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One Step Ahead
Baton Rouge was gripped by fear. A monster was on the loose, raping and murdering women who lived in this Louisiana city and its surrounding communities. Between September 2001 and March 2003, the killer claimed at least seven victims. Terrified women stayed home at night; some even talked about dying their hair blond, since the so-called Louisiana Slasher seemed to prey on brunettes.Police knew they were looking for one man, because they had matched DNA samples taken from the victims. And one witness had seen a victim in the company of a white man. But the search dragged on with no leads, no likely suspects. Then the Baton Rouge police caught the biggest break of their investigation -- a new DNA test that can determine a person's ancestry. Standard DNA tests can determine sex, but tell nothing about someone's appearance.
The police quickly shipped off their evidence and discovered that their killer was in fact an African American. By ruling out white suspects, investigators could narrow the search. Baton Rouge police used this cutting-edge technology, combined with some old-fashioned detective work, to arrest Derrick T. Lee. (He has entered a plea of not guilty; his trial is scheduled for this spring.)
If you happen to watch "COPS" or read the police blotter page in the local newspaper, you know that today's typical law enforcement officer totes much more than a pistol and a night stick. High technology has become so much a part of police work that it's no longer surprising to see video cameras mounted on the dashboards of patrol cars or to hear that officers used luminol spray (which makes bloodstains glow, even if they've been scrubbed clean).
But researchers continue to look for ways to keep our nation's crime fighters one step ahead of the bad guys. Here's a look at some futuristic law enforcement innovations that are making America safer.
Meet the new sketch artist. While prosecutors today routinely use DNA taken from crime scenes to help convict offenders, the analysis doesn't tell police much about whom they should be looking for in the first place; widely used tests today only reveal a person's sex. But as the Derrick Lee case shows, that's changing. Using a huge database of genetic information from people all over the world, scientists at Penn State University devised a test that looks for "markers" on DNA that give strong clues about a person's ancestry.
The test, known as DNAWitness, can determine whether a person is most likely European, African American, Asian or Native American. (People of Hispanic heritage tend to have a mix of ethnic groups.) Crime researchers in Britain are currently working on a test that they hope will help detect hair color and even facial characteristics.
Leave no trace? Good luck. Scientists at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute have a method for extracting DNA from the microscopic remnants of skin left behind when a person touches an object. The test can be performed in minutes at the crime scene. The process, which is not available yet, also works for blood, hair, saliva, or even a flake of dandruff.
Rover, roll over. Why stop with human DNA? Researchers are also perfecting ways to identify plant DNA, which would have many uses, including the ability to trace seized shipments of illegal drugs to a given distributor.
Forensic scientists are developing methods to identify animal DNA. After all, one in three homes in the United States contain a potent source of criminal evidence: a family cat or dog. As pet lovers know, fur clings to clothing. In one celebrated case, police on Prince Edward Island, Canada, linked white hairs on a bloody jacket found near the scene of a murder to their prime suspect -- who owned a cat named Snowball.
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