Age estimation of blood stains by hemoglobin derivative determination using reflectance spectroscopy

Bremmer, Rolf H.; Nadort, Annemarie; van Leeuwen, Ton G.; van Gemert, Martin J.C.; Aalders, Maurice C.G.

doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2010.07.034

« Previous Next »Forensic Science International
Volume 206, Issue 1 , Pages 166-171, 20 March 2011

Age estimation of blood stains by hemoglobin derivative determination using reflectance spectroscopy

Rolf H. Bremmer
- Biomedical Engineering and Physics, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Corresponding author at: Biomedical Engineering and Physics, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, P.O. Box 2270, NL-1100 DE Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Tel.: +31 20 5665189; fax: +31 20 6917233.
Annemarie Nadort
- Biomedical Engineering and Physics, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Ton G. van Leeuwen
- Biomedical Engineering and Physics, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Biomedical Photonic Imaging, MIRA Institute for Biomedical Technology and Technical Medicine, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands
Martin J.C. van Gemert
- Biomedical Engineering and Physics, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Maurice C.G. Aalders
- Biomedical Engineering and Physics, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Received 18 December 2009; received in revised form 30 June 2010; accepted 22 July 2010. published online 23 August 2010.

Abstract

Blood stains can be crucial in reconstructing crime events. However, no reliable methods are currently available to establish the age of a blood stain on the crime scene. We show that determining the fractions of three hemoglobin derivatives in a blood stain at various ages enables relating these time varying fractions to the age of the blood stain. Application of light transport theory allows addressing the spectroscopic changes in ageing blood stains to changes in chemical composition, i.e. the transition of oxy-hemoglobin into met-hemoglobin and hemichrome. We have found in 20 blood stains that the chemical composition of the blood stain with age, called hemoglobin reaction kinetics, under controlled circumstances, shows a distinct time-dependent behavior, with a unique combination of the three hemoglobin derivatives at all moments in time. Finally, we employed the hemoglobin reaction kinetics inversely to assess the age of 20 other blood stains studied, again over a time period of 0–60 days. We estimated an age of e.g. 55 days correct within an uncertainty margin of 14 days. In conclusion, we propose that the results obtained under controlled conditions demand further evaluation of their possible value for age determination of blood stains on crime scenes.

Keywords: Blood stains, Age determination, Optical spectroscopy, Hemoglobin