BALTIMORE, Md. (CSU) —Evelyn Player died. The death of Evelyn Player shocked the city to the core. One day after Player was buried, the police announced that they arrested a man. The man is 62 years old, and his name is Manzie Smith Jr.
Police found evidence at the scene and through science. They were able to find this enough for them to arrest Mr. Smith. Charging documents show that the Player fought for her life. There were wounds on her hands from defending herself.
Rana Dellarocco is the director of the Baltimore Police Department’s Forensic Laboratories. She can’t talk about the Player’s case, but she can talk about how evidence is collected in general.
“It can be really obvious things like blood. They can check the blood and then take it to a lab.” Sometimes, they can’t find the blood, but they’ll look for fingerprints.
Once you collect evidence, you take it back to the police headquarters. They will then process it.
Inside the DNA lab, they work to create a profile.
The idea is you want to get the biological substance off of the thing. If it’s a swab, you want to get the blood or semen off. Then we make a DNA profile from it.
If DNA is in the database, then it can be in the DNA database CODIS.
The police said that the DNA evidence was sent to the state’s CODIS database. And it matched Manzie. Sometimes when there is a struggle between the suspect and victim, more DNA may be created.
“There is not always DNA in every struggle, but you will get it when someone scratches you. If they bleed on you, then that person’s DNA will be on your clothes.”
The forensics unit does important, unbiased work. The solution to cases, which is often solved thanks to the forensics unit’s work.
“We support the police department. We only want to do the scientific work. Whether it is an exoneration or inclusion, we are invested 100% in both ways.”
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