On the Job 

The first research paper produced at the Ohio Attorney General’s Center for the Future of Forensic Science at Bowling Green State University (BGSU) has been accepted for publication in Forensic Science International.

Last summer, Jon Sprague, director of the center, Makayla Luedeke, a junior majoring in biology with a forensic biology specialization, and Emily Miller, a forensic scientist at the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), set out to determine whether the use of Bluestar or luminol to detect blood at crime scenes can influence the forensic science laboratory’s examination for blood using tetramethylbenzidine or phenolphthalein. David Hammond, a special agent with BCI’s Investigations Unit, took photos of each of the steps in the process for the report.

“We were able to, for the first time, demonstrate that crime scene use of Bluestar or luminol can influence the lab’s examination of blood with tetramethylbenzidine or phenolphthalein,” Sprague said. “These findings are not only significant to forensic biologists but also to crime scene investigators.”

The project took known effective chemicals and showed their interactions to determine the dependability of results.

“This information is crucial when we are called to be expert witnesses,” Miller said.

Sprague and his team conducted their experiments on wood, treated wood, ceramic tile, shag carpet, cement blocks and cotton clothing.

“One serendipitous finding was the false positive response on treated lumber,” he said. “Lumber is often treated with copper sulfate, and the copper was able to drive the test reactions in a similar fashion to iron in hemoglobin.”

Such research is important to expand our knowledge, Miller said, and to show BCI’s continual growth to strive, improve and advance the forensic field.