Chapter 8
Blood and Blood Spatter
Embedded Files
End of Chapter Activities
End of Chapter Activities
Below you will find case studies and case file activities students may complete at the end of the chapter. I have included the "Scenario" statements provided in the student textbook for each activity. For cases that do not list a "Scenario" or for scenarios that are extensive, I have provided a description of objectives instead. These "Case Files" will be used to guide each chapter.
Students will engage in many other activities provided by the textbook resource and they will access all activities through the Schoology platform.
Case Studies
Case Studies
Ludwig Tessnow (1901)
Ludwig Tessnow (1901)
Joe Bryan (1985, 2019)
Joe Bryan (1985, 2019)
O. J. Simpson (1995)
O. J. Simpson (1995)
Case Files
Case Files
Forensic Science Investigation Activities
A Presumptive Test for Blood
A Presumptive Test for Blood
By the end of this activity, you will be able to:
Use the Kastle-Meyer Indicator test to determine if a given stain contains blood.
Creating and Modeling Blood-Spatter Patterns
Creating and Modeling Blood-Spatter Patterns
At the end of this activity, you will be able to:
Recognize and describe different blood-spatter patterns.
Design a technique to simulate and model various blood-spatter patterns.
Prepare expert witness testimony analyzing a blood-spatter pattern. Include in the testimony a possible scenario of how that blood-spatter pattern resulted, as well as evidence to support the scenario.
Working with one other team, conduct a peer review of each other’s models and presentations.
Summarize any revisions or improvements that resulted from the peer reviews.
Blood-Spatter Analysis: Effect of Height on Blood Drops
Blood-Spatter Analysis: Effect of Height on Blood Drops
By the end of this activity, you will be able to:
Prepare reference cards of blood spatter dropped from varying heights.
Compare and contrast the blood spatter produced from different heights with regard to size, shape, and number of satellites.
Distinguish between the parent drop and satellites.
Distinguish between satellites and spines.
Analyze the results of your experiment and prepare a summary of the effect of height on blood-spatter stains.
Area of Convergence
Area of Convergence
By the end of this activity, you will be able to:
Distinguish between the shape of passive blood spatter with the shape of blood spatter that was produced by some type of force.
Determine the forward direction of the bloodstain based on its shape.
Use blood spatter to draw lines of convergence to locate the area of convergence.
Based on your blood-spatter analysis, describe a scenario that could have produced the blood spatter.
Blood-Droplet Impact Angle
Blood-Droplet Impact Angle
Two police officers walk into a neighborhood convenience store. They discover blood-spatter patterns on the walls and ceiling. “What happened here?” says one officer as she walks around the store. The officers call in the situation and a forensics team is dispatched to the scene. Investigators will examine the crime scene and seek answers to the following questions:
Whose blood is this?
Does it belong to just one or to several people?
How many people were injured?
If more than one person was injured, is it possible to tell who was injured first?
What type of injury caused the blood loss?
What type of weapon caused the injury?
If the weapon was a gun, from which direction was the bullet fired? Did the shooter point the gun upward, downward, or straight ahead?
In what direction(s) did the injured person(s) move?
Area of Origin
Area of Origin
By the end of this activity, you will be able to:
Determine the direction of blood flow based on the shape of the droplet.
Use lines of convergence to help determine the position of the victim when the wound was inflicted.
Calculate the angle of impact for individual drops of blood spatter.
Use the law of tangents to calculate the height above floor level where the wound was inflicted of the area or origin.
Crime Scene Investigation
Crime Scene Investigation
A woman calls the police and says she heard gunshots fired in the apartment next door. When the police arrive, they discover two deceased men, two handguns, and bloodstains. Man 1 was shot through the forehead and probably died immediately. Man 2 was shot in the abdomen and later died. The neighbor was the only witness. Can the blood spatter “tell the story”? Where were the men standing? Who shot first? In this activity, you will analyze the crime scene by examining the blood-spatter evidence and any other evidence at the crime scene to determine what happened.
Bertino, A. J., & Bertino, P. (2020). Forensic Science: Fundamentals & Investigations (Forensic Science, Fundamentals and Investigations) (3rd ed.). Cengage Learning.
Possible Teacher Resources
Possible Teacher Resources
Report abuse