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“Mute Witnesses, Sure and Faithful”: Microscopic Analysis of Textile Fibers in Criminal Cases

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

M.M. Houck
M.M. Houck*
Affiliation:
Federal Bureau of Investigation, Laboratory Division, 935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, D.C., 20535-0001
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Extract

Placing the suspect at the crime scene is an important element in the solution of a crime. A way to do this is to find textile fibers like those from the victim’s environment or the crime scene on the clothing of the suspect. Another way would be to discover fibers like the suspect’s clothing or environment on the victim or at the crime scene. When fibers exhibiting the same microscopic characteristics and optical properties are found in common between a known source and the suspect or victim, an evidentiary value is placed on that association. This value is dependent on many factors that include the type(s) of fibers found (natural or synthetic), the color (s) of the fibers, number of fibers found, the location of fibers on a victim, suspect and/or crime scene and the number of different fibers that “match,” especially if different fibers from the same item of clothing or fibers from more than one item of clothing are found.

Type
Optical Microanalysis
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 3 , Issue S2: Proceedings: Microscopy & Microanalysis '97, Microscopy Society of America 55th Annual Meeting, Microbeam Analysis Society 31st Annual Meeting, Histochemical Society 48th Annual Meeting, Cleveland, Ohio, August 10-14, 1997 , August 1997 , pp. 849 - 850
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 1997

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