Postmortem fingerprint collection is a common practice at medical examiners’ offices. Fingerprints are often collected with electronic scanners or ink pads and fingerprint cards. However, obstacles to obtaining clear impressions such as rigor mortis and decomposition can be difficult to overcome using the current methods. There is no clear best method for collecting these compromised fingerprints.
The GelSight Mobile™ is a handheld three-dimensional contact imaging system that can measure the topography of any surface regardless of the lighting conditions of the environment. The resolution of the images created is extremely high and can be used to measure single micron features. The goal of this project was to determine if the GelSight Mobile™ was a suitable method for postmortem fingerprint exemplar collection, and to determine if it provides a higher quality fingerprint impression than current postmortem fingerprint collection methods.
For this study, three methods – black ink, two-dimensional scanning, and the GelSight Mobile™ – were used on decedents with varying ranges of decomposition to determine the best method for postmortem fingerprint collection. The postmortem interval for the decedents ranged from one day to almost one year, with the latter being exposed to outdoor environments for approximately two weeks prior to discovery and then stored for over a year. Embalmed cadavers were also examined. The results revealed that the GelSight Mobile™ captured fingerprints of higher quality, specifically with higher percentages of prints with level three detail and higher counts of minutiae characteristics than the other methods. However, to be optimized for forensic fingerprint collection, it is recommended that the GelSight Mobile™ be adapted to incorporate a larger gel cartridge and software capabilities to include a mirrored image option and a filter to give images an ink-like appearance.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/45535 |
| Date | 30 January 2023 |
| Creators | Carlson, Mason Nichole |
| Contributors | Brodeur, Amy N. |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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