REFRESHER ON FORENSIC EVIDENCE FROM 2345

THANKS SO MUCH 2345 Just read this on other thread and thought it was so good people would want it as a sep post.

Viv x


Viv & Everyone,Thought you might enjoy a refresher of Eddie & Keela's work in Luz - on 3A's.Dogs search for more tracesThe two english dogs that have been cooperating in the investigation into the disappearance or death of Madeleine McCann are trying to reconstitute an eventual route for the english girl after leaving, probably already lifeless, the apartment at the Ocean Club, in Praia da Luz, Lagos. This comes after the detection of blood traces in the parents’ room, presumably from the child. Yesterday, another approximately ten cars from persons that are involved in the case were searched.The investigators now try to detect behaviours on the dogs that are identical to those verified in the apartment. While one of the “cocker spaniel” discovered traces of blood on a wall, the other detected the odour of a corpse on the same location. The combination of these two factors increases the consistency of the thesis that the girl died in her parents’ bedroom, as JN reported yesterday, as the victim of a yet unexplained accident, as PJ is inclined to believe at the moment, or as the victim of a crime. Therefore, the abduction theory is increasingly remote.According to information that was obtained by JN, the blood traces are now being analysed by DNA specialists, and compared to Maddie’s genetic profile, in order to clarify any remaining doubts about the person whom the detected samples belong to. Only then will the PJ advance into new inquiries on the McCann couple, and their close circle. The witnesses will be confronted with the elements that have been collected meanwhile.Yesterday’s diligences comprised the searches of vehicles from Robert Murat, his mother Jenny’s van, and the cars of Tuck Price, Murat’s friend and spokesperson, Ralf, an uncle of the arguido, Serguei Malinka, the russian who had business with the anglo-portuguese, the friends Mikaela and Luis Antonio, and also the vehicle that was used by the McCann couple on the days before their daughter vanished.Investigating another crimeThe operation that involved light filters to detect residues, and the two english sniffer dogs, was done in an underground parking lot in Portimao, right in front of the Town Hall and the Criminal Investigation Department at Judiciaria.PJ asked PSP to close 3 of the 4 levels of the parking lot from the public, and for hours the technicians were inside doing their tests. In the late afternoon, most of the automobiles, driven by inspectors, were returned to their owners, but the McCann family’s vehicle was still being analysed at this newspaper’s closing time.A source with the investigations explained to JN that some of the vehicles had been closely inspected in May, when the investigation started. Yet, the possibility that the 4-year old child was killed inside the apartment led investigators to “rethink the whole strategy” and to “analyse again all the traces that were found, and the places that are most likely for the child to have been through”.The use of other investigation techniques by PJ and the english Police is due to the fact that a new investigation line is being explored. The use of ultra-violet light filters appears due to the fact that only now there are clues that point to the girl’s death. “The first possibility was abduction, but the scenario has changes, and that is what we are now working on”, was concluded.Kate and Gerry McCann will be heard again this week, in a last attempt to try to understand what really happened inside the Ocean Club apartment, on May 3. The three british couples that spent their holidays with the McCanns should arrive meanwhile.Cadaver blood is different from a living person’s bloodThere are differences in the chemical composition between the blood from a cadaver and from a living person. Jose Eduardo Pinto da Costa explains that the distinction is made at the “coagulation” level and also through the presence of white and red blood clots. “Cadaver blood has more white or fibrinous clots”, the Forensic Medicine professor tells JN, underlining that this detection is not possible with exams done in Portugal. Yet, he admits that dogs can be trained to distinguish between the two blood types. “Humans have five million olfact cells, while dogs have 220 million!”. In spite of the explamation given by Pinto da Costa, other forensic medicine experts say it is not possible to distinguish between the blood from a living person and that from a cadaver. In Maddie’s case, one of the dogs detected the smell of blood, while the other one marked the presence of a cadaver. The combination of these two factors leads the investigators to believe that Maddie died in her parents’ bedroom.