Biological and DNA Evidence in Animal Cruelty Investigations

Question 1

Who was Danielle van Dam?

Answer 1

A 7 year old girl who was kidnapped and killed by her neighbor.
-Forensic scientists found dog hair similar to Danielle’s family dog in the suspect’s house
-The same dog hair was also found clinging to Danielle’s pajama pants
-The neighbor was charged and convicted of Danielle’s murder

Question 2

ON MIDTERM
How do we compare mitochondrial DNA in dogs vs mitochondrial DNA in cats?

Answer 2

DOGS: (STR)
A multiplex genotyping system consisting of 18 STR’s along with a gender ID DNA marker

CATS: (SRS)
The sylvester reference sequence is just a single 402 base pair sequence generated from 1315 cats

there are geographic variations between them!!

Question 3

MIDTERM

What are the photography ranges?

Answer 3

1. Overall
2. Distant
3. Mid-range
4. Close-up

WITH AND WITHOUT SCALE

Question 4

Why are Bitemarks important?

Answer 4

So we can identify what different patterns are present to identify what specie(s) were involved

Question 5

Forensic Idontology

Answer 5

Application of dental science to legal investigations

Question 6

When approaching an animal bite case, the investigation can be divided into 5 main parts:

Answer 6

1. Witness information
2. Scene information
3. Animal examination
4. Bitemark review/comparison
5. DNA analysis

Question 7

The shape of the bite wound is dependent on many factors including…

Answer 7

1. The size of the biting animals jaw
2. Occlusion of the jaw
3. The type of bite

Question 8

Animal bites are often distinguished by differences in…

Answer 8

1. Arch shape
2. Specific tooth morphology