BLOOD SPLATTER
Blood Patterns
When looking at blood patterns we must first understand the basic properties of blood. Blood contains liquid and solids. It is a liquid state when it is in the body but once it comes out it doesn't stay like that for long and within a few minutes, once outside the body, blood will start to clot - growing more solid over time. This clotting can give investigators in criminal cases clues about what may have happened - as can the properties of blood itself. Blood can leave the body in many different ways, depending on the type of injury inflicted. It can flow, drip, spray, spurt, gush or just ooze from wounds!
Blood splatter
Crime Scene Investigators can use the way blood has splattered on walls, the floor, furniture etc. to give them clues about how, where and with what the victim may have been killed. The length and shape of the blood drop splatters can tell investigators what angle the blood hit and with how much force. |
The first modern study / analysis of blood spatter was in 1895 by Eduard Piotrowski, who published a paper entitled On the formation, form, direction, and spreading of blood stains resulting in blunt trauma at the head.