California Association of Criminalists

INTERPRETING DEFECTS IN POLYURETHANE-SOLED SHOE IMPRESSIONS
CINDI JAY and MICHAEL GRUBB, Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory, 2nd floor Public Safety Bldg., Seattle, WA., 98104

Polyurethane-soled athletic shoes have been on the commercial market for about eight years and have begun to appear in casework. It is necessary for the shoe-print examiner to understand the appearance and characteristics of the polyurethane sole to avoid misinterpretations. Specifically, crater-like depressions caused by the manufacturing process may appear in the same spatial arrangement on different soles and could be misinterpreted as individualizing characteristics. Polyurethane-soled shoes will be contrasted with rubber-soled shoes. A brief discussion of the manufacturing process and its relation to the observed defects will be included.

COMPLYING WITH THE NATION COURT DECISION: PRESERVATION OF BIOLOGICAL EVIDENCE AT LAPD
GB Matheson, Los Angeles Police Department, 150 N, Los Angeles St., Los Angeles, CA 90012

Due to numerous court decisions, culminating in the Nation Decision, most agencies have had to revise their methods of receiving and storing biological evidence. The present procedure followed at the Los Angeles Police Dept. was instituted in late 1983, bringing our department in step with the mandates of Nation.

Due to the size of the LAPD, and the fact that much of the biological evidence is collected and handled by non-technical personnel, the procedure had to be as simple and foolproof as possible.

The system centers around color coded tags and envelopes that indicate the proper location of storage, be it shelf, refrigerator or freezer.

The first six months have been evaluated to isolate and correct problems that have arisen or are anticipated.

INTRODUCTION TO THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BLOODSTAIN PATTERN ANALYSTS
ANITA K.Y.WONDER Editor of IABPA-News, P.O.Box 13891, Sacramento, California, 95853

In November of 1983, the IABPA was formed to encourage research and further knowledge in Bloodstain Interpretation, to standardize terminology and testing procedures in the discipline and to keep its members apprized of the latest techniques, discoveries, and developments in Bloodstain Interpretation.

Since founding, the organization has grown rapidly in membership with representatives from 21 States and Canada. This brief paper will outline membership requirements, list goals, field questions, and make available to interested participants the first two issues of IABPA News.

A CASE OF AIRCRAFT SABOTAGE- ATTEMPTED MURDER OR MALICIOUS MISCHIEF?
LUCIEN C. HAAG, Forensic Science Services, Inc. 4034 W. Luke Ave. Phoenix, AZ 85019

The owner-pilot of a 4-place single engine airplane removed it from the hangar, performed the customary pre-flight inspection, loaded his 3 passengers, started the engine and received clearance to taxi out to the run-up area. After an uneventful engine run-up and flight control check, he received a take-off clearance and began climbing out over the metropolitan area surrounding the air-port. The observant pilot then noticed the cylinder head and engine oil temperature gauges going into the red and the oil pressure rapidly dropping to zero. As he started his turn back toward the airport, the engine seized up and quit. After a successful deadstick landing, the air-craft and its engine were examined. This paper outlines the nature of the engine damage and the analytical scheme which lead to the recovery and identification of a large amount of foreign material in the engine oil.

SERIAL DRY WASH SEPARATION OF POWDERS
JAMES JACOBS, B.S., Naval Investigative Service Forensic Laboratory, P.O. Box 220. Naval Station, San Diego. CA 92136

The serial dry wash technique is a useful separatory tool in the drug chemist's repertoire. A small cotton wad is placed in a Pasteur pipette and, on the wad, 25-200mg of powder - then, successive washes (1-5ml each) of increasingly more polar solvents are added to the pipette and filtered into individually marked 10-ml beakers. The solvent is allowed to evaporate off. One useful series is: diethyl ether, chloroform and methanol. Many alkaloid bases are soluble in the ether - heroin, cocaine, fentanyl; the barbiturate acids and some hydrochloride salts -those of PCP and Methaqualone. Diazepam and the hydro-chloride salts of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine are soluble in the chloroform. Sulfate, phosphate and some hydrochloride salts of the phenethylamines and opiates are soluble in the methanol. Other solvents, especially acetone, can be used. On an unknown mixture, this serial wash technique may produce rapid separations based on the varying solubilities of the constituents that are not possible by acid-base extraction.

MATHEMATICAL TREATMENTS OF CHROMATOGRAPHIC DATA FROM ARSON ACCELERANTS
Randall Bramston-Cook, Varian Associates, Instrument Group, 10040 Pioneer Blvd. Santa Fe Springs, California 90670-3788

Capillary gas chromatography has become a major analytical technique in the laboratory analysis of arson residues. The chromatogram can help determine the accelerant involved in the fire. However, since gasoline is often involved in arsons, the complex chromatogram from the numerous components in gasoline becomes difficult to interpret. Often, very subjective judgments are employed to identify the accelerant.

Modern chromatography data systems can be used to improve the identification by computational methods. Modification of a simulated distillation calculation program can help in generating data for gross identification of the type of fuel. And a separate pattern-recognition program can match a Chromatographic pattern with patterns from very specific gasolines, even to the specific production batch from the refinery. An important aspect of these methods is the mathematical reduction of chromatographic data to allow objective identification of the accelerant.

SUCCESSFUL CIRCUMVENTIONS OF PRECURSOR CONTROL ACTS - TWO "NEW" SYNTHETIC PROCEDURES
JT Abercrombie, Calif. State Dept. of Justice Criminalistics Laboratory, P.O. Box 3679, Riverside, CA 92519

With the advent of various precursor control acts, clandestine manufacturers of controlled substances were forced to search the chemical literature and rediscover new routes for their syntheses using non-controlled materials. Two methods will be discussed in this paper. One method involves the oxidation of methylstyrene by thallium (III) nitrate to phenylacetone. This procedure takes about 1 1/2 hours (versus the "normal" 18-24 hours) with a yield of approximately 70%. The second method is a procedure for making methamphetamine hydrochloride, which, though taking considerably longer than the usual phenylacetone/methylamine process (e.g., 36-48 hours versus 5-12 hours) generates virtually no odors and uses ephedrine, red phosphorous and hydroiodic acid, none of which are controlled. This method also generates a yield of 85% which is virtually quantitative in organic synthesis.

DESIGN OF A PARALLEL-FLOW SYSTEM FOR COOLING OF PLATENS EMPLOYED IN ISOZYME ELECTROPHORESIS
F CASSIDY, CA State Dept. of Justice, 820 Francis Botello Rd., Goleta, CA 93107

When several electrophoresis systems are cooled by a refrigerated recirculator, it is highly desirable that the temperature of all the systems be as close as possible to the temperature of the recirculator. In series flow, this is impossible; parallel flow can approach this temperature.

A parallel flow system was designed and fabricated at the Santa Barbara Regional Lab and has been utilized for several years. The design of that system is the basis for this talk.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BUNTER MARKS ON SMALL ARMS AMMUNITION
PM Dougherty, San Mateo County Criminalistics Laboratory, 31 Tower Rd, San Mateo, CA 94402

Recently articles ave appeared in the USA pointing out the existence and origin of striations found in the headstamp letters of cartridge cases. These striations are caused by the brass of the cartridge case moving against the letters of the headstamp, found on the bunter during the formation of the cartridge head. While these marks have been known for some time, their significance had not been determined.

These striated marks were of major importance in a homicide case in linking rounds from the suspect's house to an expended cartridge case found in an abandoned rifle. In order to give the proper interpretation to these marks production numbers for a single bunter were considered, but of greater importance, is the distribution of the cartridge cases after heading, to the loading machines, distributer and customer. Without this data too much emphasis may be placed on an interesting technical "tour de force."

The manufacturing of the cartridge head, production of the loaded round, and distribution of one of the United States' most popular rifle cartridges will be presented to illustrate the problem.

BLOODSTAIN (PLUS) PATTERN ANALYSIS
AKY WONDER, Wonder Institute, P.O. Box 13891, Sacramento, CA 95853

The simple systematic experiments included in basic "bloodspatter workshops" are beneficial in illustrating the principles involved in reconstructing the dynamics which create "bloody crime scenes." Actual scenes, however, are seldom representative of simple dynamics. Among the factors which serve to complicate the final bloodstain patterns are the presence of other fluids, physiological and non-physiological. This paper will present both experimental and actual case examples illustrating the importance of the information possible from recognition where bloodstains have occurred with such fluids as water, mucus, urine, and cerebral spinal fluid.

IDENTIFICATION OF AN UNUSUAL EXPLOSIVE
FA TULLENERS, H EVANS and B SANCHEZ, CA Dept. of Justice, P.O. Box 3679, Riverside, CA 92519

This technical note describes the initial problems encountered by the authors in the identification of a rarely encountered explosive. The very small crystalline sample was impact sensitive, thus it was a tentative initiating explosive. This peroxide based explosive was initially developed in the late nineteenth century; however it had only limited military applications. It has subsequently been used by terrorist organizations. This material was again detected and described by Israel police chemists in 1983. Based on their article the chemical identity of the California explosive was identified as TATP. (TRIACETONETRIPEROXIDE)

ANALYSIS OF DYE FROM SECURITY PAC® EXPLODING MONEY PACKETS
GL GOLDMAN, Contra Costa County Criminalistics Laboratory, 729 Castro St., Martinez, CA 94553

Security Pac® money packets employ a red dye, an explosive and often tear gas as a means to help apprehend and identify bank robbery suspects. The red dye remains on clothing, vehicles and on the skin of the suspect as well as on any bank money he may try to pass. The dye is 1-methylaminoan-thraguinone and is analyzed by traditional chromatographic and infrared techniques after extraction with methylene chloride.

INVESTIGATION AND CRIME SCENE PROCESSING AT MCDONALD'S RESTAURANT MASS MURDER
PAUL YBARRONDO, Lieutenant, Homicide Section, San Diego Police Department, 801 West Market Street. San Diego, CA 92101

A description of the Mass Murder incident occurring at McDonald's Restaurant in San Diego, California on July 18, 1984 and the investigation that followed. A question and answer period will follow.