Take the time to think about the content of this course and how it applies to the homicide scene described below. Your final essay should be a minimum of 800 words and include a minimum of one scholarly reference.

 

As a Crime Scene Investigator, you respond to a homicide scene at a convenience store/gas station at 3am. Upon arrival, the first officer at the scene informs you that there was an additional employee present during the incident as well as a mother and small child who witnessed the crime.

You also find a deceased victim with a through and through gunshot to the chest.

 

Other visible items:

 

1. Lottery Ticket on counter with a bloody, smeared print on it.

2. Black 9mm semi-automatic gun under ice cream cooler. 3. Pack of cigarettes removed from a carton as well as the ripped open carton on the floor in front of counter.

4. Casing by the glass store entry door.

5. Six pack of cold beer on the floor near the beer cooler. 6. Spent bullet embedded in the wall behind the counter. 7. Spilled cigar box of cash on the floor next to the deceased.

8. Fresh cigarette butt only half smoked outside the store in the parking lot.

 

A. Explain what you would process for fingerprints and why. What processes will you use at the scene? Back at the Laboratory?

 

B. What steps would you take to determine if any of the people present at the scene may have been involved in the homicide or are merely witnesses?

 

C. How would you package the evidence that pertains to the fingerprint analysis?