Car Carpet Fiber Forensic

Natural fibers vary in length depending on the source.

Car carpet fiber forensic.

By itself this match is interesting but not conclusive. Fibers can also transfer from a fabric source such as a carpet bed or furniture at a crime scene. Fiber properties and textile fabrics. Roux in encyclopedia of forensic sciences second edition 2013.

Forensic scientists distinguish four broad categories of fibre. Digital records and physical samples. Synthetic man made fibers make up the biggest portion of the wall to wall carpet market. The carpet in his car was very specific to the year make and model of his car and was also found on the boys so they took samples from the car.

The carpet fibers found in his house were yellowish green which was the color of the fibers found on the boys and it was discontinued and only made by one company. Most forensic labs currently employ polarized light microscopy to identify fibers. When it comes to synthetic fibers there are four major types of fibers used for carpeting. More specifically if the victim was transported or assaulted in a vehicle carpet fibers from this vehicle may be collected.

Wool silk fur note that hair analysis is a specialised field separate from fibre plant e g. After all thousands of cars may have this particular carpet. Among the prosecution s forensic evidence were gray carpet fibers collected from duct tape left at two of the crime scenes which an fbi crime lab report claimed exhibited the same. The establishment of an automotive carpet fiber database may aid investigative efforts.

Manufactured fibers can be continuous filaments but these. As discussed previously fibers are considered a form of trace evidence that can be transferred from the clothing of a suspect to the clothing of a victim during the commission of a crime. There are several reasons why synthetic fibers are preferred by many over natural fibers such as wool including cost strength durability and stain resistance. Stephen shaw federal bureau of investigations fbi laboratory 703 632 7706 stephen shaw ic fbi gov fbi lab forensic automobile carpet database facd fibers automobile identification.

Some labs then extract the dye from the fiber and analyze it by thin layer chromatography hinks says. After obtaining a search warrant the police impound the car and submit it to forensic testing. Textile fibers generally fall within the range of 10 50 μm in diameter and individual fibers can vary in length from less than 1 cm to thousands of meters.