title: Remote spectroscopic identification of bloodstains.
abstract: Blood detection and identification at crime scenes are crucial for harvesting forensic evidence. Unfortunately, most tests for the identification of blood are destructive and time consuming. We present a fast and nondestructive identification test for blood, using noncontact reflectance spectroscopy. We fitted reflectance spectra of 40 bloodstains and 35 nonbloodstains deposited on white cotton with spectroscopic features of the main compounds of blood. Each bloodstain was measured 30 times to account for aging effects. The outcome of the blood measurements was compared with the reflectance of blood-mimicking stains and various body fluids. We found that discrimination between blood and nonblood deposited on white cotton is possible with a specificity of 100% and a sensitivity of 98%. In conclusion, a goodness of fit between the sample's reflectance and the blood component fit may allow identification of blood at crime scenes by remote spectroscopy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering and Physics, Academic Medical Center/University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 9, 1109 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands. r.h.bremmer@amc.uva.nl
authors.forename: Rolf H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Bremmer
authors.forename: Gerda
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Edelman
authors.forename: Tessa Dijn
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Vegter
authors.forename: Ted
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bijvoets
authors.forename: Maurice C G
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Aalders
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001801:Blood Stains; D003358:Cosmetics; D005502:Food; D006420:Hemeproteins / Q000737:chemistry; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012463:Saliva; D012661:Semen; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D013542:Sweat; D013997:Time Factors; D014556:Urine
chemical_list: D003358:Cosmetics; D006420:Hemeproteins; D006454:Hemoglobins; C001332:hemichrome