J. Thomas McClintock
Liberty University, USA
Title: Using Forensic DNA Analysis as an Investigative Tool to Answer Questions about the Past
Biography
Biography: J. Thomas McClintock
Abstract
Bloodstain pattern analysis has been an integral part of criminal investigations for over a century. The use of chemiluminescent reagents such as luminol or Bluestar® to visualize presumed bloodstains in criminal investigations has provided useful investigative information. Newer technologies and recent advances in forensic DNA analysis have gained much notoriety over the past two decades as a tool in human identification and parentage verification. More recently, bloodstain analysis, coupled with methods to generate DNA profiles, have been applied to investigate samples of historical significance. This study investigated samples collected from America’s past conflicts to determine the biological origin and nature of the samples/stains using classic and various state-of-the-art approaches as well as isolate the genetic material for forensic DNA analysis. Specifically, samples were collected from the Hillsman House in Rice, VA that served as a Union field hospital during the last battle of the Civil War. Approximately 358 Union and 161 Confederate soldiers were treated over a twenty-four hour period during the battle at Sailor’s Creek. The prominent “bloodstains” on the floorboards under the single surgical table and two post-surgical beds provides evidence of the vast number of soldiers treated. These presumed bloodstains also found their way through the cracks in the wood floors onto the supporting floor joists. The presumed bloodstains were subjected to various presumptive blood tests (e.g., luminol and Bluestar®, leucomalachite green, phenolphthalein, and RSID™ Blood Competitive Analysis Kit), the DNA isolated, quantitated, and subjected to genetic analysis using capillary electrophoresis. The generation of partial or complete DNA profiles will confirm the presence of human DNA, as well as demonstrate the ability of DNA profiling to reveal a part of history from a battle fought over 150 years ago. Other presumed bloodstain samples from the Korean War era and tissue and hair samples collected from burial sites from a civilization long extinct have been analyzed in an attempt to generate DNA profiles and to corroborate historical documentations of accounts that occurred many decades ago.