicted of sexually abusing her before she was 10 years old. I think about 80 percent of the
jurys verdict was based on innuendo created by neighbors who didnt like her, said Mr.
LoTempio, a former Buffalo city court judge. Mr. LoTempio said the new DNA tests provided
more evidence implicating Mr. Donahue than prosecutors had presented in the case against Ms.
DeJac.
Rodney Elam, a resident of Pearl Ranch Road in Fort Bragg was walking a dog down the
road when it alerted to an area of thick brush just off of the roadway. Elam followed the dog into
the brush and located the remains of a nude female. Elam contacted the Mendocino County
sheriffs office and reported his discovery. A sheriffs deputy responded to the area and secured
the scene. Sheriffs detectives arrived at the location and began to process the scene for evidence.
They discovered that the deceased woman had an orange and black nylon weave rope wrapped
tightly around her neck. They also observed that she had blunt force injuries to her head.
Detectives were able to determine that the woman had been killed at an unknown location and
then transported to Pearl Ranch Road where her body was hidden in thick brush. Later in the
day, detectives were able to positively identify the victim as Georgina Pacheco, age 20. Pacheco
was a Fort Bragg resident and had been reported as a missing person on September 4, 1988, to
the Fort Bragg Police Department. During the investigation it was discovered that Pacheco was
last seen on September 1, 1988 when she was picked up at her place of employment, the Sea Pal
Restaurant in Fort Bragg, by Robert James Parks, age 27. Parks was a Fort Bragg resident who
owned property within two miles of where Pachecos body had been discovered. Parks was a
self-employed commercial fisherman. An autopsy determined Pachecos cause of death to be
blunt force trauma to the head and strangulation. A sexual assault examination was conducted on
Pacheco at the time of the autopsy, which included taking swabs to collect DNA. Clippings from
her fingernails were also taken in hopes of locating physical evidence. Detectives felt the blunt
force injuries were consistent with having come from a tire iron or an abalone pry bar. The
evidence recovered during the autopsy was used to determine a specific blood type. At that time
the technology to identify people based on DNA did not exist. On July 21, 1998, Parks
telephoned a family member and advised that he was going to commit suicide by sinking his
fishing vessel in the Long Beach Harbor. Authorities from Long Beach Harbor were notified and
located the sunken fishing vessel. Parks lifeless body was recovered from the ship. In early 2000
the ability to identify criminal suspects through DNA was a relatively new investigative tool for
law enforcement. Sheriffs detective Kevin Bailey submitted some of the evidence recovered
during the Pacheco autopsy to the Department of Justice (DOJ) DNA laboratory. Because of a
backlog on DNA evidence the Department of Justice was not able to provide any results until
2005. At that time the DNA laboratory was only able to determine that the DNA recovered from
Pacheco was male sperm. They had enough of a DNA profile to exclude suspects, but not
enough to run through CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) in an attempt to identify a
suspect. Detective Bailey left the sheriffs office in 2005 and took a position with the district
attorneys office. The Pacheco case was then reassigned to another detective with the sheriffs
office. In 2009 detective Andrew Porter took over the case. Detective Porter arranged for the
original swabs and the fingernail clippings to be sent to the DNA laboratory. Most of the swab
samples had been consumed during blood typing examinations in the early 1990s. Regardless,
the DNA laboratory was able to obtain a complete DNA profile from the wooden sticks that the
cotton swabs had been attached to. Additionally, DOJ senior criminalist, Meghan Mannion-Grey
was able to extract a partial profile from the swabs taken from Pachecos hands, as well as from
the fingernail clippings. This partial profile matched the complete DNA profile that had been
extracted from the swab stick. Detective Porter then obtained DNA samples from Parks family
members. He submitted these samples and Mannion-Grey was able to compare them to the DNA
profile extracted from the evidence. Mannion-Grey was able to positively identify Robert James
Parks as the contributor of the semen located on the swab stick and the contributor of the blood
found on Pachecos hands and under her fingernails. Based on these findings the Mendocino
County sheriffs office has listed Robert James Parks as the suspect in the murder of Georgina
Pacheco and has closed this cold case.
Christopher Vaughn, a 32-year-old former private investigator who specialized in cyber-
crime detection and computer security, lived with his wife and their three children in Oswego,
Illinois, a suburban community of 30,000 west of Chicago. His 34-year-old wife Kimberly had
just earned a college degree in criminal justice administration. In preparation for a weekend
excursion to a water park in downstate Springfield, the couple and their children--Abigayle 12,
Cassandra 11, and Blake 8--had arisen early on June 14, 2007. That morning, at 5:40,
Christopher Vaughn, standing near his vehicle parked on the shoulder of Interstate 55 in
Channahon Township, Illinois, waved down a motorist. Vaughn had been shot in the left wrist
and left thigh. His wife Kimberly and their three children were inside the 2004 Ford Expedition.
They had been shot to death. The motorist called 911. Christopher Vaughn's gunshot injuries
turned out to be glancing bullet wounds that were minor. After being treated and discharged from
a hospital in Joliet, he submitted to questioning by officers with the Illinois State Police. Vaughn
said that his wife had asked him to pull off the road because she was feeling ill. After bringing
the car to a stop, he climbed out of the vehicle to check on the luggage tied to the rack on the
roof of the SUV. When he got back into the vehicle she shot him twice with a pistol. Wounded,
he managed to get out of the Ford without being hit again. Once out of her line of fire, he heard
the gun go off several times from inside the vehicle. When he returned to the SUV to check on
his family, he found that his wife had murdered the children, and had turned the gun on herself.
None of the detectives questioning Vaughn bought the murder-suicide scenario. They were
convinced he had murdered his family, then strategically shot himself. The officers didn't know
why this seemingly rational but emotionless man had committed mass murder, or how they
would be able to prove it without an eyewitness, or a confession. This case looked like a cold-
blooded mass murder committed by a killer with nerves of steel. According to the Will County
forensic pathologist who performed the autopsies, Kimberly Vaugh had been shot under the chin.
The killer had shot the children in their chests and heads. Their deaths were ruled homicides. On
June 20, 2007, members of the Illinois State Police seized, from the Vaughn home in Oswego,
three computers and several boxes full of personal items. Included in the things removed from
the Vaughn family dwelling that day was a magazine containing an article on how to make a
murder look like a suicide. Detectives had also learned that the suspect had purchased the
handgun used in the killings in the state of Washington, and that on the day before the murders,
he had practiced shooting it at a firing range. In the days before the quadruple murder,
Christopher Vaughn had spent $5,000 at a suburban strip club where he had confided in a pole
dancer that he was having marital problems. Vaughn had told friends that he dreamed of
escaping the rat-race by moving into a remote cabin in Canada's Yukon Territory. He also stood
to inherit $1 million in life insurance benefits. Investigators believed that Vaughn had murdered
his family because they stood between him and his desire to start a new life. On June 22, 2007,
the Will County States Attorney's Office charged Christopher Vaughn with four counts of first
degree murder. The next day, he was taken into custody in St. Charles, Missouri when he arrived
at the funeral home where services were being held for his wife and three children. In late
August 2012, more than five years after the shooting deaths of his family, Christopher Vaughn
went on trial for mass murder in Joliet, Illinois. The heart of the prosecution's case consisted of
the testimony of forensic ballistic and blood spatter experts. According to these analysts, the
physical, death scene evidence did not support the defendant's version of a murder-suicide. What
the bullet and blood evidence did suggest was this: once Vaughn had pulled off the interstate, he
got out of the car, walked around to the front passenger's door, opened it, and shot his wife under
the chin. He then shot each of this three children twice, climbed back behind the wheel of the
SUV, wrapped his jacket around the muzzle of the gun to mitigate its effect, then grazed himself
in the left thigh and wrist. Before leaving the vehicle to flag down a motorist, Vaughn placed the
murder weapon at his wife's feet to make the shooting look like a murder-suicide. On September
20, 2012, following a five-week trial featuring six hours of closing arguments, the jury, after a
50-minute deliberation, returned a verdict of guilty on all four counts. On November 26, 2002,
Will County Judge Daniel Rozak sentenced Christopher Vaughn to life in prison. Before
imposing the sentence, Judge Rozak said he was "very frustrated" with the state's decision in
2011 to abolish the death sentence. State's attorney James Glasgow, in speaking to reporters
about the case following the sentencing, said, "There isn't a punishment that fits this crime. You
could lock him up for 500 lifetimes and it would not compensate the victims in this case or the
family members."
The prosecutions case against Darlie Routier included bloodstain pattern analysis by
Tom Bevel. The National Academy of Sciences has stated that this approach to crime scene
analysis is more subjective than scientific. Testimony by Bevel contradicted the physical
evidence in the Routier case. For example, Bevel testified that because bloodstains on the right
shoulder area of Darlies nightshirt contained a mixture of Darlies blood and each of her two
children (one stain contained Darlies blood mixed with Devons and the other contained
Darlies blood mixed with Damons) it showed that Darlie had to have been bleeding when the
boys were stabbed. This testimony contradicts the states case because of the sock, found about
75 feet down an alley way that ran behind the Routier home. The sock contained Devon and
Damons blood on it. This means that by the time the sock was deposited in the alley, the Routier
children had already been attacked. However, the state never explained how Darlie could have
gotten the sock into the alley without leaving a trail of blood leading to or around where the sock
was found. As evidenced by the crime scene photographs, Darlie bled a great deal from her
injuries. The above is a major problem because the prosecutions own expert acknowledged she
had to have been bleeding when she allegedly stabbed the boys. For the prosecution to have been
correct, Darlie also had to have been bleeding when she deposited the sock (which we know
because blood for each child was on that sock). Another problem with the blood evidence is that
Darlies nightshirt was cut and removed from her while she was treated by a paramedic. Though
special care should have been taken to preserve the bloodstains on the shirt it appears the shirt
was eventually placed into a bag prior to being dried. In addition, the chain of custody for the
shirt, as well as the clothing removed from Damon Routier, is highly problematic. The clothing
was placed into bags and taken to the fire station. The items were then retrieved from the station
by police. Officer Mayne testified that he picked up two paper sacks from the fire station. He
said that he opened the bags and observed blue jeans and underwear in one, and Darlies
nightshirt in the other. Nowhere in the entire trial transcripts is there a description of which sack
contained the shirt Damon was wearing when he was murdered. Was the shirt placed into the bag
with the jeans or with Darlies nightshirt? This question remains and is important because of the
possibility of cross-contamination of blood from one item onto another. Darlies shirt was also
put into a paper bag without being folded or dried. Mayne testified at trial that there was blood
on the bottom of the bag indicating the shirt had wet blood on it when placed into the bag. This
could have allowed blood to seep from one area of the nightshirt onto another. This means that
the information garnered from any of the clothing was questionable simply due to the lack of a
process used to protect the integrity of the evidence, and then also the problematic chain of
custody.
Working in a lab, the forensic toxicologist performs tests on samples collected by crime
scene investigators. They use highly sophisticated instruments, chemical reagents and precise
methodologies to determine the presence or absence of specific substances in the sample. The
work requires patience and the ability to follow specific steps to achieve reliable results. The
forensic toxicologist must document every step of the process, and take care to follow rules
regarding chain of custody for physical evidence. The field of forensic toxicology has grown to
include drug testing for employers and traffic enforcement officials, testing of animal samples
for wildlife criminal investigators, testing for date rape drugs and performance-enhancing
substances. Forensic toxicologists also work on cases involving environmental contamination, to
determine the impact of chemical spills on nearby populations.

From the beginning, there were issues involving evidence collection. An important
bloody fingerprint located on the gateway at Nicole Browns house was not collected, secured,
and entered into the chain of custody when it was first located. Although it was documented by
Fuhrman, one of the first detectives on the scene, in his notes, no further action was taken to
secure it. The detectives who took over Fuhrmans shift apparently were never aware of the print
and eventually the print was lost or destroyed without ever being collected. Other items of
evidence were also never logged or entered into the chain of custody, which gave the impression
that sloppy forensic collection had been carried out at the scene. The prosecution had expert
witnesses that testified that the evidence was often mishandled. Photos were taken of critical
evidence without scales in them to aid in measurement taking; items were photographed without
being labeled and logged, making it difficult, if not impossible, to link the photos to any specific
area of the scene. Separate pieces of evidence were bagged together instead of separately causing
cross-contamination; and wet items were packaged before allowing them to dry, causing critical
changes evidence. Nicole Browns body was covered with a blanket which came from inside the
house, this completely contaminated the body and anything the blanket touched around the body.
Beyond poor evidence collection techniques, sloppy maneuvering at the scene left more bloody
LAPD shoe prints at the scene than perpetrator prints, again giving the appearance of forensic
ineptitude. Throughout the investigation, there were issues with how evidence was secured.
There was about 1.5 mL of O.J. Simpsons blood assumed to be missing from a vial of evidence.
The reason this idea of lost blood could not be countered by the LAPD was because there was
no documentation of how much reference blood was taken from Simpson as evidence. The
person who drew the blood could only guess he had taken 8 mL; only 6 mL could be accounted
for by the LAPD. To add to the problem, the blood was not immediately turned over as evidence
but was carried around for a few hours before it was entered into the chain of custody, allowing
for speculation of when and how the 1.5 mL of blood may have disappeared. The security of
LAPD storage and labs was also brought under scrutiny when it was found that evidence was
altered or was given access to by unauthorized personnel. Simpsons Bronco was entered at least
twice by unauthorized personnel while in the impound yard; Nicole Simpsons mothers glasses
had a lens go missing while it was in the LAPD facility. Not only were there many claims that
the evidence was mishandled in the police lab but there were also claims that evidence was
planted at the crime scene. Because the police department did not have proper collection
documents regarding Simpsons blood, it was said that the police planted Simpsons missing
blood on critical evidence and in critical areas of the murder scene. The defense team stated that
EDTA was found in the samples of blood that were collected at the crime scene. EDTA is a
blood fixer (anticoagulant) used in labs and mixed with collected blood. If evidence with
Simpsons blood showed traces of EDTA, the defense claimed, then that blood had to have come
from the lab, which meant that it was planted. However, EDTA is also a chemical found
naturally in human blood and chemicals such as paint. At the time, tests were not readily
available to differentiate between natural and contaminant EDTA or the differences in the levels
of EDTA in blood between EDTA from a tube and naturally occurring EDTA. Some believe that
the positive EDTA results may have been due to contamination of the equipment used to run the
tests.