handwritten apple serial number forensic analysis

A single match left at the scene of an arson can be compared to a matchbook found on a suspect, and, based on analysis using a variety of equipment and techniques, examiners can often determine with a high degree of certainty if the match found at the scene came from the suspect’s matchbook.

See photos.Ī few more examples of the unit’s capabilities: Was too modern to be used during Ruth’s era.

The unit also maintains extensive databases of bank robbery notes, anonymous letters, shoe prints, and fake checks-quite handy when comparing and contrasting clues from across the nation.īabe Ruth’s signature looks authentic, but examiners found that the ball’s cork center design Its examiners are skilled in analyzing inks, papers, plastic bags, tire treads, and typewriters (still in use more than you might expect). Known mainly for its handwriting analysis, the unit actually performs 25 different types of exams-all without tainting or destroying evidence. They pieced together shredded documents in the Enron case, analyzed cryptic notes from Kansas serial killer Dennis Rader, and compared outsoles on size 12 Bruno Magli shoes as part of the O.J. The unit’s 17 forensic document examiners, for instance, pored over charred documents after the 9/11 attacks to help identify the hijackers. “We’ve worked just about every major case,” said Diana Harrison, who heads what we call our Questioned Documents Unit (QDU) in the FBI Lab, “because every investigation has a paper trail.” More than 75 years later-even in this digital age-our ever-expanding ability to glean clues from a whole range of physical documents and materials is essential to solving our cases and often those of our partners.

But back in the early 1930s, when Bruno Hauptmann left a series of ransom notes after snatching (and later killing) the Lindberghs’ 20-month-old son, he probably never realized that painstaking analysis of his handwriting by the emerging FBI Laboratory would add to the volumes of evidence and help convict him of the sensational murder. The FBI Questioned Documents Unit may be best known for handwriting analysis.

Handwritten apple serial number forensic analysis