Abstract
Blood traces found at crime scenes often comprise pivotal information regarding the events and individuals associated with the crime. Nowadays, even minute amounts of blood allow retrieval of a whole host of such ‘profiling’ information: e.g. diet, life style, age, gender. However, establishing any forensic value of such traces necessitates a veritable connection to a crime. The age of a blood trace, i.e. the time of its deposition, is crucial in this effort. This far-reaching forensic implication as well as the lack of currently validated and accepted trace dating methods, render blood stain age estimation the holy grail of forensic science. In its pursuit, several methods which determine the time since deposition of blood traces by probing different aspects of the trace degradation process have been proposed and explored. The present chapter collates and discusses current research investigating some of these blood trace ageing methods and their practical application in three categories. The first category comprises techniques which require trace sampling and consume these samples in their entirety during the analysis process. Similarly, the techniques in the second category require sampling of the blood trace but leave the sample intact for further analysis. Lastly, the third group of methods requires neither sampling nor contact. This, in turn, allows in situ analysis of the trace in question. The following operational aspects pertaining to these three categories are discussed in more detail: (i) required sample preparation, (ii) practical implementation and (iii) necessary operational skills. These aspects largely determine the suitability for forensic practice. Technology maturity (i.e. practical applicability) is quantified using the Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) as defined by the NASA/Airspace systems.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Anderson S, Howard B et al (2005) A method for determining the age of a bloodstain. Forensic Sci Int 148(1):37–45
Alrowaithi MA, McCallum NA et al (2014) A method for determining the age of a bloodstain. Forensic Sci Int 234:e30–e31
Anderson SE, Hobbs GR et al (2011) Multivariate analysis for estimating the age of a bloodstain. J Forensic Sci 56(1):186–193
Simard AM, DesGroseillers L et al (2012) Assessment of RNA stability for age determination of body fluid stains. J Can Soc Forensic Sci 45:179–194
Qi B, Kong L et al (2013) Gender-related difference in bloodstain RNA ratio stored under uncontrolled room conditions for 28 days. J Forensic Leg Med 20(4):321–325
Alshehhi S, McCallum NA et al (2017) Quantification of RNA degradation of blood-specific markers to indicate the age of bloodstains. Forensic Sci Int Genet Suppl Ser 6:e453–e455
Mohammed AT, Khalil SR et al (2018) Validation of mRNA and microRNA profiling as tools in qPCR for estimation of the age of bloodstains. Life Sci J 15(6):1–7
Eaton GR, Eaton SS et al (2010) Quantitative EPR: a practitioners guide. Springer-Verlag
Miki T, Kai A et al (1987) Electron spin resonance of bloodstains and its application to the estimation of time after bleeding. Forensic Sci Int 35(2–3):149–158
Sakurai H, Tsuchiya K et al (1989) Dating of human blood by electron spin resonance spectroscopy. Naturwissenschaften 76(1):24–25
Andrasko J (1997) The estimation of age of bloodstains by HPLC analysis. J Forensic Sci 42(4):601–607
Inoue H, Takabe F et al (1992) A new marker for estimation of bloodstain age by high performance liquid chromatography. Forensic Sci Int 57(1):17–27
Arany S, Ohtani S (2011) Age estimation of bloodstains: a preliminary report based on aspartic acid racemization rate. Forensic Sci Int 212(1–3):e36–e39
Ackermann K, Ballantyne KN et al (2010) Estimating trace deposition time with circadian biomarkers: a prospective and versatile tool for crime scene reconstruction. Int J Legal Med 124(5):387–395
Lech K, Liu F et al (2016) Evaluation of mRNA markers for estimating blood deposition time: towards alibi testing from human forensic stains with rhythmic biomarkers. Forensic Sci Int Genet 21:119–125
Lech K, Liu F et al (2017) Investigation of metabolites for estimating blood deposition time. Int J Legal Med 132(1):25–32
Doty KC, McLaughlin G et al (2016) A Raman, “spectroscopic clock” for bloodstain age determination: the first week after deposition. Anal Bioanal Chem 408(15):3993–4001
Doty KC, Muro CK et al (2017) Predicting the time of the crime: bloodstain aging estimation for up to two years. Forensic Chem 5:1–7
Bai P, Wang J et al (2017) Discrimination of human and nonhuman blood by Raman spectroscopy and partial least squares discriminant analysis. Anal Lett 50(2):379–388
Strasser S, Zink A et al (2007) Age determination of blood spots in forensic medicine by force spectroscopy. Forensic Sci Int 170(1):8–14
Smijs T, Galli F et al (2016) Forensic potential of atomic force microscopy. Forensic Chem 2:93–104
Thanakiatkrai P, Yaodam A et al (2013) Age estimation of bloodstains using smartphones and digital image analysis. Forensic Sci Int 233(1–3):288–297
Shin J, Choi S et al (2017) Smart forensic phone: colorimetric analysis of a bloodstain for age estimation using a smartphone. Sens Actuators B Chem 243:221–225
Sun H, Dong Y et al (2017) Accurate age estimation of bloodstains based on visible reflectance spectroscopy and chemometrics methods. IEEE Photonics J 9(1):6500614
Li B, Beveridge P et al (2013) The age estimation of blood stains up to 30 days old using visible wavelength hyperspectral image analysis and linear discriminant analysis. Sci Justice 53(3):270–277
Edelman GJ, Roos M et al (2016) Practical implementation of blood stain age estimation using spectroscopy. IEEE J Sel Topics Quantum Electron 22(3):7200107
Edelman G, van Leeuwen TG et al (2012) Hyperspectral imaging for the age estimation of blood stains at the crime scene. Forensic Sci Int 223(1–3):72–77
Edelman G, Manti V et al (2012) Identification and age estimation of blood stains on colored backgrounds by near infrared spectroscopy. Forensic Sci Int 220(1–3):239–244
Pereira JFQ, Silva CS et al (2017) Evaluation and identification of blood stains with handheld NIR spectrometer. Microchem J 133:561–566
Morillas AV, Gooch J et al (2018) Feasibility of a handheld near infrared device for the qualitative analysis of bloodstains. Talanta 184:1–6
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Aalders, M., Wilk, L. (2019). Investigating the Age of Blood Traces: How Close Are We to Finding the Holy Grail of Forensic Science?. In: Francese, S. (eds) Emerging Technologies for the Analysis of Forensic Traces. Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20542-3_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-20542-3_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-20541-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-20542-3
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)