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.
Possible for what to appear self-inflicted?
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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.
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I'm not trying to be snobby, but first of all it would be very important that you can communicate in English, with proper punctuation.
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Most any job in forensics is hands-on, either lab work or field work or both, and legalities are usually the responsibility of the officers, who are trained in such, and the attorneys. So I don’t think you’ll have a problem. Best of luck!
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Investment Banker
What's the craziest partying you've ever seen among bankers?
Hotel Front Desk Agent
Why do hotel room toilets clog so easily?
iPhone & iPad Technician
What's something you think Apple does surprisingly POORLY?
No.
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That determination is made by the pathologist doing the autopsy, and there are a number of ways--body temperature, rate of decomposition, rigor mortis, but it will be an estimate, not the precise number that you might see on TV. All those things can depend on the environment where the body is, temperature, exposure, physical characteristics of the victim, medical conditions etc. Entomologists can help if there is distinct bug activity at the scene as well.
Hope that helps!
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But what sample were they testing? What piece of evidence were they analyzing in the gas chromatograph?
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