Citation

Ogawa H, Hiroshige Y, Yoshimoto T, Ishii A, Yamamoto T. J. Forensic Sci. 2018; 63(4): 1291-1297.

Affiliation

Department of Legal Medicine and Bioethics, Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya University, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya, 466-8550, Japan.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, American Society for Testing and Materials, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/1556-4029.13698

PMID

29194608

Abstract

In this sexual assault case, the standard preliminary semen examinations could not confirm physically or biochemically whether the accused's semen had stained the victim's skirt because the skirt had been dry-cleaned for stain removal and had been worn for more than a year after the assault. Fortunately, however, a photograph taken just after the assault was found in the court records that showed white stains on the checkered skirt. The locations of the stains were estimated based on the checkered pattern of the fabric, and microscopic examination using Baecchi's staining revealed the presence of spermatozoa. Further analysis indicated the male DNA profile generated from the sperm cells was consistent with the suspect's DNA using three multiplex STR typing systems for a total of 21 autosomal and 17 Y chromosomal short tandem repeats (STRs). Ultimately, the result of the DNA profile played a very useful role as additional evidence.

© 2017 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Language: en

Keywords

DNA; dry cleaning; forensic science; personal identification; sexual assault; short tandem repeat