Silicone castings on cartilage as tool mark-scientific “fingerprints”

Froch-Cortis, Judith; Skarupke, B.; Weber, Matthias; Rothschild, Markus A.

doi:10.1007/s00194-016-0082-5

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Casts of cut marks in rib cartilage may show sand grainlike elevations, referred to as "dots" in the following. Even though these dots have not been mentioned in any study to date, they are nevertheless recognizable in the figures of numerous studies [16,22,26,[32][33][34]. We hypothesize that the dots occur when casting material enters and fills the lacunae of the chondrocytes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 77%

“…Although the use of silicone-based casting materials has been described in numerous studies and case reports [15,17,[26][27][28], no work exists in which such materials are comparatively examined for their applicability in toolmark examination and, in particular, with regard to their use under the light microscope and the tool mark scanner.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Insights to enhance the examination of tool marks in human cartilage

2021

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This work deals with the examination of tool marks in human cartilage. We compared the effectiveness of several cleaning methods on cut marks in porcine cartilage. The method cleaning by multiple casts achieved the significantly highest scores (P = 0.02). Furthermore, we examined the grain-like elevations (dots) located on casts of cut cartilage. The results of this study suggest that the casting material forms these dots when penetrating cartilage cavities, which are areas where the strong collagen fibres leave space for the chondrocytes. We performed fixation experiments to avoid this, without success. In addition, 31 casting materials were compared regarding contrast under light-microscope and 3D tool marks scanner. Under the light-microscope, brown materials achieved significantly higher values than grey (P = 0.02) or black (P = 0.00) whereas under the 3D scanner, black materials reached higher contrast values than grey (P = 0.04) or brown (P = 0.047). To compare the accuracy and reproducibility of 6 test materials for cartilage, we used 10 knives to create cut marks that were subsequently scanned. During the alignment of the individual signals of each mark, the cross-correlation coefficients (Xmax) and lags (LXmax) were calculated. The signals of the marks in agarose were aligned with significantly fewer lags and achieved significantly higher cross-correlation coefficients compared to all tested materials (both P = 0.00). Moreover, we determined the cross-correlation coefficients (XC) for known-matches (KM) per material. Agarose achieved significantly higher values than AccuTrans®, Clear Ballistics™, and gelatine (all P = 0.00). The results of this work provide valuable insights for the forensic investigation of marks in human costal cartilage.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insights to enhance the examination of tool marks in human cartilage

2021

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“…cleaning) of mark bearing cartilage tissue before casting. A recommendation in the literature is to degrease the marks with alcohol [25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advancements of the examination of tool marks in human cartilage

Weber¹,

Niehoff²,

Ma³

2021

Preprint

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This work deals with the examination of tool marks in human cartilage. We compared the effectiveness of several cleaning methods on cut marks in porcine cartilage. The method cleaning by multiple casts achieved the significantly highest scores (P = 0.02). Furthermore, we examined the grain-like elevations (dots) located on casts of cut cartilage. The results of this study suggest that the casting material forms these dots when penetrating cartilage cavities, which are areas where the strong collagen fibers leave space for the chondrocytes. We performed fixation experiments to avoid this, without success. In addition, 31 casting materials were compared regarding contrast under light-microscope and 3D tool marks scanner. Under the light-microscope, brown materials achieved significantly higher values than grey (P = 0.02) or black (P = 0.00) whereas under the 3D scanner, black materials reached higher contrast values than grey (P = 0.04) or brown (P = 0.047). To compare the accuracy and reproducibility of 6 test materials for cartilage, we used 10 knives to create cut marks that were subsequently scanned. During the alignment of the individual signals of each mark, the cross-correlation coefficients (Xmax) and lags (LXmax) were calculated. The signals of the marks in agarose were aligned with significantly fewer lags and achieved significantly higher cross-correlation coefficients compared to all tested materials (both P = 0.00). Moreover, we determined the cross-correlation coefficients (XC) for known-matches (KM) per material. Agarose achieved significantly higher values than AccuTrans®, Clear Ballistics™, and gelatine (all P = 0.00). The results of this work provide valuable insights for the forensic investigation of marks in human costal cartilage.

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Sharp force trauma with two katana swords: identifying the murder weapon by comparing tool marks on the skull bone

2020

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This paper describes the variety of information that a tool mark analysis on human tissue can provide based on a case of multiple sharp violence. The perpetrator attacked the victim with a sharp-edged weapon against the head, leaving several deep wounds on the back of the skull bone. Three of those marks on the skull bone could be used for a forensic tool mark examination. Silicone casts of the marks were compared by light microscopy with casts of test marks of Japanese katana swords found at the crime scene. One of the swords could be identified as the one responsible for the marks. In addition, the marks and the test marks were scanned in 3D and examined in a visual on-screen comparison confirming the results from the light microscopic examination. Furthermore, a mathematical approach in which the signatures of the marks from the skull bone and the test marks from the sword were compared by cross correlation confirms those findings. In addition, the aforementioned results were used to determine the orientation of the sword in relation to the cranial bone at the time of the respective impact.

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Silicone castings on cartilage as tool mark-scientific “fingerprints”

Cited by 5 publications

References 5 publications

Insights to enhance the examination of tool marks in human cartilage

Insights to enhance the examination of tool marks in human cartilage

Advancements of the examination of tool marks in human cartilage

Sharp force trauma with two katana swords: identifying the murder weapon by comparing tool marks on the skull bone

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