Forensic Submission Strategy Report: Jamie Wood Rape Case Analysis

This report presents a forensic submission strategy for the Jamie Wood case, focusing on evidence analysis and laboratory techniques. The report begins with an abstract summarizing the case and the methods used, including Fluorescence in situ Hydration (FISH) screening of physical objects (clothes, phone, etc.) and biological samples (swabs from various body parts). The introduction provides background on the case, highlighting the need for forensic investigation to determine if Jamie Wood is guilty of rape. A literature review discusses the evolution of forensic techniques, particularly the use of FISH to detect female cells on male genitals and clothing. The methodology section details the procedures used to collect and analyze samples, including FISH techniques and controls. Results reveal the presence of female cells on swabs from Jamie Wood's private parts and clothes, suggesting direct contact with a female. The discussion analyzes these findings, concluding that the evidence supports the allegation of rape, although comparison with victim DNA is recommended for definitive proof. The report follows a formal structure, with an abstract, introduction, literature review, materials and methods, results, and discussion. The report is well-researched and referenced, drawing on the student's week 10 presentations and providing guidance for the Senior Investigating Officer.

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FORENSIC SUBMISSION STRATEGY, CASE OF JAMIE WOOD
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Abstract
This report provides forensic evidence for the purposes of determining whether Jamie
Wood who has been accused of a rape case is guilty. The paper will rely on the physical objects
obtained on the scene of the crime (Jamie’s Car) such as clothes, watches and phone as well as
the samples obtained from different parts of his body such as swabs from his fingernails, hands,
urine and blood as evidence. The main method used in this research is Fluorescence in situ
Hydration (FISH) screening to determine the type of cells on the swabs. FISH analysis has been
used as the main approach to analyze swabs for laboratory evidence. Based on the analysis it has
been revealed that Jamie Wood had raped following the evidence of female cells on the swabs
obtained from his private parts as well as his clothes. It is however recommended that swabs
from the victim’s body be taken and the DNA compared to the female cell DNA obtained from
Jamie Wood’s swabs before he can be convicted with the case of rape.
Introduction
This report analyzes the case of Jamie Wood who is suspected to have committed a
sexual assault. As per the case, Jamie Wood had been discovered inside a vehicle at Teesaurus
Park in an unconscious state by Mr. Barry. The identity of the vehicle in which he was found
also belonged to him. Based on the fact that he had some injuries, Jamie Wood was rushed to
James Cook Hospital for treatment. It was also revealed that there had been an attempt to set his
vehicle on fire because there was some smell of accelerant from the front passenger foot. After
various forensic examinations on both the vehicle and the body of Jamie Wood, he was

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suspected to have raped and hence arrested. Based on the narration of the scenario, Jamie Wood
has just been suspected to have raped but there is no clear evidence that indeed he raped.
Therefore, the evidence is required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he actually raped
before which everything must be treated as mere allegations.
In order to prove that Jamie Wood raped, a forensic investigation will be carried out. A
forensic investigation is the process or fathering and analyzing all crime related physical
evidence in order to conclude that the suspect is guilty. Specifically, the case of Jamie Wood will
utilize crime scene forensics which investigates documents and gathers any physical evidence
around the crime scene. This investigation will also entail the analysis of what investigators
collect as an exhibit to ensure credibility and relevance. In the case of Jamie Wood,
investigations will be done on his clothes, hair combings, phone, urine, blood sample, urine
sample and swabs from both fingernails and penis.
Literature Review
Traditionally, semen (spermatozoa and acid phosphate) in the cervical vagina was
considered as the only evidence which could prove that a rape case had taken place. However,
with the modern technology, research on fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) has proved
that even in the absence of semen, female epithelial and inflammatory cells on male genital
organ as well as the areas around the genital organ can be used to prove that a rape incident took
place (Liehr, 2017). A striking paucity of literature on the examination of the alleged assailant’s
penis exists as evidence of a sexual assault. Currently, FISH is used as the main approach to
analyze post-coital swabs on the penis for laboratory evidence. According to Kocks et al, (2018),
after a coitus episode female epithelial and inflammatory cells are likely to be left on the male

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genital organ which can be easily obtained through penile swabbing. However, this study has
cautioned against allowing the suspect to take a shower before penile swabbing because there
will be no evidence.
In support of Kocks et al, (2018) research, Zhang et al, (2016) revealed that a male
assailant in a sexual assault could be detected even without ejaculation. According to Zhang et
al, (2016), traditional forensic analysis of DNA focused on the identification and typing of sperm
cells from the victim’s body, beddings and clothing. However, with the advanced and more
sensitive typing methodologies, it looks at the forensic investigations to have advanced into
examining fingernail clippings as well as swabs from areas in which the suspect is likely to have
come into contact with the victim (Frickmann et al, 2017, p.270). Following this advancement,
DNA analysts considered the collection of suspect underwear’s along with penile swabs in a
limited time (less than 36 hours) as a great source of evidence. In addition to penile swabs, finger
swabs have also been considered as a potential source of evidence. According to this study,
testing those samples can demonstrate the presence of the victim’s DNA on the suspect hence
providing some evidence.
A different study by Geiersbach et al (2018) has indicated that the presence of female
DNA (through vaginal or saliva fluids) on the suspect’s fingers, penis or underwear is easy
because of the large amounts of nucleated cells in body fluids. It has however considered it a
challenge if there was no ejaculation involved because the investigators must collect the skin
cells from the penis or the victim’s vagina. According to this study, non-sperm male cells could
be detected in post-coital cervicovaginal smears through a technique called Fluorescence in situ
Hybridization (FISH). The technique has been considered effective because it has the ability to

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detect a sexual assault after a period of 3 weeks as opposed to the sperm cells from vaginal and
cervical swabs which could only be detected after a maximum of 7 days after the assault
(Rathod, 2018, p.1).
Materials and Methods
The collected exhibits from Jamie Wood who is the key suspect in the rape case will be
used in the investigation. Jamie Wood will be restrained and denied a chance to shower to avoid
interfering with the evidence in case further exhibits will be required. Further swabs will be
taken in intervals of 12 to 24 hours. To obtain the samples, four sterile cotton-tipped applicators
will be slightly moistened in sterile saline and swabbed along the penile shaft and around the
base of the penis. Three air-dried slides will be prepared from the swabs and blinded. To acts as
controls, further swabs will be taken from the buccal surface of Jamie Wood. Fluorescence in
situ Hydration technique will be used in the analysis of swabs obtained from the body of Jamie
Wood. Basically, FISH is a molecular cytogenetic technique that utilizes fluorescent probes
binding on the parts of the nucleic acid sequence with a high degree of sequence
complementarity. It has the ability to detect and localize the absence or presence of certain DNA
sequences on chromosomes (Joki-Erkkilä et al, 2016, p.55). The probes to be used for FISH in
this research will be the Spectrum CEP Direct Chromosome Enumeration System (Downers
Grove, VYSIS, and III). The Y chromosomes probe (satellite iii DNA) will be labelled with the
orange spectrum while the X chromosomes probe (alpha satellite DNA) will be labelled with a
green spectrum. The Y chromosomes probe will be highly specific for repeated alphoid DNA
which is at the centromere of the Y chromosome while the X DNA probe will hybridize the short
repeats which are related to AATGG in the heterochromatin of X chromosome. In this test, the

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hybridization of the Y probe using the FISH technique on the uncultured tissue samples is
expected to be 90% male and 10% female (Lutalo and Page, 2016, p.66).
Pepsin (0.002%) will be used to pretreat slides for around 12 minutes at a temperature of 37°C
before they can be rinsed in a 2× standard saline citrate at the normal room temperature for
around 3 minutes. The purpose of the pepsin will be to get rid of the cytoplasm hence enhancing
the detection of labelled probes using the FISH analysis. Slides will be dehydrated in a series of
ethanol concentrations of 70%, 80%, 90% and 100% respectively before they can be denatured
in a 70% concentrated formamide or a 2× SSC at 75°C for approximately 5 minutes followed by
dehydration through ethanol series (Burchill, 2019). The slides will be dried on air. After the
slides are fully dried, DNA probes will be denatured at a temperature of approximately 75°C for
around 6 minutes.
Eventually, the slides will be hybridized simultaneously with Y DNA hybridization
mixture and X chromosomes added to each slide before being covered with glass coverslips
sealed with rubber cement. Those slides will be put under incubation at approximately 42°C for a
period of 1 hour under a humid chamber (Carney, 2017, p.207). Post washing will be done in a
2× SSC at a temperature of 75°C for about 3 minutes and then washed in a 2× SSC/0.1% NP40
at the normal room temperature for approximately 2 minutes. All the cells obtained will be
counterstained with propidium iodide or a 4′-6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) and glass used
to cover them before they undergo microscopic analysis using a triple bandpass fluorescent
microscope (Hess and Haas, 2017, p.190). Under the fluorescent microscope, all cells could be
easily visualized but the nonoverlapping cells were considered. All cell slides were scrutinized

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and cells scored in such a way that 2 green signals represented female cells while an orange or
green signal represented male cells.
Results
From Jamie Wood's clothes and the swabs obtained from his private parts, cells could be
easily visualized under the fluorescent microscopes. However, only those cells which had two
nonoverlapping signals were considered. Female cells were detected on the smears of the swabs
which were taken from his private parts. These results confirmed that Jamie Wood's private parts
had direct contact with a female. This is in consideration of the fact that if Jamie Wood’s private
parts had not directly come into physical contact with a female body; the swabs would not have
any female cells. However, it was surprising that there were no male cells on the penile swabbing
smears. The absence of male cells from the FISH screening of the penis can be attributed to the
sloughing of the superficial male cells into the female genital tract. These results support the
allegations that Jamie Wood had raped. In addition, the forensic analysis from Jamie Wood’s
clothes revealed traces of female cells which act as additional evidence that Jamie Wood had
direct contact with a female.
Discussion
In the best-case scenario, when a forensic analysis is done on a man’s clothes; the only
cells which should be found are his own cells which are male cells. On the other hand, penile
swabs should also indicate male cells. However, any of these cases producing evidence of female
cells indicates that the suspect had direct contact with a female. For instance, FISH screening on
exhibits obtained from Jamie Wood was supposed to have male cells only because Jamie Wood

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was a man (Hess and Haas, 2017, p.187). However, that was not the case when swabs from his
physical objects and clothes such as boxers were screened. To make matters worse, swabs from
his private parts which were not expected to come into direct contact with any female by
coincidence indicated that he had direct contact with the female gender. This was affirmed
through female cells which were detected on the smears of the swabs which had been taken from
his private parts. In one way or the other, this proved without reasonable doubt that Jamie Wood
had had a coitus episode with a female partner. Although it could not be proved whether the
coitus episode entailed rape or sexual assault, it was a great start point that could be used to
prove that he had raped (Carney, 2017, p.205). The remaining evidence would come from the
victim whose cell DNA would be compared with the Cell DNA which had been obtained from
the swabs on Jamie Wood's body. If the two DNA’s matched, Jamie Wood would be declared
guilty of the rape.
Recommendations
Based on the results of the investigation, it is confirmed that Jamie Wood had direct
contact with a female on both his private parts as well as his clothes. However, it has not been
clarified whether the contact was a result of rape or it was just a legal contact. This still
maintains the Jamie Woods's case complicated because he might have had a sexual episode with
his wife or girlfriend before leaving his house. I would hence suggest that the victim be
identified and her DNA matched so that it can be proved that Jamie Wood had raped. This would
be achieved by taking the vaginal swabs of the victim and analyzing them by the use of FISH
screening.

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Appendices
Appendix 1: Vehicle Scene Scenario
Appendix 2: Follow Up Exhibit 1

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Appendix 3: Follow Up Exhibit 2

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References
Burchill, J.W., 2019. Persistence and Variability of DNA: Penile Washings and Intimate Bodily
Examinations in Sex-Related Offences. Man. LJ, 42, p.69.
Carney, S., 2017. The Forensic Investigation of Sexual Offences: Practitioner Course Design and
Delivery. Forensic Science Education and Training: A Tool-kit for Lecturers and Practitioner
Trainers, p.207.
Frickmann, H., Zautner, A.E., Moter, A., Kikhney, J., Hagen, R.M., Stender, H. and Poppert, S.,
2017. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in the microbiological diagnostic routine
laboratory: a review. Critical reviews in microbiology, 43(3), pp.263-293.
Geiersbach, K.B., Bridge, J.A., Dolan, M., Jennings, L.J., Persons, D.L., Souers, R.J., Tsuchiya,
K.D., Vasalos, P.H. and Moncur, J.T., 2018. Comparative Performance of Breast Cancer Human
Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization and Brightfield In Situ
Hybridization on College of American Pathologists Proficiency Tests. Archives of pathology &
laboratory medicine, 142(10), pp.1254-1259.

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Hess, S. and Haas, C., 2017. Recovery of trace DNA on clothing: a comparison of mini‐tape
lifting and three other forensic evidence collection techniques. Journal of forensic
sciences, 62(1), pp.187-191.
Joki-Erkkilä, M., Tuomisto, S., Seppänen, M., Huhtala, H., Ahola, A. and Karhunen, P.J., 2016.
Urine specimen collection following consensual intercourse–A forensic evidence collection
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Kocks, C., Boltengagen, A., Piwecka, M., Rybak-Wolf, A. and Rajewsky, N., 2018. Single-
molecule fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) of circular RNA CDR1as. In Circular
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Liehr, T., 2017. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.
Lutalo, R.T. and Page, H., 2016. Distinguishing Between Penile and Buccal Cells using Different
Staining Techniques. Forensic Res Criminol Int J, 2(5), p.00066.
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