Forensic Scientist

Forensic Scientist

LIsa Black

Cape Coral, FL

Female, 49

I spent the five happiest years of my life in a morgue. As a forensic scientist in the Cleveland coroner’s office I analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. Now I'm a certified latent print examiner and CSI for a police department in Florida. I also write a series of forensic suspense novels, turning the day job into fiction. My books have been translated into six languages.

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Last Answer on July 21, 2022

Best Rated

Hi,

You recently advised that a simple black powder would reveal glove prints deposited by Nitrile gloves. Would Latent Silk Black Print Powder, manufactured by a company called Sirchie be a good choice?

Thank you.

Asked by Richard Gray about 6 years ago

Sure--any good quality black powder should have the same effect.

Have you ever worked on a animal?

Asked by Barry about 6 years ago

I’ve done microscopic comparisons of animal hairs, when I was doing hair and fiber comparisons at the coroner’s office, to establish a connection between items found on a suspect’s clothing or environment and items found on a victim’s clothing or environment. That’s about it.

I am from India.
My father was missing about 1 month ago(23-05-21). after 25 days of missing police got one dead body with only skull and 2 or 3 bones. And there besides my dad clothes there and inside pocket
There has my dad's bike key. this possi

Asked by Kalyan reddy about 5 years ago

See next answer.

I wanted to know whether it is possible to do the courses a certain country and get a job in a foreign country ?

Asked by H•A almost 6 years ago

I’m sorry but I don’t understand what you’re asking.

If the song Before He Cheats happened in real life how would you investigate the vandalized car???

Asked by Sherri Karry Katie Perry about 5 years ago

I would fingerprint around all the damaged areas and the handles, and possibly collect a sample of paint in case the suspect’s keys were found (provided the state lab would do FTIR analysis on a non-violent case). And of course we’d check for any video cameras in the area that might cover the parking lot. And measure the width of the holes in the tires in case the suspect’s knife was located.

Why don’t they let civilians interview suspects?

Asked by Jessica about 6 years ago

Because that's not our job. That's the detective's job. They're in charge of and responsible for the investigation.

Are you pretty much a unsworn detective? Do you do pretty much everything a detective does with the exception of arresting people or charging people?

Asked by Rae about 5 years ago

No. I do lots of stuff detectives don’t do, like lab analysis, scene reconstruction, latent print comparison, etc. And they do tons of stuff I don’t do, like track down victims/witnesses/suspects and interview them, run criminal histories, request search warrants, and so on. So our jobs are really very different. We are there to provide the forensic support for the case, but forensic topics are only part of any case. Hope that helps!