Forensics Detective Reviews Crime Scene Investigations, from 'Dexter' to 'CSI: Miami' | Vanity Fair

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- During my time as a major crimes forensics detective,
I worked about 20,000 crime scenes.
- [Narrator] Today, Karen is going to break down
fictional crime scene investigations
to determine what Hollywood gets right and wrong.
[dramatic music]
- What I want you to understand
is that crime scenes are very difficult.
There are infinite number of possibilities.
So when we go into one,
we have to go in with an open mind, with objective means,
and we have to gather all of our evidence appropriately
so that everything can go to court.
First up, "Dexter."
In this scene, Dexter, a blood spatter analyst,
investigates a crime scene.
- Look at the blood spatter, look at the patterns.
It tells a story.
You see this big pond of blood right there.
That's when the initial stab-
- This is pure Hollywood.
I don't know what a pond of blood is.
A pond is what fish are in.
A pond is not what blood is.
We don't use a term like that.
I don't know what all those red strings are either.
When we reconstruct what's called an impact pattern,
we can take up to six to 10 different, small blood droplets
and draw them into three dimensional space.
And that's apparently what they were trying to do
with these red strings here,
but not only is that ridiculous,
it doesn't tell me anything
about the crime scene whatsoever.
- The male victim was standing right here
and the killer plunged his knife into the shoulder,
severing the carotid artery and [lips sputter].
Notice the long thick heavy drips.
- That stain on the wall is not like anything we would find
at a crime scene.
That looks like the prom scene from the movie "Carrie."
There's nothing that those strings are attached to,
on that wall, that is meaningful at all.
I also don't know how you would reconstruct a crime scene
using a non-pattern like that
and then deduce that the person
came across with a knife this way and that way.
Crime scene reconstruction is very detailed.
It's very objective.
So it's not just walking into a crime scene
and then just positing what you think happened,
based on the patterns at the scene.
You have to do a lot of legwork.
- Now over here, you have nice clean sprays of blood
and that can only happen
when you're holding something light and moving quick.
Nice sharp slices through the body, no splashes, no drips,
clean and easy.
- Clean and easy.
Hm, if I were to classify what Hollywood
has attempted to recreate on that wall,
it would be termed something along the lines of cast off.
And cast off happens when blood adheres to an object,
and that object is swung through the air,
and the adhesive properties of blood
are overcome by that force,
and they land in a linear arc on the available surfaces.
And they can leave a line.
And depending on weapon used, the line can be very thin,
such as with the tip of a knife,
or they can be thicker, such as with a baseball bat,
or a tire iron.
But again, these are things that take the scientific method,
they take objective means to measure and to recreate.
So this is just nonsense.
- So we're looking for a sushi chef.
- Yeah, sushi chef is possible.
Wouldn't be my first choice, but hey, you never know.
- Now what?
- Now I eat.
- And last but not least, in this clip,
nobody's wearing a Tyvek suit.
Nobody's wearing shoe booties.
Nobody is wearing gloves.
He snaps one photograph and splits for dinner.
Nothing about this scene has anything to do with reality.
Overall, I think this is a Hollywood hot mess.
It is a non-forensic nightmare.
And I may have a nightmare tonight,
now that I've watched it.
Next up "Fargo" season two.
In this scene, the local detectives
investigate a crime scene at a local diner.
- Put my coat on her.
Seemed only right.
- I put my coat on her.
Seemed only, right.
No, no, no, no.
That is only wrong.
We never introduce evidence to a body
and she's not gonna get cold, I promise.
So we've got some pretty major bloodstains
at the entrance there.
That means we need to find an alternate entry point.
We don't wanna walk over those bloodstains
because we could alter them.
We could introduce our own shoe prints,
our own DNA, other things into that crime scene.
So as soon as that door was opened
and the blood was present there on the floor,
trying to find an alternate route
would have been the appropriate thing to do.
- I count three dead.
I saw the waitress in the parkin' lot.
- She caught one there then staggered out.
Gunman followed, made things permanent.
- Well, if the gunmen followed,
according to this very, very rapid reconstruction
and you have snow outside, you should be able to find
some shoe prints in that snow,
leading to the body where the waitress was.
Along with a bullet trajectory through her body,
or a penetrating injury into her body.
That can place where the shooter was, where she was,
and it may be able to give you
some identifiable characteristics in those shoe prints.
- How's Betsy?
- You mean you didn't call her before you came over?
- Well, yeah, just being polite.
Give you a chance to talk about your feelin's,
should you be so disposed.
- She's good, yeah.
Ordered this kit of recipe cards, saw it on the TV.
So now every night we eat delicacies of the world.
- As much as I love this banter, because it's just adorable,
that doesn't happen at a crime scene.
We keep things clinical.
We keep things linear.
We keep things objective.
Swapping recipes is something that we do outside of work,
outside of the crime scene.
As tempting as it might be, it's inappropriate.
- Skid marks.
- Yeah, I see 'em.
Of course, connectin' those to this deal here,
would be what we call jumpin' to a conclusion.
- Maybe, maybe not.
I don't know.
But here's the thing, you can measure those skid marks.
You can take samples of the rubber from those skid marks.
You can find out a width of the undercarriage
of the vehicle that created them.
And maybe it'll lead you to a car.
- Based on the number of bodies,
I think we got one car too many in the parking lot.
- Whoa, he just picked up that money,
with what appears to be possibly blood on it,
with his gloved hand, and it's a leather glove.
It's not a new, clean, latex glove.
That is a huge no-no.
When you take evidence from a crime scene like that,
not only are you contaminating it
with things that might be on your glove,
he's reached into his pocket, he's held his pen,
he's taken notes, he may have even pulled it off
with his fingers at some point,
so he's introducing all of that onto that dollar bill.
And if that is blood on it, that is a major clue.
So the first thing that we would have to do is document it,
photograph it, test that substance on it
to see if it's blood,
and then package it appropriately for the laboratory.
Next up "Iron Man 3."
In this scene, Tony Stark uses some high-tech forensics
to reconstruct a crime scene.
- [Jarvis] I've compiled a Mandarin database for you sir,
drawn from Shield, FBI, and CIA intercepts.
Initiating virtual crime scene reconstruction.
- We do have tools that will reconstruct
a crime scene in three dimensions.
There are 3D scanners.
They not only take a 360 degree view of the crime scene.
They can do ceilings and the floors,
so that when we upload it into a computer,
we can actually tilt the entire scene
and take measurements from one area to another
that are extremely accurate.
So, although this is really futuristic and cool,
it is not that far out of the realm of possibility.
- [Jarvis] Heat from the blast
was in excess of 3,000 degrees Celsius.
Any subjects within 12.5 yards were vaporized instantly.
- No bomb parts found
in a three-mile radius of the Chinese Theater?
- [Jarvis] No, sir.
- We just heard that this explosive device
created 3000 degrees Celsius.
Well, that would be equivalent
to about 5,400 degrees Fahrenheit.
To give you some comparison,
the surface of the sun is 5,700 degrees.
So that's some serious math.
And if you have an incendiary device like that,
that goes off at that high of a temperature,
I'm pretty sure that vaporized is the correct term,
but there would be a very large blast radius,
not just at 12 and a half yards away.
It would be a lot bigger.
- Talk to me Happy.
[dramatic music]
When is a bomb not a bomb?
- When is a bomb not a bomb?
Never.
You need four things to make a bomb.
You need an energy source.
You need a method of containment.
You need a method of initiation.
And you need some material
that will create an exothermic or heat reaction.
Without one of those things, it won't work.
Next up, "CSI Miami."
In this clip, a brand new investigator
makes a horrible mistake in the lab.
- Talk me through what you're doin'.
- Okay, this is the jacket worn by our suspect,
Hector Rivera, we believe that he stabbed Gabriel Cervantes.
So I'm gonna run what's called a luminol test.
- Hey what's luminol.
- Luminol is a compound that when it interacts
with the iron in hemoglobin it will luminesce.
- This is true.
Luminol is a chemiluminescent compound.
And when it comes into contact with the heme in blood,
it will create a bluish green glow.
- Anyway you can get that to be even brighter.
I just want it to really pop on film.
- Yes.
- Oh yeah, yeah, that's the money shot.
- No!
No!
The more you spray a liquid like that onto a surface,
the more you're going to dilute the stain.
That can make it extremely difficult
for the DNA analyst to extract the white blood cells
that are needed for a DNA analysis.
So the fact that he's spraying this luminol on the sleeve
and over and over and over again, he's diluting that sample.
- My results are zero zip.
There's no DNA on the jacket.
- I don't see how that's possible.
The luminol gave us significant blood spatter.
It was actually more than significant.
- You shoulda seen it glow, it was amazing.
- Oh, I bet it was.
Problem is the more luminal you spray,
the more you dilute the blood.
- Exactly.
There's another problem here.
He said it was a stabbing
and there was significant blood spatter.
Luminol is used on crime scenes that have been cleaned up.
We don't use it to find evidence
where there's significant blood, it's unnecessary.
We have other means and methods to do that.
So not only did he spray luminol on a jacket
that had significant blood on it,
that we could have found with other methods,
he diluted it to the point that the DNA analyst
wasn't able to extract enough for a sample.
- Okay, all right, I get it.
So what have we really got here?
- Ryan, too much luminol, there's no DNA.
- What do you mean?
- If you wanna get this guy,
you're gonna have to find some other way.
- It is possible that there is no DNA
left on the sweatshirt.
It's a chemical.
And anytime you introduce a chemical to DNA,
there is a chance that some of the alleles,
or parts of the DNA, could break down and degrade
and make that sample not a full profile.
Next up, "Silence of the Lambs."
In this clip, the investigators are inside
of a small town autopsy suite
looking at a body from Buffalo Bill.
- Okay, Starling.
- Bill.
- The menthol under the nose is a nice Hollywood touch,
but here's the problem with menthol.
It's designed to open your nasal passages.
So when you put that under your nose,
you're trying to do it to not smell the decomposition.
It's better to just deal with it
because when you put that under your nose,
it opens your nasal passages and makes the smell worse.
And I may know this because of experience.
- Star-shaped contact entrance wound over the sternum,
a muzzle stamp at the top.
- [Jack] Wrongful death.
- Wrongful death.
- When you have a contact wound where a muzzle stamp,
meaning the barrel of the gun,
is literally pressed against the skin,
you are gonna have a stellate,
or star-shaped entrance wound.
So that description is spot on.
- [Jack] What else do you see Starling?
- Well, she's not local.
Her ears are pierced three times
and there's glitter nail polish, that looks like town to me.
Two of her fingernails are broken off
and there's dirt or grit, I don't know.
- Those are really great observations.
And not only would we swab under those nails
for that dirt or grit,
and then compare it to samples that we took
from the primary crime scene where the body was found,
we would also clip her nails off
and then those would be tested for DNA.
Another thing that I really appreciate about this scene
is Jodie Foster's character coming to the realization
that she is face-to-face with a victim of a heinous murder,
and she plays it so well.
You can see it in her face.
You can see that she's a little nauseated.
You can see that she's very, very upset
and that really does happen.
- She's got something in her throat.
- When a body comes out of the water.
Lots of times there's like leaves and things in the mouth.
[dramatic music]
- What is that?
Some kinda seed pod?
- No, sir.
That's a bug cocoon.
There's no way that could get way down in there like that.
- Unless somebody shoved it in there.
- The one thing that I really liked about this scene
was when they did pull that cocoon out of the throat,
Jodie Foster fixated it with alcohol.
When you have entomological samples, which are bug samples,
you have to preserve them somehow.
And alcohol is definitely
one of the preservation methods that we use.
Next up, "No Country for Old Men."
In this scene, local sheriffs
investigate a crime scene on horseback.
- It's the same tire tread comin' back as goin',
made 'bout the same time too.
You can see the sides real clear.
- When we have tire tracks and shoe prints
and a scene like this, that's in the middle of nowhere,
it's very difficult.
However, if you can see tire tracks
that are leading to a crime scene,
that you're headed to,
riding a horse over top of those tire tracks,
isn't gonna do anybody any favors.
We have to photograph them.
We would have to cast them with some kind of material
and recover them so that if we find a matching tire
on a suspect vehicle, the analysts at the lab
can do comparisons.
- What caliber's you got there sheriff?
- Nine millimeter,
a couple of 45 ACPs.
Somebody unloaded on that thing with a shot gun.
- The fact that he picked the casings up
with his bare hands is not good.
Now there is no need to do DNA swabs.
There's no need to process those casings for latent prints.
We haven't documented their location
to find out where the shooter may have been standing
when they exited.
The kind of gun that he was firing.
Also, you have nine millimeters and 45s.
That could be one suspect with one gun in each hand.
It could be a suspect with the nine, a suspect with the 45,
and then you have another person with a shotgun.
So were there two shooters are were there three?
We will never know because all of that evidence
has now been manipulated and moved before it was documented.
- How come you reckon the coyotes ain't been at 'em?
- I don't know.
- This is Hollywood gone awry.
This is what happens when you don't pay attention
to small things like opening doors without thinking.
There looks to be a victim in the driver's seat of that car
with a bullet wound to the back of their head.
That might be important.
You have the other guy on horseback kicking dirt
onto the bodies on the ground.
So, this is just Hollywood taking a lot of
really bad liberties.
- Looks like Mexican brown dope.
- [Deputy] Oh, these boys is all swole up.
- Never, never touch evidence with your bare hand,
especially narcotics.
One of the ways that drugs get into your system
is through absorption in your skin.
Another way is through inhalation through the air.
So not only did he touch it with his bare hands,
he flipped it into the air
and now he's inhaling those particles into his lungs.
So it's really important
that any evidence that's at a scene,
you leave it the way that it is.
You document it with photography
and then you use very tightly gloved hands,
and you take that sample
and you place it into a sealed envelope
for the toxicologist.
Next up, "Body of Proof."
In this clip, a medical examiner tries to determine
the cause and manner of death at an autopsy.
- Well, she's obviously in excellent physical condition.
Callouses on her feet.
A few minor scars.
Healed bite marks on the left forearm,
both posterior and anterior, probably canine.
- That was a quick conclusion.
Skin is notorious for moving, for being pliable.
So when you have bite marks on skin,
it's not that easy to make a determination
and you never, ever get a perfect impression,
even from a canine or a human.
So a forensic odontologist would need to be consulted
to look at those bite marks
and to see if there's anything to glean from them.
- Keeps her nails clipped a little bit chewed.
- Any the DNA under 'em?
- All in good time, detective.
- This is the kind of contentious relationship
that will not work.
I've said before, this is a team effort
and being this contentious
with the medical examiner is inappropriate.
She has a job to do.
The detectives have a job to do.
We have to work in concert for the victim,
so that we can find the answers.
- I see a beautiful young woman, who ate well and kept fit.
For whom, a boyfriend?
Did she break up with him?
Look deeper, she shows signs of stress, a workaholic.
Was she up for partner?
Did she piss somebody off?
Was somebody jealous, out to get her?
The answers are all here because that's what we do.
I honor the body for what it tells me
about Angela Swanson's life.
- Okay, we have a lot of lane crossing going here.
The medical examiner's job is to determine the cause
and the manner of death.
Their job is not to go into the victimology,
into the background of that victim.
That's the detective's job.
They should have a lot of that information already,
or they should be about to go find out about it.
Did she have a bad breakup?
Does she have enemies?
Does she have some people who she may owe money to?
Things like that, that's the detective's job.
- I'm gonna to get some coffee.
- The skull collapsed into the occipital lobe
in a V-shaped depression.
There are flecks of rust throughout.
Your murder weapon is heavy, maybe cast iron,
square with a dull edge, possibly a large plumber's wrench,
or some kind of mallet.
And detective? - Yeah.
- I take mine with cream, no sugar.
- I would really like to know
how she knows all of that information
when we haven't even seen the injury yet.
When a body goes in for autopsy,
one thing that the medical examiners have to do,
especially if there's long hair like I have,
is you have to shave their head,
especially if there's injuries to that head.
And when there's blunt force trauma,
such as what she is describing with a large pipe
or a large wrench, there will be some telltale signs
on that scalp to help us identify what that tool might be.
But we can't see it until we get rid of the hair.
And we wouldn't be able to make conclusions
about the actual item of evidence,
what caused those injuries
until we did a lot more investigation.
Last up, "The Boondock Saints."
In this scene, an FBI agent uses eccentric methods
to investigate a crime scene.
[inspiring opera music]
The first thing about this clip that I actually liked
was he put gloves on.
So we always wear personal protective equipment.
Gloves are a bare minimum, which is a good thing.
The music, not so much.
It's hard to concentrate on a crime scene
when you have music blaring in your ears.
Also the CD player.
We don't bring extraneous things into a crime scene ever.
Because not only can that introduce trace evidence
into a crime scene, it can also bring the crime scene
onto your stuff.
[inspiring opera music]
- That's a big, no-no.
You don't eat, you don't drink, you don't smoke
inside of a crime scene, ever.
It is inappropriate.
What are you gonna do?
Are you gonna ditch the cigarette butt
inside the crime scene, so now we don't know
what might be evidence and what might not be?
Plus you're introducing things from the crime scene
into your mouth.
Crime scenes are not clean.
Crime scenes are gross.
This is an alley full of garbage.
You don't want that stuff in your mouth.
[inspiring opera music]
- What I see wrong here is the body is
the jurisdiction of the medical examiner or coroner.
So FBI agents and investigators,
we aren't allowed to touch
and manipulate the body without a representative
from the medical examiner or coroner present.
[inspiring opera music]
- I have no idea what he's doing.
I don't know he was putting on the hand.
I honest to God don't even know what that is.
Is it blood? Is it dye?
This is a perfect example of Hollywood
taking complete liberty with forensics
because that made no sense at all.
So overall it looks like Hollywood goes over the border
most of the time, but sometimes they do get it right.
Believe me, crime scenes are not this sexy.
They are not this entertaining.
So if you're liking what you see on television and film,
just to remember, it's Hollywood, it's not reality.
[dramatic music]