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CSI: Moments from a Career in Forensic Science
Prologue
As a forensic scientist and as a responder to crime scenes, I witnessed some of the worst humanity could offer. But on occasion, there was a fun side to forensic science when applied to solving crimes.
A detective came to me one day and asked for some fake sodium cyanide. Apparently he was working undercover with a suspect who wanted to poison his wife but did not have any cyanide. I was aware of the appearance of sodium cyanide and needed to make up something that would look the part but would be safe to consume, should that happen.
I found a small bottle that had contained some testing sticks. It stated on the label, “not for ingestion,” and had a poison icon on the label, too. I scraped off most of the label except the important words and poison icon, and then I searched the lab for the right chemical. Sodium bicarbonate in a saturated solution with water really looked the part. To a layperson, this was baking soda. I placed the suspension in the small bottle and handed it to the detective for delivery.
A few days later, the detective told me the suspect was really excited about getting the stuff and said it was the best cyanide he had ever seen. Working with the undercover detective, the husband went on to prepare a meal for his wife and place the substance in her food.
The undercover detective was invited to stay for dinner, and as soon as dinner with the fake poison was served up, the husband was arrested for conspiracy to commit murder.
You can’t make this stuff up! It is amazing what lengths people will go through to commit a crime.
As a forensic scientist and as a responder to crime scenes, I witnessed some of the worst humanity could offer. But on occasion, there was a fun side to forensic science when applied to solving crimes.
A detective came to me one day and asked for some fake sodium cyanide. Apparently he was working undercover with a suspect who wanted to poison his wife but did not have any cyanide. I was aware of the appearance of sodium cyanide and needed to make up something that would look the part but would be safe to consume, should that happen.
I found a small bottle that had contained some testing sticks. It stated on the label, “not for ingestion,” and had a poison icon on the label, too. I scraped off most of the label except the important words and poison icon, and then I searched the lab for the right chemical. Sodium bicarbonate in a saturated solution with water really looked the part. To a layperson, this was baking soda. I placed the suspension in the small bottle and handed it to the detective for delivery.
A few days later, the detective told me the suspect was really excited about getting the stuff and said it was the best cyanide he had ever seen. Working with the undercover detective, the husband went on to prepare a meal for his wife and place the substance in her food.
The undercover detective was invited to stay for dinner, and as soon as dinner with the fake poison was served up, the husband was arrested for conspiracy to commit murder.
You can’t make this stuff up! It is amazing what lengths people will go through to commit a crime.
420 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 12, 2018
25 people are currently reading
7 people want to read
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