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Dwayne S. Hilderbrand, CLPELead Latent Print ExaminerScottsdale Police Crime Lab

This article originally appeared in Minutiae, The Lightning Powder Co. Newsletter, Nov-Dec 1995, p. 2-5, 11.

The scope of a complete examination consists of two main functions: first,the recovery process, which includes the discovery and preservation of theprints, and second, the identification process, which involves evaluations,comparisons, and findings related to the recovered impression.(Grieve1988).

Wherever he steps, whatever he touches, whatever he leaves, evenunconsciously, will serve as silent witness against him. Not only hisfingerprints or his footprints, but his hair, the fibers from his clothing,the glass he breaks, the tool mark he leaves, the paint he scratches, theblood or semen he deposits or collects.. All of these and more bear mutewitness against him. This is evidence that does not forget. It is not confusedby the excitement of the moment. It is not absent because human witnessesare, it is factual evidence, physical evidence cannot be wrong, it cannotperjure itself; it cannot be wholly absent, only its interpretation can err.Only human failure to find it, study and understand it, can diminish itsvalue. (Paul L. Kirk 1974).

On September 19, 1991, two German tourists were hiking in the mountains on the border between Austria and Italy when they spotted a body buried in the ice. The two tourists, suspecting foul play, contacted the authorities. As it was not clear at the time exactly where the body was found, police authorities from Austria and Italy responded. Following the normal procedures for the recovery of the body, they attempted to free it from the ice using jack hammers. Unfortunately, the jack hammers were damaging the body, pickaxes and ski poles were then used.

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