The Crime

In room 303 on the third floor of Summit Hall there was a double homicide. The perpetrator entered through the doorway. The perpetrator fired a shot and struck Alex Ouellette in the head. Alex was sitting at his desk by the south side of the room. Jim Harris was sitting by the television and turned to face the perpetrator, a struggle ensued and Jim was strangled to death. Jim ripped out some of the perpetrator’s hair in the struggle and scratched his or her arm and made them bleed on Jim’s shirt. The perpetrator dropped the gun by the doorway and escaped.

The Crime Scene

When investigators arrived at the scene there were several pieces of evidence to collect. There were two bodies identified as Jim Harris and Alex Ouellette. Alex had a fatal bullet wound to the head. Jim had no visible gun-shot wounds; he appeared to be strangled to death as there was a visible bruise on his neck. Jim had some blood on his shirt that was not his own. Also in Jim’s hand there were some black stands of hair from the struggle with the perpetrator. There was a Smith & Wesson pistol discovered by the entryway. There were some latent fingerprints lifted from the handle of the firearm. There appeared to be several fibers on the doorknob.

The Evidence

• A Smith & Wesson Pistol registered to Matthew Fortunato
• Pulled Hair from Perpetrator (Trace Evidence)
• Blood from Perpetrator (DNA typing)
• Latent Fingerprint on Pistol Grip (Contact Evidence)
• Bullet fired from gun (Contact Evidence)
• Fibers present on the door knob (Trace Evidence)

Fingerprint on Firearm

Smith & Wesson recovered at the scene

 

Alex Ouellete’s body and gunshot spatter

Jim Harris’ body with hair evidence in right hand

Crime scene sketch

Analysis

In the lab forensic scientists analyzed the individual pieces of evidence using a variety of techniques.

The Smith & Wesson Pistol: The investigators first checked the registration and found the firearm was registered to Matthew Fortunato. Small Particle Reagent was then used to find fingerprints left on the pistol grip. The fingerprints were run through CODIS but no results were found. Later when Fortunato was brought in as a suspect and fingerprinted, his prints were found to match. He had a loop pattern with over 16 points. Forensic scientist matched up the pattern first and then marked off several small structures like: dot islands, bifurcation, enclosures, and bridges.

Hair in Jim Harris Hand (from the perpetrator): The hair that was recovered was examined under a microscope to see if it was actually human hair. The hair was used to determine the suspect’s race was Caucasian. The follicular tag was present on the hair sample which was in the anagen stage; so the forensic scientist extracted nuclear DNA. At this point Matt Fortunato was considered to be a suspect so he submitted a DNA sample. Comparing these two samples and using Short Tandem Repeat Analysis and PCR, the samples were put on an electrophoretic plate. The DNA was found to match Fortunato’s and link him to the crime. STR was chosen because there was a small sample collected at the scene; PCR was used so that the small sample could be multiplied to have more to work with.

Blood from perpetrator: At the crime scene the investigators first did a Luminol presumptive test to determine if the substance on Jim’s shirt was actually blood. The Teichmann Test was performed to confirm that the substance was actually blood. This sample of blood was compared to the sample provided by Fortunato and clearly belonged to him. STR would be used in this case as well because there was only a small amount of blood collected from Jim’s shirt.

The Bullet: The bullet was viewed under a comparison microscope with a bullet that was collected from Matthew’s truck when police executed a search warrant. The striations and rifling markings matched those found by Alex’s body.

The Fibers on the doorknob: These were collected and brought to the lab for analysis. Again, a comparison microscope is used because it allows for the investigator to view two objects side by side. The investigator will then look for matching color and diameter. An Infrared Spectrophotometer can be used to determine the “generic class and in some cases the subclasses, of fibers” (Criminalistics, 228).

STR Analysis

The Result

With overwhelming evidence Matt Fortunato was charged with murder and sentenced to life in prison. The evidence here proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty of this crime.

• Previous
• Next