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FORENSIC BLOODSTAIN
PATTERN ANALYSIS
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 Blood and Death

● Blood can be released from a body before and after death (due to gravity)
● If the blood spatter pattern indicates arterial gushes that is a sign the victim was alive when the
wound was inflicted (because the heart was still pumping)
● Bleeding to death will typically occur after 40% or more of the blood volume is lost (~5 liters)
● Blood stain can help determine time of death because as the blood dries it oxidizes, but many
conditions affect this such as temperature and humidity
● Wet blood is better because it can be tested for drugs, but it starts to dry as quickly as 3-5
minutes
Blood Evidence

● Blood typing can provide class

evidence; whereas DNA profiling can
provide individual evidence.
● A blood spatter pattern can give
information about the truthfulness of
an account by a witness or a suspect.
● It also can provide information about
the origin of the blood, the angle and
velocity of impact, and type of weapon
used.
 Blood Spatter
● Analysis of a spatter
pattern can aid in
determining the:
○ direction blood
traveled
○ angle of impact
○ point of origin of the
blood
○ velocity of the blood
○ manner of death
 Blood Spatter
● Too much blood can disguise spatter or make stain patterns
unrecognizable. Conversely, too little blood, just one or two drops, will
likely yield little or no useable information.
● Stains that overlap or come from multiple sources present challenges
to analysts, but often reveal valuable details about the crime.
● DNA profiling can be used when there are multiple victims to
determine which spatters belong to which victim
 Six Blood Spatter Patterns

● Passive Drops
● Arterial Gushes
● Splashes
● Smears
● Trails
● Pools
Drops, in general
● A drop of blood dropped at a
90° angle forms a near-perfect
spherical shape
● When blood falls from a
height or at a high velocity, it
can form satellite droplets.
● When it falls onto a less-than-
smooth surface, it can form
spiking patterns around the
drops.

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 Volume

Size of a blood drop depends on the

volume (and height) of the drop.

Volume depends on the object blood

originated from (needle = small; bat = large).
Determining Distance (height) Blood
Falls

▪ Drops form a circle when hitting surface

▪ Size depends on speed of blood drop and
type of surface it hits
▪ Speed depends on distance (height) blood
travels
 Blood Fall Height
• The higher the drop, the higher the velocity
and the larger the diameter. Due to air
resistance, speed maxes out at distances
above about 7 feet
Effect of Surface

▪ Smooth surface = smooth sphere

▪ Rough surface may cause some splatter
 Directionality of Blood

● Blood tends to stick to surfaces, so when the blood

hits it will leave a thicker spot and trail off into
smaller satellites.
● The area of convergence will be opposite the direction
of travel.
● The TAIL Points to the direction the blood was going!
Blood can go in multiple directions in one action

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Passive Drops
Gushes
● These are formed when blood falls
directly onto a floor at a 90-degree
angle.
● This produces circular drops, that
may have more spikes or satellites
depending on the type of surface it is
landing on
● We can determine the height a
passive drop feel from because the
higher it was dropped the larger the
drop will become.
Arterial
● These are typically found on walls
and ceilings.
● They are caused by blood spraying
out of wound due to the pumping
action of the heart
● These will only occur when a major
artery has been cut (veins do not
squirt)
Splashes
● Splashes are usually shaped like
exclamation points.
● The shape and position of the spatter
pattern can help locate the position of
the victim at the time of the attack.
Smears
● These are left when a victim is
bleeding and deposits blood as he or
she touches or brushes against a wall
or piece of furniture.
Trails
Pools
● These can be left if a bleeding victim
is moving from one location to
another or is being moved.
● Trails can also be left if something is
dragged through the blood.
● These form around a victim who is
bleeding heavily and remains in one
place.
● If the victim moves or is moved,
there may appear to be droplets or
smearing connecting the two
locations.
 Type of Weapon
● Blood spatter can help determine the type of
weapon because the higher the velocity of the
weapon the smaller the blood droplets.
● For example blood from a gunshot wound sprays
out in a fine mist, while a wound caused by being
struck with a pipe will cause larger drops.
● Empty space (voids) in the pattern can also help
investigators determine where people may have
been located in the room at the time of the crime.
A Void Pattern
 Velocity of Blood Spatter
• After leaving the body, the velocity blood
travels is referred to as low, medium, or
high.
 Low Velocity Spatter
• The characteristics of a low velocity spatter are the pattern
consists of large separate or compounded drops with
diameters of 3 mm or more. produced by minimal force
and hits the surface with less than 5 ft/s velocity Dripping
Blood from a wound.
 Medium Velocity Blood
Splatters
• The characteristics of a medium velocity spatter
consists of small drops with diameters of 1 -3
mm. they travel at an average of 5 to 25 ft/s
• They are commonly associated with blunt force
trauma.
 Cast Off Patterns
• A cast-off pattern is created when a blood-covered
object flings blood in an arc onto a nearby surface.
 High Velocity Blood Splatters
• The characteristics of a high velocity spatter
are that it consists of drops with diameters of
less than 1 mm. This blood spatter hits at
more than 100 ft /s. Gunshot spray.
• A shooting may leave a distinct gunshot spatter
Stain
pattern. Patterns
This may of Blood
be characterized by both
forward spatter from an exit wound and back
spatter from an entrance wound.

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 WARNING
• Next slide has a graphic image- Gunshot wound
 Wound Characteristics
• The location of injury, the size of the wound
created, and the distance between the victim and
the muzzle of the weapon all affect the amount of
back spatter that occurs.
 Angle of Impact

● Splashes help us determine the directionality of the

blood and the angle of impact.
● We can calculate the impact angle by measuring
the length and width of the droplet and using the
formula:
Sin-1 = width/length
● After calculating the angles we can use that
information to figure out the area of convergence
 Area of Convergence

● The location of the source of blood can be determined if

there are at least two drops of blood splatter.
● This can be determined by drawing straight lines down
along the axis of the blood spatter and taking into
account the angle of impact.
● Where the lines intersect is the area of convergence.
 WARNING
• Next slide has a graphic image- Flow Pattern
 Flows
• Patterns made by drops or large amounts of blood flowing
by the pull of gravity are called flows.

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 Documenting Bloodstain Evidence
• Investigators should note, study, and photograph each
pattern and drop of blood to accurately record the location
of specific patterns and to distinguish the stains from
which laboratory samples were taken.

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 Documentation
The investigator should create photographs and sketches of the
overall pattern to show the orientation of the pattern to the
scene.
Blood Spatter Experts