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.
I'm sorry but I have absolutely no idea. We don't have anything like those types of facilities where I work.
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Sorry I didn't answer this sooner! I'm sure the blood could be used for DNA analysis, and it should be collected in a sterile vial or bottle. But then it would need to be refrigerated.
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Wow, that's specific. Unfortunately I can't really tell you--that's more of a pathology question. It takes a lot longer when the body is not exposed to the elements, so I would think at least a few years. I had a buried body that still had quite a bit of flesh after 2 years. I had a body in an attic that was a skeleton where it had been exposed and still had flesh where it had been wrapped in plastic after 3 years. The process will also be affected by temperature, so if the building is not heated then the heating/cooling cycle of the seasons will make it go slightly faster than if it were at a nice consistent A/C setting. Also if the room is very well sealed and the atmosphere is not very humid, the body might turn into a mummy instead of a skeleton.
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Okay, I am emailing you.
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I don't know. I wouldn't think so, but that's really not my area.
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That depends entirely on where you want to work and what they require. At the coroner's office they required a bachelor's degree in one of the natural sciences like biology or chemistry. Where I work now, they only require a high school diploma, but give extra points in the interviewing process for higher education so we all have at least a bachelor's. If you want to do DNA work in a laboratory they will probably want you to have a master's or PhD in genetics. If you want to do crime scene work they might want an associate's or bachelor's in forensic science. So there is no one simple answer to that question.
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I work 4 10 hour days, but previously I've worked 8-5 Mon-Fri and on rotating 12 hour shifts from 6 am to 6 pm. It all depends on what's needed. I love investigation but didn't want to be a cop. A typical day depends entirely on where you work and what you do. If you do only crime scenes, you might have to go out to a car accident, a suicide and an industrial accident. If you're a DNA analyst, you'll spend all day in the lab with test tubes. If you're a fingerprint examiner like me, you might spend 8 hours in front of a computer looking at fingerprints. At a smaller department like mine you might do all three things in one day. Or any of the above might spend all day sitting at the courthouse waiting to testify. So there really is no such thing as a typical day.
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