NEW YORK (FOX5NY.COM) – Fox 5 got an exclusive look inside the largest DNA crime lab in North America. It is found New York City’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in the Kips Bay section of Manhattan.
In this dry, sterile facility with purified air pumped in, the scientists handle more than 14,000 cases a year—everything from muggings to murders to mass casualty tragedies.
Category Archives: Touch DNA
NYC’s DNA crime lab can analyze anything we touch
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Case is first before N.C. appellate courts involving ‘touch DNA’
When Mark Carver’s case went before North Carolina’s appellate courts, legal scholars hoped the judges would rule on the credibility of “touch DNA.” His was the first appellate case involving the technique.
But neither court ruled on that issue.
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Debate rages in courts over ‘high-sensitivity’ DNA analysis
NEW YORK — One New York judge ruled the DNA evidence was scientifically sound. Another, just miles away, tossed it out as unreliable.
The same scenario is playing out in courthouses around the world amid a debate over whether a type of DNA analysis involving the amplification of tiny amounts of genetic material is reliable enough to convict someone for a crime.
The technique, known as low-copy number or high-sensitivity analysis can be used when investigators use “touch DNA” and are only able to collect a few human cells left behind when someone touches an object such as a gun, the handle of a knife, or even clothing.
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I-Team takes close look at how ‘touch DNA’ helped solve Cleveland rape case
CLEVELAND– The video was both chilling, and all too real.
Around Labor Day weekend of 2014, Cleveland authorities released a grainy surveillance video showing the beginning of a rape on Lake Road on the city’s west side.
With three armed attacks over just a few days – two rapes and the robbery of two more women – police were starting to believe that a serial rapist was on the loose.
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Cold Case: Crime lab receives grant to help solve Cold Cases
MERIDEN CT- In September of last year, the Department of Scientific Services, better known as the state crime lab received a National Institute of Justice grant. The two-year $172,000 grant was given specifically to help reduce the back log of Cold Cases.
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Posted in Backlogs, Cold Cases, Touch DNA
Judge tosses out two types of DNA evidence used regularly in criminal cases
A Brooklyn judge has stirred up controversy by tossing out two types of DNA evidence regularly used in criminal cases throughout the city, the Daily News has learned.
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Posted in Current Cases, Touch DNA
DNA forensics helping crack more property crimes
A potent crime-fighting tool once reserved for the most violent offenses, DNA testing is now helping solve more nonviolent crimes, including thefts, drug offenses and quality-of-life crimes such as vandalism and window-peeping.
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Improved Tools for the Robust Analysis of Low Copy Number and Challenged DNA Samples
Low copy number (LCN) typing is a general technique used for analyzing low-quantity DNA samples. Short tandem repeat (STR) testing on aged and extremely limited samples, such as “touch DNA” samples, has increased over the past decade. Samples with low quantities of template DNA are typically subjected to exaggerated stochastic effects during the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) that impact the reproducibility and reliability of DNA typing results.
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‘Touch DNA’ leads to arrest in Flagler scam
PALM COAST — A Jacksonville man is accused of organized fraud and grand theft after “touch DNA” linked him to an October 2013 crime, according to a Flagler County sheriff’s spokesman.
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St. Petersburg Police report that touch DNA has helped solve 38 percent of burglary cases
PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla – New technology is helping police and prosecutors in the Bay area solve burglary cases.
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Dutch DNA duo helps free another innocent man
DNA experts Richard and Selma Eikelenboom found and analyzed the genetic evidence that last week freed David Camm, the former Indiana state trooper who was twice convicted of killing his wife and two kids in 2000.
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Florida Escape Probers Testing Forgeries for DNA
Scientists are DNA testing the forged documents that allowed two convicted murderers to escape from a Florida prison as the two recaptured men are being questioned about possible accomplices.
Laboratory scientists in Pensacola, Fla., are testing the forged documents for DNA today, using a method called Touch DNA, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
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New DNA tests over murdered teen Jodi
Miscarriage of justice investigators at the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) hope new forensic techniques will determine who killed the 14-year-old.
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NOPD Investigators Hope DNA leads To Robbery Arrests
Investigators with the New Orleans Police Department are hoping DNA evidence will lead to arrests in a string of robberies in the Uptown area.
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Posted in Property Crimes, Touch DNA
DNA increasingly sought in property crimes
“It’s becoming so much more common to test for DNA” in property crimes, said Walker Police Capt. John Sharp, whose colleagues recently collected biological evidence while investigating a church burglary. “Anytime there may be DNA present, we’ll swab for it.”
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Posted in Database, Forensic Industry News, Property Crimes, Touch DNA