Crime scene investigation: “How to get away with murder”
By Dan Papa | Published by February 18, 2020
Dr. Maria Denise Gemmellaro teaches a course called “How to Get Away with Murder.” In the course, she goes over scientific evidence usually found at crime scenes such as DNA and ballistics.
“The Professor displaying a jar that was used to humanely kill flies” Photo by Dan Papa
On Feb. 10, Dr. Gemmellaro ran a Murder Mystery event in Kean University’s Science Building. The event covered crime scene investigation tactics from law enforcement to how forensics are analyzed.
“[The course is] all cases where they have handled the evidence so badly that whoever did it got away with it,” Gemmellaro said.
During the event, she passed around a vial of maggots, let attendees examine a decomposed pig, and even showed live flies, explaining how they can help determine a person’s time of death. A couple of students were even given an opportunity to dust for fingerprints.
“The professor giving a tutorial on how to dust for fingerprints.” Photo by Dan Papa
She went on to explain a few different ways cases can be botched.
“People spilling peach juice in crime scenes because it is reactive to luminol,” Gemmellaro said. “You will now know where you have blood and where you have juice. But what if the whole place lit up? You don’t know what to send to the lab.”
Dr. Gemmellaro made the point that people would be more likely to get away with crimes by learning certain information about how crime scenes are handled.
“Dead maggots that were passed around in a vial during the event” Photo by Dan Papa
“Information should still be given to the people,” she said. “People are going to do whatever they are going to do but no information should be kept from the general population.”
Crime scenes are very delicate spaces and it seems that one wrong move can have catastrophic consequences in terms of which way a case is going to go.
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