![[Slice of pizza on a white plate next to a drink and condiments.]](https://blogs.iu.edu/sciu/files/2018/10/pizza-2hieqmk.jpeg)
In 1992, an 84-year-old grandmother was brutally assaulted and killed in California. For 25 years, the mystery of her death went unsolved — and her killer unapprehended — due to the lack of physical evidence to tie him to the crime. Twenty-five years later, police paid a visit to a pizza party where they found sufficient evidence to arrest her murder. At first glance, the murder and the pizza party seem unrelated. However, there is a link: familial DNA…
Tag: criminal justice
Familial DNA as a method of identifying serial killers
Trigger warning: This post contains details of specific crimes that are related to sexual assault and murder. In 1992, an 84-year-old grandmother was brutally assaulted and killed in California. For 25 years, the mystery of her death went unsolved—and her killer unapprehended—due to the lack of physical evidence to tie him to the crime. Twenty-five… Read more »
Blood, sweat and fingerprints: the science behind crime scene investigation
We’ve all seen it on a TV crime series – fingerprints taken from a crime scene are put into a computer, instantaneously matched to a person of interest, and “Voila!” The crime is solved. As with many aspects of TV crime drama, however, fingerprint analysis is more complicated in real life. The reason? According to… Read more »
A new method of addressing mental health and crime
Imagine your friend, Alex, has bipolar disorder. Alex feels like the medication he has been taking gives him headaches and that getting high on pills works better, and he chooses to stop taking it as a result. Very soon, Alex’s symptoms begin to come back. To you he seems anxious and maybe even impulsive, but… Read more »