Once the victim is undressed, the body is again examined. All marks or wounds are recorded. Take close-
up photographs of wounds and injuries. Include a ruler in the picture to show the scale. Head and pubic hair
samples are collected if the nature of the case requires. Place these in a clean piece of tissue paper, fold carefully,
and seal in a clean envelope, marked with all needed data.
If rape is suspected, vaginal smears should be obtained by the pathologist to be sent to the crime lab. The
swabs used for the smears should also be sent to the lab. If possible, use the standard investigator's rape kit.
Comply with the instructions contained in the kit.
Inked elimination finger and palm prints of the deceased victim are also taken at the morgue. If the hands
are to be swabbed for firearm residue, do this before the victim is fingerprinted. If the body was found without
shoes, make inked prints of the feet.
Any slugs or other objects recovered during the autopsy will be marked by the pathologist and released to
you for packaging and shipment to the crime lab.
When you collect evidence from a suspect, take custody, as soon as possible, of the clothing the suspect was
wearing when he or she was arrested.
If much time has passed since the crime took place, taking custody of the shoes may be all that is needed. If
the suspect's clothing at the time of arrest is thought to be the same as that worn when the crime took place, send
all of it to the lab for examination. Handle each clothing item, including shoes, with care and wrap it separately.
After collecting a suspect's clothing, collect other evidence for forwarding to the crime lab. These include
samples of the suspect's blood and hair, fingernail scrapings, firearm residue, and a full set of fingerprints and
palm prints. If prints or impressions of bare feet were found at the crime scene, take a set of inked footprints from
the suspect.
When collecting evidence from an outdoor crime scene, give attention to the route searchers will take to the
focal point of the crime. Almost all the evidence that will be recovered will be found on the ground. Thus, it can
be easily overlooked or walked on. The searchers' approach should follow a route that seems least likely to have
been used by the criminal.
The nature of an outdoor site influences the types of materials that you collect. For example, because there
are far fewer smooth surfaces in outdoor crime scenes, fingerprints are found less often than in indoor scenes.
This does not, however, preclude discovering prints on man-made objects like weapons, cans, bottles, or other
items. And locations where evidence is found in outdoor crime scenes is often harder to record, because there are
fewer reference points outdoors.
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MP2002
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