WC: 568
The murder happened at a large lakehouse where several people
were staying for the weekend. There were 3 couples in 3 different
large bedrooms and 2 single people each in their own smaller
bedroom. The kitchen, living and dining areas were all shared
spaces. There was an entertainment room in the basement. There
was an outdoor concrete patio by the garden. There is a screened
in porch attached to the side of the house. There is a 70 foot dock.
The murder victim was staying in the bedroom with beige carpeting. A sample of
the carpet was provided by the owner. This carpet sample is matched to the
bedroom based on the owner’s testimony that he put two stripes on the back of the
carpet while he was measuring it to install it. These carpet fibers are expected to
be on the victim’s clothing.
The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the
spine. No blood was present. The body was found
in her bedroom at 11am. The initial investigation determined that this was a
secondary crime scene. Carpet samples of other locations the victim was seen at
the morning of the crime have been provided to the lab. One single, solitary
fiber was pulled from a crack in the victim’s left index finger’s fingernail. The
fiber was wedged deeply into the fingernail and the coroner who pulled the fiber
gave testimony that the victim must have been alive and scratching or pulling at the carpet for it to lodge so
deeply; the fiber could not have been lodged as a result of a limp hand simply being pulled across the carpet.
The single fiber is being sent to you, the senior forensic technician in the hair and fiber division of the forensic
department. You are to take samples of single fibers of the carpet samples provided and provide written
testimony describing a fiber from each of those samples in sufficient detail so that a member of the jury can
understand the uniqueness of each carpet sample. Then you are to analyze the fiber from the victim and prove
that it does match one of the samples and prove that it does not match the other samples.
Your initial notes must include a sketch of each sample.
Your final report may include photographs of the samples as seen under your
microscope.
Your final report must use well written, complete sentences describing the details of
each carpet sample. You must use sufficient adjectives and nouns for each sample
so as to make it very unique from the other samples.
Pictures in your written testimony must be no bigger than 4 inches by 4 inches and formatted to have text
wrapping and be square with the text. (Like the blue star to the right of this text.) Your report will be printed
and “not killing trees” is a part of the grade.
Your pictures must also be big enough so that the details you describe can be seen. Juries want to believe the
testimony of experts, but they still want to see the actual evidence with their own eyes. You can explain what
they are looking at, but you can’t tell them what they are looking at.
NY Times font, 12 point, single spaced. Word count included at the beginning, along with the one or two
names of who is turning in the report. No groups of 3.
CARPET Fiber Comparison and Analysis
P1
P2
Name_______________________
Slide Procedure:
 Use tweezers to obtain one fiber from the material you are studying. If you have done this right, the fiber will
probably be hard to see with the naked eye. Most threads are made of many fibers twisted together. Be sure
to separate them!
 Put a tiny drop of water on a slide FIRST and THEN place the fiber in it.
 Put a coverslip on the drop of water and view at low, medium, and high power.
 Make a detailed, color sketch of the fiber you have observed in the appropriate section below.
 Write a verbal description of what you observe. Good descriptions use adjectives .
 When matching (positive OR negative) two fibers, you must make comparisons. They are usually a couple
sentences.
 Wash the slide off with water, dry it, and repeat the process with a new fiber using the same slide and coverslip.
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