NCJ Number
195933
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 47 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2002 Pages: 648-651
Date Published
2002
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article recounts a homicide investigation in which the paper of a questioned document was compared to a sample of paper taken from the suspect’s home.
Abstract
In the case under investigation, a threatening letter was written to a business partner of a homicide victim. The investigating team asked for a forensic comparison of the paper used for the threatening letter and paper confiscated from a suspect’s home. The authors recount the method used for analysis of the paper samples. Microwave digestion of the samples was conducted and the authors present a program for this method in Table 1. Subsequent Tables provided by the authors explain the results of ICP-MS operating and data acquisition parameters, elemental concentrations of the letter and the confiscated papers, and a t-test analysis of the letter and the confiscated papers. The results indicated that the paper containing the threatening letter came from a different source than the paper confiscated from the suspect’s home. Additionally, all of the confiscated paper from the suspect’s home, six papers, all originated from the same source. The authors conclude that trace element concentrations can effectively be used to compare paper of suspect documents or sources. 4 Tables, 1 figure,6 references