Forensic Science
In this unit, the STEM students at San Marin became forensic scientists to solve a murder mystery.For this mystery, we were given clues, a police report and family histories. The man that was murdered is named Carleton Comet, and he was murdered during a dinner picnic with his "friends". The possible suspects were Sam Sophomore, Nancy Normal, Theresa Terra, Glen Glee, and Fred Flimmer. Each team was given clues an family histories/stories, and we used this to create an argument. We investigated this case and created a plea for a warrant.
My team and I made a presentation to convince the court, which is shown below. Our slideshow presentation indicts Nancy Normal of first degree murder of Carleton Comet. The slideshow includes all of the evidence and how it proves that Nancy Normal killed Carelton Comet, and we presented this evidence to three mock trial judges from San Marin High School. The goal of this project was to learn about DNA and genetics, and how to apply that to the real world.
My team and I made a presentation to convince the court, which is shown below. Our slideshow presentation indicts Nancy Normal of first degree murder of Carleton Comet. The slideshow includes all of the evidence and how it proves that Nancy Normal killed Carelton Comet, and we presented this evidence to three mock trial judges from San Marin High School. The goal of this project was to learn about DNA and genetics, and how to apply that to the real world.
Crime Report
The wind blew and the fog began to roll in on the night of February 14, 2019. A picnic was being held on Chalk Hill at the edge of the San Marin High School campus in honor of an eccentric former student, Carelton Comet and to celebrate Valentine's Day.
Carelton Comet, a mysterious person, was just released from prison and possesses a new name. He decided to have a celebration party with people he considered old friends or acquaintances.
7:00 p.m.:
Carelton Comet escorted Nancy Normal, Theresa Terra, Fred Flimmer, Sam Sophomore and Glen Glee to the picnic site. Although the guests didn’t know it, each of their lives had somehow been affected by Carelton Comet.
7:30 p.m.:
The host and guests sat down to a dinner of tomato soup, fresh garden salad, prime rib, baked potato and small talk.
7:35 p.m.:
The sky suddenly darkened. The picnic blanket rustled, a glass was dropped, people screamed and Carelton Comet groaned loudly.
7:36 p.m.:
The sun returned to show Carelton Comet slumped forward, his face in his bowl and a large steak knife in the back of his neck.
7:40 p.m.:
The police are called.
7:55 p.m.:
The police arrive.
8:00 p.m.:
Carelton Comet is officially pronounced dead at the scene. The knife is bagged and quickly sent to the crime lab. Police interview the guests. Someone attends to Nancy Normal who cut her hand on a bit of broken glass when the sky darkened.
9:30 p.m.:
The police lab determined that there were two types of blood on the knife. One belonged to Carelton Comet, and the other to the killer.
The lab reports are enclosed along with important information about all of the Captain’s dinner guests.
The wind blew and the fog began to roll in on the night of February 14, 2019. A picnic was being held on Chalk Hill at the edge of the San Marin High School campus in honor of an eccentric former student, Carelton Comet and to celebrate Valentine's Day.
Carelton Comet, a mysterious person, was just released from prison and possesses a new name. He decided to have a celebration party with people he considered old friends or acquaintances.
7:00 p.m.:
Carelton Comet escorted Nancy Normal, Theresa Terra, Fred Flimmer, Sam Sophomore and Glen Glee to the picnic site. Although the guests didn’t know it, each of their lives had somehow been affected by Carelton Comet.
7:30 p.m.:
The host and guests sat down to a dinner of tomato soup, fresh garden salad, prime rib, baked potato and small talk.
7:35 p.m.:
The sky suddenly darkened. The picnic blanket rustled, a glass was dropped, people screamed and Carelton Comet groaned loudly.
7:36 p.m.:
The sun returned to show Carelton Comet slumped forward, his face in his bowl and a large steak knife in the back of his neck.
7:40 p.m.:
The police are called.
7:55 p.m.:
The police arrive.
8:00 p.m.:
Carelton Comet is officially pronounced dead at the scene. The knife is bagged and quickly sent to the crime lab. Police interview the guests. Someone attends to Nancy Normal who cut her hand on a bit of broken glass when the sky darkened.
9:30 p.m.:
The police lab determined that there were two types of blood on the knife. One belonged to Carelton Comet, and the other to the killer.
The lab reports are enclosed along with important information about all of the Captain’s dinner guests.
Content:
In order to suspect someone of murder, it is important to have all of the evidence needed. The evidence that we found were a knife with two people's blood on it, fingerprints on the murder weapon, a death note, three pens, the crime report and the family histories.
The knife that was used to kill Carelton Comet had two types of blood on it. One type belonged to the victim, and the other belonged to the killer. The two types of blood were A and O. Carleton Comet has O type blood, and Nancy Nomal has A type blood. We concluded that the other blood belonged to Nancy Normal because it matched her blood type, and she was also the only other person bleeding at the scene.
In order to suspect someone of murder, it is important to have all of the evidence needed. The evidence that we found were a knife with two people's blood on it, fingerprints on the murder weapon, a death note, three pens, the crime report and the family histories.
The knife that was used to kill Carelton Comet had two types of blood on it. One type belonged to the victim, and the other belonged to the killer. The two types of blood were A and O. Carleton Comet has O type blood, and Nancy Nomal has A type blood. We concluded that the other blood belonged to Nancy Normal because it matched her blood type, and she was also the only other person bleeding at the scene.
There was also a fingerprint found on the scene. As seen above, the fingerprint matched Nancy Normal. This further suggests that Nancy Normal killed Carelton Comet.
In order to be charged for first degree murder, the killer has to have had a premeditated plan. We knew that Comet's murder was planned because of a death note that was left on the scene. The murderer had to have planned the kill because they wrote a note before hand. We also used this as further evidence. We had the tools and knowledge to conduct Ink Chromatography. This revealed the separation of the ink used in the note, which could then be matched with the suspects' pens. The ink matched the pens of Sam Sophomore and Nancy Normal. This furthers our belief that Nancy Normal was the murderer.
In order to be charged for first degree murder, the killer has to have had a premeditated plan. We knew that Comet's murder was planned because of a death note that was left on the scene. The murderer had to have planned the kill because they wrote a note before hand. We also used this as further evidence. We had the tools and knowledge to conduct Ink Chromatography. This revealed the separation of the ink used in the note, which could then be matched with the suspects' pens. The ink matched the pens of Sam Sophomore and Nancy Normal. This furthers our belief that Nancy Normal was the murderer.
Another piece of information that was very helpful in convicting the suspect was the family history. It was very helpful to be provided with family information because it helped us to find the connections between the people involved, which led to possible motives for the murder. It also helped us find diseases that may affect the suspects. To organize the family history, we made pedigrees, which are sort of like mapped-out family trees, as seen below. In conclusion, we used the family history to find out that Nancy Normal's motive to kill Comet was that Carleton Comet killed Fred Flimmer's mother and sister, and Normal is in love with Flimmer. We also found that Nancy Normal is prone to Marfan's and Huntington's disease, which could negatively affect her behavior.
All in all, these clues and resources helped me and my team to prove that Nancy Normal killed Carleton Comet, and to charge her with first degree murder.
Some helpful terms for this project-
DNA Fingerprinting- a method used to identify an individual from a sample of DNA by looking at unique patterns in their DNA.
Ink Chromatography- a method for analyzing mixtures by separating them into the chemicals from which they are made, in this project we separated ink to determine which pen was used in the death note.
Karyotypes- The number and visual appearance of the chromosomes in the cell nuclei of an organism or species.
Pedigree- The organization of ancestry in a family-tree type way. We used these to see how the suspects connected together and to see what diseases the suspects could have/how that would affect their behavior.
DNA Structure- DNA is made up of molecules called nucleotides. Each nucleotide contains a phosphate group, a sugar group and a nitrogen base. The four types of nitrogen bases are adenine (A), thymine (T), guanine (G) and cytosine (C).
DNA Replication- DNA replication is the biological process of producing two identical replicas of DNA from one original DNA molecule. DNA replication occurs in all living organisms acting as the basis for biological inheritance.
Genetics
- dominant: A dominant trait will show up in the offspring
- recessive: Recessive traits do not show up in the offspring unless they are paired with another recessive trait.
- alleles: One of two or more alternative forms of a gene that arise by mutation and are found at the same place on a chromosome. They are the different types of a single gene.
DNA mutations- A change in an organism's DNA that can cause changes in all aspects of its life. Mutations are essential to evolution because they are the raw material of genetic variation.
Chromosomal disorders- When there is a mutation or abnormality in the chromosomes within an organism, it can change the phenotype and cause disorders such as Down Syndrome.
Reflection:
I found this project very interesting. I really enjoy using science in ways that are used in real life. My group was very successful in this project, but there are always ways to improve. First of all, one way that I could improve myself would be to make sure to plan out the project. I feel that we would have been even more successful than we already were if we had a gantt chart or some other way of organization. Another way that the project could have been improved would be to practice the presentation. I think that even though we won the case, our presentation would have been a lot more convincing with some more practice.
Other than those minor issues, this project was very fun and interesting, and it made me want to continue learning about crime with science in the future. Two skills that I improved in this project were leadership and collaboration. When it was needed, I was able to step up and lead the project, and when it wasn't needed, my group and I were able to collaborate and work well together, with equal work ethic and productivity.
In conclusion, I really liked this project. I found it fascinating to be able to apply science to real-life scenarios, especially when it was in a scenario as interesting as a crime scene. This was a very interesting project, and it made me think about working in that field of science in the future.
Other than those minor issues, this project was very fun and interesting, and it made me want to continue learning about crime with science in the future. Two skills that I improved in this project were leadership and collaboration. When it was needed, I was able to step up and lead the project, and when it wasn't needed, my group and I were able to collaborate and work well together, with equal work ethic and productivity.
In conclusion, I really liked this project. I found it fascinating to be able to apply science to real-life scenarios, especially when it was in a scenario as interesting as a crime scene. This was a very interesting project, and it made me think about working in that field of science in the future.