Blood Pattern Analysis

Sasha Green

AJ 110

Professor Ullemeyer

December 5, 2022
 Blood pattern analysis is a branch of forensics that intrigues many people, and is glorified

and dramatized on television- especially wi1th popular shows such as Dexter. Many cases have

been solved with technology developed in this blood analysis field, and many have also

infamously resulted in wrongful convictions due to misconceptions and mistakes made in

relation to the math and physics behind blood pattern analysis. When used correctly and by

experts with proper quality of training and experience, blood pattern analysis can be used to

answer many questions and effectively reconstruct a crime scene.

The discipline of blood pattern analysis has been researched and conducted for many

years, beginning even before the 1900’s. According to the American Forensics article,

“Bloodstain pattern analysis,” one of the first real/formal scientific research studies was

conducted by Dr. Eduard Piotrowski in 1895. Working out of the University of Krakow, he

examined many factors of blood pattern analysis including form and formation, spread, direction,

and stains related to a blunt force trauma injury of the head (Bloodstain pattern analysis).

However, research and testimony was not publicized much until many years later when it was

really being applied to cases. For example, The Center for Statistics and Applications in Forensic

Evidence describes in the article, “The Evolution of Blood-Stain Pattern Analysis Verdicts In

The Courtroom,” “Looking back to 1954, we can see that modern bloodstain-pattern analysis

began with a small group of scientists and forensic investigators testifying as experts in a new

technique. As the years progress, this group begins to train many more police officers,

investigators and crime-lab technicians, who go on to testify in court as well” (CSAFE).

Blood pattern analysis involves looking at all of the information that can be gathered

from the blood evidence and using it to help reconstruct a crime. According to the Bureau of

Criminal Apprehension, “Bloodstain Pattern Analysis,” “The sizes of the individual stains
1
composing a pattern, the shapes of these stains and their distribution relative to one another can

be utilized for the purposes of determining how a particular stain or pattern may have been

produced” (BCA).

Techniques that experts will use to determine this include measuring the size

(length/width) of the blood spatter, and measuring the angle of its contact with the surface.

According to “Bloodstain Pattern Analysis: How It’s Done,” blood stain evidence collection goes

through many steps, and this includes documenting the evidence, sampling the DNA of the

blood, and analyzing it (Forensic Science Simplified). Documentation is done using photography

of the crime scene as well as swabbing the blood (Forensic Science Simplified). According to

Forensic Science Simplified, “bloodstain pattern analysis is performed in two phases: pattern

analysis and reconstruction.” Pattern analysis involves looking at all physical characteristics of a

stain, including “shape, distribution, overall appearance, location and surface texture where the

stains are found” (Forensic science simplified). In contrast, reconstruction “uses the analysis data

to put contextual explanations to the stain patterns: What type of crime has occurred? Where is

the person bleeding from? Did the stain patterns come from the victim or someone else? Are

there other scene factors (e.g. emergency medical intervention, first responder activities) that

affect the stain patterns?” (Forensic science simplified). Blood patterns can be analyzed by using

measurements of a droplet.
 As demonstrated in this diagram, the angle of impact of a blood drop can be measured by

dividing the width of the drop by the length. According to “How Bloodstain Pattern Analysis

Works” by Shanna Freeman and Melanie Radzicki McManus, “The greater the difference

between the width and length, the sharper the angle of impact” (howstuffworks). In addition to

analyzing blood drops, experts can determine how long a victim/body stayed in one location

according to the amount and appearance of blood left. For example, if there is a large amount of

blood in one area without a lot of spread or movement, it can generally be determined that the

victim died there and/or was not moved for a long period of time.

Blood spatter analysis involves mathematics and physics in order to make determinations

about what happened at a crime scene. The shape of a blood drop or stain is entirely dependent

on the angle at which it made contact with a surface and the distance it traveled (Marcia Gomez,

PLUS, “Solving crimes with maths: Bloodstain pattern analysis). As Gomez explains, “The

shape and tail of the bloodstain indicates the direction the blood was travelling in” (Gomez). As
demonstrated in the diagram below, the point of intersection of multiple blood stains can tell us

about the source of the blood (Gomez).

This diagram uses P as the point of intersection between the direction of travel of all

lines/blood drops. Gomez explains, “The true source of the blood (e.g. the head of the person

who was hit) will have been somewhere vertically above To find out at exactly what height,

we need to do a little more geometry” (Gomez).

In addition to direction and distance, we can determine based on the shape of the blood

pattern the approximate angle in which it made contact. For example, as you can interpret from

the graphic below, a drop of blood made at a 90 degree angle would appear very round, whereas

if it were made at a 10 degree angle to the surface, the drop would appear very long and thin.
 (Gomez)

In addition, by using the calculated angle and distance of the bloodspatter, analysts can

determine the height of the source of the bloodstain. This is known as the tangent (Gomez).

The first ever case to be heard in a courtroom with bloodstain analysis evidence was in

1966, and as Bill Clutter from Investigating Innocence describes in “Bloodstain Pattern Analysis:

The Case of David Camm,” “The first use of blood stain analysis in an American courtroom

occurred in 1966, in the re-trial of Sam Sheppard, an Ohio physician who spent over 10 years in

prison before being freed” (Clutter). According to Clutter, Sheppard was convicted of murdering

his wife in her bed, and despite claiming it was an intruder, was sent to prison. When he was

allowed a retrial in 1966, testimony on the crime scene’s bloodspatter was monumental in

winning his freedom (Clutter).

However, blood pattern analysis wasn’t a formally recognized profession until years later,

as Clutter explains, “However, it was Herbert L. MacDonell, who is credited with establishing

the profession of Bloodstain Pattern Analysis (BPA).” MacDonnell organized the International

Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts and wrote a book, Flight Characteristics and Stain

Patterns of Human Blood, which is considered the “first authoritative BPA training manual”

(Clutter).
 There have been numerous cases solved largely on account of blood pattern evidence and

analysis. One case example is that of Gareth MacDonald, a 30 year old man who was

‘discovered’ by his boyfriend in a pool of blood. According to Forensic Access, “ The body of

Gareth MacDonald, 30, was discovered in a Travelodge hotel room after he sustained multiple

blows to the head in September 2007” (Forensic Access). The prime suspect, his boyfriend,

claimed that he himself was covered in blood because he had tried to hug the victim, and his

shoes were collected and found to have blood spatter on them (Forensic Access). In addition,

after examining the rest of the suspect’s clothing, “Dr Avenell began an intricate examination of

the blood stains on Rycroft’s trousers, finding a small yet vital clue. Around halfway up the left

leg, the team found three very small blood stains which were identified as blood that’s travelled

through the air and landed on the surface of the trousers. The consistency of the blood was

clearly different to that of the other blood stains, proving to be clotted blood which meant that

these blood stains were made at a different time” (Forensic Access). Using this blood evidence,

they were able to determine an approximate distance traveled as well as the time that the stains

were made in relation to other blood evidence. They explain the significance of this, “For Dr.

Avenell, this information provided a sequence of events surrounding MacDonald’s murder. It

showed that MacDonald had been struck once, then a minimum minutes later as the blood was

beginning to clot, he was struck a second time” (Forensic Access).

However, blood pattern analysis is somewhat controversial and has not always had a

good reputation, as false analysis has led to multiple cases of wrongful conviction. According to

Sidney Perkowitz from Physics World in “The physics of blood spatter,” “BPA lacks scientific

rigour and valid accreditation for its practitioners. This is a serious concern because BPA results

have convicted people later shown to be innocent, as many believe Bryan to be; and because lack
of confidence in BPA analysis may allow the guilty to go free. As a result, it has become

essential to re-assess the physics behind BPA” (Perkowitz). For instance, in a notable 2005 case

which inspired the Netflix documentary The Staircase, a woman named Kathleen Peterson was

found dead at the bottom of her stairs, and largely to testimony on blood spatter, her husband

Michael was convicted of murder. According to the Forensic Science Society in “Case File: The

Staircase Trial,” during the trial, “When it came to the blood splatter on the staircase, a forensic

examiner hired by the defense testified that the blood-spatter evidence was consistent with an

accidental fall down the stairs and that the lacerations on her scalp were not consistent with a

beating, as her skull did not fracture” (Forensic Science Society). This testimony, however, was

disputed by the prosecution, who claimed “Kathleen had died from a total laceration on her scalp

which were caused by a homicidal assault. It was determined that these lacerations were as a

result of repeated blows to her head with a light, rigid weapon” (Forensic Science Society). In

other words, the court determined that Kathleen’s injuries were a result of multiple blows to the

head, and not a fall down the stairs. Eventually, “In 2011, after it came to light that a blood

spatter analysis gave false and misleading evidence, a judge ordered a new trial to take place”

(Forensic Science Society).

 (Behind The Staircase)

As demonstrated in the crime scene photo and sketch/graphic above, Kathleen was found

at the bottom of the staircase (step #16) and was found with this bloodspatter evidence on the

walls. As represented in this photo, Kathleen had to have been struck or injured from a distance

great enough to create the tiny spattering pattern on the upper portion of the wall, but it didn’t

necessarily prove this to be the result of homicide- or if it was, that it was her husband Michael.

This case remains to be a controversial topic among many people and experts in the field, and

many theories have circled around in regards to what could cause this kind of fatal injury- one of

them even being that an owl had killed her. As stated in the State of North Carolina court

documents vacating conviction and granting a new trial, “within ninety minutes of arriving at the

Peterson home, and before performing any calculations concerning points of origin of the blood

spatter in the stairway, before examining any clothing worn by Kathleen Peterson or Mr.

Peterson, and before conducting any experiments concerning the way in which Kathleen

Peterson could have died, SA Deaver informed investigator Art Holland that he agreed that the

death was a “homicide” (NC).

 This false application of blood pattern analysis has happened in other cases as well. For

example, in a 1985 case, a high school principal in Texas was accused and convicted of

murdering his wife, but experts now believe the bloodstain pattern analysis was false (New York

Times). Pamela Colloff from the New York Times describes in the article, “He Has Spent Three

Decades in Prison. Now Experts Dispute the Evidence.”, “The commission examined the

training of some of the discipline’s practitioners, who have been admitted as expert witnesses in

courts around the country despite having completed no more than a weeklong course in

bloodstain interpretation” (Colloff). This is truly a shockingly short amount of time, especially if

you consider the weight this evidence can hold in a courtroom and over a jury. Colloff further

explains the circumstances of this false analysis, “Among the erroneous claims that Mr. Thorman

made on the stand, Ms. Rossi found, was his contention that blood evaporated after traveling 46

inches through the air. He also testified — incorrectly — that “human blood has its own

characteristic geometric patterns.” Neither of these assertions pertained directly to the evidence

in the case, but they showed Mr. Thorman’s fundamental lack of understanding of basic scientific

principles” (Colloff).

In conclusion, blood pattern analysis is an incredibly valuable tool when experts in this

field take the time to use it to its fullest potential. Analysts can determine the type of blood, the

direction of its source, the angle of its contact, how long a victim stayed in one place, the kind of

object they may have been struck with, how far away their attacker was, and eventually

reconstruct the events of those injuries. Blood pattern analysis has proven to be a very valuable

source of evidence in a courtroom, and its importance in crime scene reconstruction cannot be

overemphasized.
Bibliography

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https://www.americanforensics.org/bloodstain-pattern-analysis/.

Scarraher. “The Evolution of Blood-Stain Pattern Analysis Verdicts in the Courtroom.”

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https://forensicsciencesociety.com/thedrip/case-file-the-staircase-trial.
 “The Physics of Blood Spatter.” Physics World, 17 Oct. 2019,

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