ABSTRACT
Bloodstained Clothing Issues It is rare indeed for the analyst not to be confronted with various items of bloodstained clothing or fabrics during an analysis. These are likely to include the victim’s or suspect’s clothing and oftentimes bedding. Clothing and fabrics do not significantly alter the analyst’s approach to bloodstain pattern analysis, but they do create specific concerns. These concerns include:
Applying good on-scene documentation for clothing Overcoming poor collection/documentation procedures Differentiating contact stains from spatter stains Understanding the limitations of directionality and impact angle analysis Recognizing pattern transfer issues
Of all of the surfaces that may be bloodstained in a given crime scene, one surface stands out as routinely being altered, damaged, or destroyed before it is properly documented. That surface is the victim’s clothing. On scene, the clothes often hold important information and patterns; these can include spatter, pattern transfers, or distinct flow patterns that show some orientation of the victim. The list is endless. As found in situ, these patterns may be marred in some fashion by exposure to blood pools or post-incident bleeding at the scene. Granted, these situations may damage some of the value of the patterns, but as a rule, such marring is limited. Lacking any other alteration, these patterns can still prove fruitful in understanding what occurred during the bloodstain event. Unfortunately, not all of these patterns are documented on scene prior to movement of the victim.
