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.
It may depend on what you want to do. If you want to work crime scene, then you might be a more attractive candidate with all the hands-on practical work of a forensic science degree. But if you want to be a DNA analyst, then I’d go with biology. Best thing to do is call the labs where you might someday apply and ask them. Best of luck!
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As far as I know, water doesn’t change the process of rigor mortis. The temperature of the water may speed it up or slow it down, but the process would still occur.
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Medicine. Forensic pathologists are doctors and go to medical school. So I would suggest you take every science course you can, especially biological sciences. Best of luck to you!
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Once in a great while something will catch me when I’m not expecting it. But very rarely.
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Obstetrician Gynecologist
If a baby has health complications resulting from a difficult delivery, do you ever feel guilty?
Yoga Instructor
Why don’t more men do yoga?
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Why are so many developers such bad communicators?
I'm not sure what you mean: a) how long after a print is left will ninhydrin still detect it, in which case I can say from my own experiment that there's little rhyme or reason to this, sometimes older prints develop better than newer ones or vice versa, or b) how long does a print developed with ninhydrin last, and the answer to that is that ninhydrin is a dark purple dye, so it is permanent, though it will continue to develop so that the entire page may eventually turn purple so we use a fixative chemical on the now-visible print so that will stop the ninhydrin from darkening the paper further. I hope that helps!
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No, I've never regretted it. And your job title is whatever your agency says it is, so 'forensic scientist' and 'csi' can mean different things in different agencies, so you can certainly be both. the first implies you work mostly in the lab and the second implies you work mostly in the field, but depending on the size of the agency and any specialization you have, you might do both equally or they might be completely separate.
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Who’s Roger Stone?
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