Application of Real Blood and

Synthetic Blood for Blood

Spatter Pattern Determination
on Various Matrices
By
Chong Mun Hwa
Supervisor: Pn Hanim Awab
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science
University Teknologi of Malaysia
Johor, Malaysia

Co-Supervisor: Supt Azari Abd Rahman

Crime Scene Investigation Department
Royal Malaysian Police
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
 INTRODUCTION
Blood Stain Spatter Analysis
 BSA: the examination of the shapes, locations, and
distribution patterns of bloodstains.
 BSA
• Provides specific information of the events during the
incident
• Help to establish the elements of a crime, providing a link
between the crime scene, the victim, and the assailant
• Provide other information such as the point of origin of
blood, direction traveled by blood, the force used to eject
the blood in flight, movement and actions during
bloodshed
 Principles of BSA
 When blood is subjected to various forces, it will behave
in a predictable manner based on the laws of biology,
physics, and mathematics
 Thus blood motion through air, blood droplets patterns
and shapes can be applied to determine:
• locations where victim’s wounds are received
• type and velocity of weapon
• number of blows
• handedness of assailant
• position and movements of the victim and assailant
during and after the attack
• which wounds were inflicted first
• the period that lapse after the crime was committed
 Characteristics of Bloodstain Patterns
1. The shape and size of bloodstains depends on
• volume of blood drop
• height of drop
• surface properties (texture, porosity, etc)
• velocity (force) and angle of drop
2 Free-falling drops of blood will produce increasing
diameter when allowed to drop from increasing
increments of height onto a surface
3. Falling bloodstain exhibit distortion and irregularity
in shape and may exhibit spiny edges, and peripheral
spatter
 Characteristics of Bloodstain Patterns
4. Low Velocity, Medium Velocity and High
Velocity blood spatters are categorised based
on the amount of energy transferred to a blood
source
5. Different angles of impact and impact velocity
causes resultant blood droplets to strike a
target surface at various impact angles and
lines of directionality
6. A point of convergence is a common point to
which individual bloodstain can be traced in a
scene reconstruction
 METHODOLOGY
Apparatus and Materials
 Matrices: Linoleum, cardboard, metal, tile, towel,
paper, carpet and cloth
 Photography: 35-mm Nikon Digital camera (D200) with
a 50-mm lens
 Spray devices and props: Props and device were
constructed from materials available in the laboratory
or purchased
 Human blood samples: Obtained from a hospital
(refrigerated until required, to maintain integrity and to
minimize biohazard)
 Synthetic blood samples: Made by mixing corn syrup,
water and red food coloring
Setup for
determination of
effect of release
height on diameter
and shape of
bloodstains
Solid Matrices Used
 (a) ( b)

Setup for the determination of the effect of angle of

impact on bloodstain appearance
 (a) (b) (c)
(a) Backdrop for testing medium velocity bloodstains
(b) Backdrop for testing high velocity bloodstains
(c) Pressure pump for spraying blood
Prepare Obtain Materials
Worplace and Tools
Produce Bloodstain
Pattern

Photograph and Record Results

of Experiment

Perform Calculations and

Analyze Results

Arrive at Conclusions

Operational Framework
 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Effect of Release Height on the Diameter and
Shape of Bloodstains
 Shapes of Bloodstains
Dropped from Different Heights

Shape of Bloodstain
Solid Surface
Real Blood Synthetic Blood

10 – 20 cm

30 – 70 cm

> 70 cm
 Generalshape of bloodstains: Circular and smooth for
drop heights of 10 cm and 20 cm.

 Beyond 30 cm to 70 cm height: Droplets more distorted

with spikes visible surrounding the circular area of the
droplets.

 Heights higher than 70 cm: Shape were further distorted

with visible signs of outward spatter from the sides of the
bloodstains.

 Similar results observed for both real and synthetic blood.

 Effect of Impact Surface
on Diameter and Shape of Bloodstains

Comparison of bloodstain diameters of real blood and synthetic blood

samples impacted upon different solid surface
 Carpet material absorbed the liquid quickly without
any splatter - result showed no difference between
the real blood and synthetic blood.

 Real bloodstains on the non-porous linoleum and

metal plate: Larger diameter of bloodstains were
larger in size compared to synthetic blood.

- Reason: Higher viscosity of the real blood and the

characteristics of real blood molecules that tend to
clump together more strongly.
 Shapes of Bloodstains on Solid Surfaces

Shape of Bloodstain
Solid Surface
Real Blood Synthetic Blood
Carpet
White Towel
Linoleum
Metal
Cardboard
White Tile
White Cloth
 The shape of bloodstains on non-porous and smooth
surfaces:
- Less distorted or are more circular and symmetrical
compared to that of porous surfaces.
- Similar for both real and synthetic blood

 The bloodstain on porous surfaces:

- Less visible
- Reason: the blood is absorbed into the matrix of the
material.

 Bloodstain patterns can be affected by the age,

temperature and storage time
 Boodstain on cardboard show a high level of
distortion, with more spattering and scalloping
around the edge
 Reasons
• due to the high amount of back spatter that
occurred as the bloodstain impacted the cardboard
surface
• the cardboard surface was highly textured, porous
and rather spongy that some form of vibration
occurred on impact
 Effect of Direction of Travel
on Shape of Bloodstains

 Blood droplets that striked a surface at 90o

(perpendicular) were circular in shape
 Blood droplets that striked a surface angles less than 90o
were elongated with a tear-drop shape
• Directionality is obvious as a pointed end (the tail) is
generally visible
• The tail of the bloodstain points in the direction of blood
travel
 There were minor differences between samples of real
blood and synthetic blood
 The tails were more visible on porous surfaces
Shapes of cast-off bloodstains on selected solid surfaces
Bloodstains Angle of Impact and Shape
on Different Solid Surfaces

Comparison of angle of impact of blood on solid surfaces

 Bloodstains Angle of Impact and Shape
on Different Solid Surfaces

 The angle of impact was around 30o - 40o for most of the
solid surfaces, except for the cloth
- The stains were almost of similar diameter and angle
range
 The cardboard and metal plate had irregular grooves on
the surface, producing distorted stains.
- The size of synthetic bloodstains was relatively larger
than real bloodstains on these surfaces
 Droplets of real blood on the towel, carpet, white cloth
and paper were larger due to the porous surface
characteristic.
 Atangle of impact 45o - 20o, all bloodstains showed
drip patterns with satellite spatter
 Atthe angle of impact of 90o - 60o, all the
bloodstains had elongated tails, with little spatter
and wave cast off
 As the angle of impact decreased from 90o - 20o,
blood droplets increased in diameter but decreased
in tail length
 Bothsynthetic and real blood samples showed
similar blood spatter pattern on matrices studied
except for linoleum.
General Shape of Bloodstains
at different angles of impact
 Effect and Reconstruction of
Medium and High Velocity Blood Droplets

 The origin and areas of impact of medium

velocity bloodstain were simulated using a
mousetrap and a U-shaped paper cardboard
 While for the high velocity bloodstain a
pressure pump was used to create the
bloodstain spatter.
 Calculated Angle Of Impact
for Medium and High Velocity Blood Stain

Angle of Impact (Xo)

Sample Level of Force
Left Center Right
Medium
18 33 26
Velocity
Real blood
High Velocity 40 90.0 38

Medium
40 36 43
Synthetic Velocity
blood
High Velocity 36 90 36
Area of impact of medium velocity reconstruction Area of impact of high velocity reconstruction
for real blood - (a) Front view and (b) Top view for real blood - (a) Front view and (b) Top view
Area of impact of medium velocity reconstruction for Area of impact of high velocity reconstruction for
synthetic blood - (a) Front view and (b) Top view synthetic blood - (a) Front view and (b) Top view
 CONCLUSIONS
 Real blood and synthetic blood have similar droplet
characteristics, thus the use of synthetic blood as a
substitute for real blood in experiments dealing with
bloodstain spatter is suitable.
 The bloodstain spatter on solid surfaces was shown to be
affected by surface type, height of release and the angle of
travel or impact.
 Real blood showed a more pronounced pattern as it sticks
to the surfaces much better than synthetic blood, although
both blood specimens showed a consistent blood drop
spatter pattern.
 Themultiple impact sites, origin and point of
divergence study showed that for medium velocity
droplets, synthetic blood gave higher angles.
 Athigh velocity, the angles were almost equal for
both real and synthetic blood. The angles were
approximately 17o-43o for all sides, except for the
center of the high velocity droplets which were 90o.
 Theanalysis of bloodstain patterns at crime scenes
should be based on detailed scientific knowledge and
requires considerable case experience
 REFERENCES
[1] C. Knock, and M. Davidson, Predicting the position of
the source of blood stains for angled impacts, J.
Forensic Sci., 52, 2007, 1044–1049.
[2] W.F. Rowe, Errors in the determination of the point of
origin of bloodstains, Forensic Sci. Int., 161, 2006, 47–
51.
[3] T. Bevel and R.M. Gardner, Blood Pattern Analysis
With an Introduction to Crime Scene Reconstruction.
New York: CRC Press Inc. 1997, 157-167
[4] L.L. Akin, Blood Interpretation at Crime Scenes. The
Forensic Examiner. Gale: Summer Inc., 2005, 25-43
[5] T.P. Sutton, Bloodstain Pattern Interpretation, Short
Course Manual, Memphis TN: University of Tennessee,
1998, 25-3
 Acknowledgement
I would like to convey my deepest gratitude to
Puan Hanim Awab &
Tuan Azari Abd Rahman
(my supervisors)
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Umi Kalthom Ahmad
All my Forensic Science Lecturers
My fellow MSc (Forensic Sci) students
Research Assistants & Lab assistants
‘THANK YOU’