Fragrance transfer between fabrics for forensic reconstruction applications

Abstract

Sexual assault is a serious crime that often has low conviction rates. Recent literature has demonstrated that there is potential for fragrances to be valuable in forensic reconstructions where there has been contact between individuals. However, developing appropriate evidence bases for understanding the nature of fragrance transfer in these contexts is needed. This article presents three experiments that address the transfer process of fragrances that have been transferred from a primary piece of fabric onto a secondary piece of fabric, in a manner that could occur during an assault. The three variables studied were the ageing time of the fragrances on the first fabric prior to transfer, the contact time between the two fabrics, and lastly the fabric type (of the primary material and the recipient material). The transfer was evaluated using a validated solid phase micro-extraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SPME GC-MS) method. The findings demonstrated that all three variables had an impact on the transfer of fragrances between clothing fabrics. Generally, lower volatility compounds were transferred and recovered in larger amounts than higher volatility compounds. All fragrance compounds were successfully recovered from a secondary piece of fabric even when the contact time was as short as 10 s, and even when the perfume was aged on the primary fabric for as long as 48 h. The nature of the fragrance transfer also depended on the fabric type, so that a clear discrimination was observed between the fragrance transfer that occurred onto a natural fabric (cotton) and onto a synthetic fabric (polyester).

Persistence of transferred fragrance on fabrics for forensic reconstruction applications

“…A Stainingtester crockmeter (Komputekst, Hungary) was used to simulate fabric contact in a reproducible way as carried out in Gherghel et al [38]. The donor cotton swatch spiked with the VOCs mixture was mounted onto the crockmeter finger and then rubbed against a blank recipient sample fabric under a fixed load of 9 N.…”

“…The VOCs mixture was spiked onto the primary piece of fabrics, whilst the internal standard solution was added to the secondary piece of fabric (the recipient) immediately prior to adding it to the vial and adding the 10 mL water, as carried out in Gherghel et al [38]. In this way, the internal standards were not submitted to the transfer process and they were only used for the GC-MS calibration step.…”

“…Recently, Gherghel et al [37] highlighted the potential use of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as a form of trace evidence for sexual assault cases due to the high use of fragrance by both men and women, and the fact that clothing is often recovered in these cases. In a further study focused on the transfer of fragrances [38], traces of VOCs were detected from a secondary piece of fabric even when the fragrance mixture was aged on the primary fabric for 2 d prior to transfer, and even when the contact between fabrics was as short as 10 s. Therefore, this current article builds on that work to provide additional data on the persistence of fragrances once they have been transferred, to contribute to a more complete picture on the evidence dynamics of VOCs and their potential application to forensic reconstruction approaches.…”

“…It is very important for forensic science research to be predicated on real world challenges [40] to aid the judicial system [10]. As such, this study sought to generate data to demonstrate the persistence of VOCs from fragrance in a way that was informed by relevant casework (as outlined above) and considering relevant published literature [37,38,41]. This study sought to contribute to an empirical evidence base to establish the nature of the…”

The potential of LC–MS technique in direct analysis of perfume content

“…In addition to studies on the composition of perfumes and their stability, latest literature shows the potential of GC-MS for the identification of traces of fragrance volatile organic compounds (VOCs) on clothes of a sexual assault victim or other crime scenes. Due to the close distance between the victim and the attacker, fragrances may transfer between them, so that VOCs can provide valuable information in forensic reconstruction [9][10][11]. Perfume counterfeiting can be also verified based on GC-MS as well as an electronic nose (E-nose) analysis.…”