Sara L. Latta - DNA and Blood: Dead People Do Tell Tales

BLOODSTAINS AND DNA TELL TALES

To a trained forensic scientist, blood spatter at a crime scene tells a clear story about what happened. The DNA in the blood can narrow down a list of suspectsclearing the innocent or helping send the guilty to prison. Discover how blood pattern analysis and DNA fingerprinting began, how they are used now, and how they have solved decades-old mysteries.

This book will excite and enthuse students about forensic science! It provides insight into the workings of forensic science not found in popular television shows. It covers a wide range of areas, and details some of the history of what is taken for granted today.

About the Author

Sara L. Latta lives and writes about science and medicine from her home in Illinois. She has a BA in Microbiology, an MS in Immunology, and an MFA in Creative Writing.

Dr. Sam Sheppard was accused of murdering his wife, Marilyn, in 1954.

Marilyn Sheppard

Sam Sheppard and his wife, Marilyn, lived in a well-to-do suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. Sheppard, like his father and brothers, was a doctor. Together they ran Bay View Hospital, which was nearby. Dr. and Mrs. Sheppard had some friends over for dinner on the night of July 3, 1954. It had been a busy day for Dr. Sheppard. He had performed a scheduled surgery in the morning as well as an emergency surgery that afternoon in an unsuccessful attempt to save the life of a young boy who had been hit by a truck. He was called back to the hospital as he and his guests were having predinner cocktails, this time to tend to a boy with a broken leg. Finally, after a late dinner, the guests left around midnight. Dr. Sheppard, exhausted from the days events, had fallen asleep on the daybed in the living room. Mrs. Sheppard went upstairs to their bedroom.

Just before dawn, Spencer Houks phone rang. For Gods sake, Spen, get over here! Houk recognized the voice of his friend and neighbor, Sam Sheppard. I think theyve killed Marilyn. Houk, who also happened to be the mayor of Bay Village, and his wife, Esther, arrived at the Sheppard home a few minutes later. Mrs. Houk found Mrs. Sheppards bloody body upstairs.

The police were soon on the scene. They questioned Dr. Sheppard briefly, and he told them that he had been awakened by his wifes cries. He headed upstairs to the bedroom, where he had caught a glimpse of a figure wearing a light-colored shirt before being hit on the back of the neck. When he came to, he found his wife lying in a pool of blood on the bed, and the bedroom was flecked with red spatters. He checked for her pulse. There was none. His seven-year-old son, Chip, slept soundly in his bedroom.

According to Dr. Sheppard, he had heard a noise below. He ran down the stairs just in time to see someone running toward the lake behind his home. He chased the man, whom he would later describe as about six feet three inches tall and middle-aged with bushy hair. He reached the man, and, after a struggle, had been knocked out again. When he awoke, the intruder was gonethis time for good. Dr. Sheppard claimed to have suffered a neck injury in the scuffle. He clearly had bruises and cuts on his face.

Marilyn Sheppard was murdered in her home while her family was asleep.

Satisfied, the police allowed Dr. Sheppards brother to take him to Bay View Hospital to treat his injuries. Chip was sent to the house of another uncle. Soon the house and lawn were crowded with reporters and other curious people; some were even allowed to enter the bedroom where Mrs. Sheppards body still lay. The crime scene investigators were lax when it came to gathering fingerprints. They photographed the bedroom and some footprints they found outside the house, but on the whole they seemed to regard the crime scene as little more than a bloody mess.

The police and coroner found that Mrs. Sheppard had thirty-five wounds, including fifteen blows to the head, and cuts on her hands, arms, and fingers.

The police were inclined to think that Dr. Sheppard had murdered his wife. It was a reasonable suspicion. At least 30 percent of women who are murdered are killed by people they knowusually a husband or boyfriend. The local newspapers, initially sympathetic to Dr. Sheppard, turned on him. They published editorials, such as one titled The Finger of Suspicion, that were aimed at the doctor. At the cases inquest, it was revealed that Dr. Sheppard had been having an affair with a medical technician at Bay View Hospital. By now most of Clevelandif not the nationthought that the wealthy, good-looking doctor was guilty of his wifes murder. Three weeks after the murder, Dr. Sheppard was arrested and charged with the crime.

Dr. Sheppards trial began on October 18, 1954. His defense attorney, William Corrigan, asked for a change of venue. The intense and biased media coverage would make it impossible for his client to get a fair hearing, he said. The judge denied his request.

Investigators inspected the scene of the crime, but they werent as thorough as they could have been.

At the trial, the prosecuting attorney said that Dr. Sheppards story was too far-fetched. How could an intruder have entered the house without waking up the Sheppards? Why hadnt the dog barked? Most incriminating of all was the testimony of the medical technician, Susan Hayes, who said that she and Dr. Sheppard had been having an affair for three years. After six weeks of testimony, the jury found Dr. Sheppard guilty of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Corrigan had made a big mistake in not having his teams own experts examine the house. He tried to correct that mistake after Dr. Sheppards conviction by calling in a nationally-known expert on what was then a little-known field of forensic sciencebloodstain pattern analysis. The expert, Paul Kirk, agreed to take on the assignment but warned that he might only find further evidence of Dr. Sheppards guilt.

Kirk measured and analyzed the shape of hundreds of blood drops in the Sheppards bedroom. The walls were spattered with blood, except in one corner of the room. Something had blocked the flying drops of blood. That something must have been the killers own body. He would have been covered with blood spatters. But save for the small bloodstain on his pants, Dr. Sheppard hadnt had any blood on him after the murder. Kirk also noticed an unusual bloodstain on the closet door that was much larger than the other spatters. He could tell from the large size of the stain that it could have traveled only inches before hitting the door. It couldnt have come from the bed where Mrs. Sheppard had been lying. Kirk deduced that Mrs. Sheppard, in a desperate struggle for her life, had wounded the killer.