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

If I keep a lock of hair in a bottle and it's stored in a humid area, will the hair still disintegrade over time? Thank you!

Asked by :) almost 8 years ago

If the bottle is sealed well, I don't think so. Hair is pretty tough.

Something about hydrocarbons

Asked by Junz about 8 years ago

But what sample were they testing? What piece of evidence were they analyzing in the gas chromatograph?

On a lot of TV shows, it's often said that water washed away dna evidence (ejaculate). Is it not possible for some to be left deep inside vagina? (Assuming there is ejaculate). Isn't it like taking a bath; water can't really get into vagina?

Asked by Leandra about 8 years ago

Sorry, but I really don't know. You'd have to ask a pathologist. I imagine it might depend on how long after death the person was in the water.

If you were given a 20GB hard drive that had been used to image an 8GB USB device and
found during analysis that more than the 8GB image was on the disk, what would this
indicate? How would you then proceed?

Asked by MK almost 8 years ago

Sorry, but I’m not trained in digital forensics. I have absolutely no idea.

A criminal stabbed to death two victims and then inflicted wounds upon themselves The killer's shirt was covered in blood. Is it possible to determine that one victims blood was on top of another persons blood? Can they tell who was stabbed 1st or 2

Asked by Chunky Monkey about 8 years ago

As far as I know, no. The DNA tests of the shirt will just show a mixture of the victims, so that the analyst would only be able to say the blood could have come from these two or three people--in other words there are no alleles that definitely couldn't have come from those three. But because it is a mixture, they can't say it did come from these three exact people. And they couldn't tell, again as far as I know, which blood was deposited first.

Hello Lisa! I am doing a essay on pattern and impression evidence for college. One of the requirements is to email someone who works in this field. Why is pattern and impression very important in investigations? An overall description of your job

Asked by Lyubov Barbin over 8 years ago

I'm sorry but that's a very broad question. What kind of pattern and impression evidence are you talking about?

What's the shortest time for an autopsy you've done on a body? What's the longest? How long does an average autopsy take to finally decide you've found everything you could from it?

Asked by R-Mod over 8 years ago

I have never done an autopsy, as I’m not a doctor. I’ve attended many, many autopsies, and they generally take about two hours, but can go up to four or five if there are a lot of injuries. At that point they will be done with the body, but the autopsy report can take much longer depending on if they have to send out samples for toxicology analysis (most places do) or have to wait on some other kind of specialty report. In one case I remember we had to wait a long time for a pediatric x-ray analysis. That can be weeks to months depending on who you’re waiting on and how big their backlog is.