I am working on my senior project and have a good chunk of it done. However, I need more information. My topic is the blood spatter evidence in the Sam Sheppard case of 1955.

Here are my current sources:
http://www.bloodspatter.com/BPATutorial.htm
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/FTRIALS/sheppard/samsheppardtrial.html
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/sheppard/index_1.html

So, as you can see, I'm not trying to get you all to do my homework. I just need help finding more information. I'm currently "stuck" on transfer patterns.

Is that the one where he was accused of killing his wife when he said there was an intruder and he was later acquitted? Or something like that. I think there's a movie about it. More like a documentary style. Have you seen it? I watched it in class, I think it was my forensics class. If I remember correctly, they interview experts in it. That might be helpful. I'll see if I can find the title

Remind me again what transfer patterns are. That sounds like such a familiar term and I'm drawing a total blank

TRANSFER BLOODSTAINS

A transfer bloodstain is created when a wet, bloody surface comes in contact with a secondary surface.

A recognizable image of all or a portion of the original surface may be observed in the pattern,
As in the case of a bloody hand or footwear.

Amazon.com: NOVA: The Killer's Trail - The Story of Dr. Sam Sheppard: Liev Schreiber, Marian Marzynski, Joel Olicker: Movies & TV I think this is the one I saw. It's on netflix but you have to actually rent it, you can't watch it straight from your computer. You might be able to find it elsewhere online though or rent it someplace else

*sigh* my paper was due December, my last chance is by tomorrow

Does your school library have an offline database? My school has one. You log in through the school site and then you have access to different encyclopedias, and other academic search engines like lexusnexis (sp?), and facts.com, etc. it made my last research paper way easier than sorting through Google searches to see what was reliable or not

I have to be at the school to do that. Good suggestion though!

What specifically are you stuck on? Its been a long time since I saw the movie or read anything about the case. I thought the transfer patterns didn't match up. Originally police claimed only sam could have committed the crime but later experts said it was impossible based on the transfer patterns.

What about through the public library?

The cast-off patterns were what said he couldn't do it. One example of transfer for the case was his bloody knee of his pants, suggesting he was kneeling in a pool of blood. I am thinking of just changing my thesis to include the case, but not be about the case

What do you have so far? Care to post it here?

I went to the public library and they only had narratives of other crimes, it's a small town

What county do you live in? Did you look online to see if there are more resources there? I lived in a small town too. Online had way more than the actual library.

What do you mean by what I have so far?

My paper or sources?

I live in the US, but my library is terrible. I went to the two closest to me

Yeah, your paper. I figured you were in the us when you asked about tattoo laws in pa. lol but what county? The libraries in your town should be part of a larger county library network. And the county may have better resources online. Some county libraries even have databases you can enter online for free as long as you have your public library card. And you can even apply for one online in some places.

No where near done

Since the late 1800’s, blood spatter analysis has played a large part in the solving of crimes. Between 4 to 6 liters of blood flow through each person's veins, a reservoir of information waiting to tell the events of the crime. Many famous cases have used this forensic technique to piece together the whole story. One of the first cases to use blood spatter was the murder of Marilyn Sheppard. The Sheppard Case of 1955 used blood spatter to set free a wrongfully convicted man . This woman was brutally murdered in her Bay Village, Ohio home. She was killed in bed on July 4, 1954. She sustained over 20 deep gashes to the face and scalp, leaving much blood evidence for analysts to use. Blood surrounded her body, coated the walls, and laced the closet. A common form of blood spatter is projected blood spatter, highly present in this case. Second is transfer type blood spatter, also included in the evidence against Sam Sheppard. Finally, passive blood spatter tells much about the course of events as well. The three most predominant divisions of blood stains are projected spatter, transfer patterns, and passive drops, all of which are included in the murder of Marilyn Sheppard.
The most informational of all blood patterns is the projected blood spatter. This spatter can give a point of origin, the weapon, chain of events, even characteristics about the attacker. Projected blood spatter occurs when a source is subjected to a force causing blood to be expelled from the source onto a surface. By merely looking at a drop, direction can be determined. The “tail” end of a drop indicates direction of travel. By combining this with the taking of the sine, width divided by height, one can determine the angle of impact, and directionality, and therefore a point of origin. The blood coating the walls were drops considered projected. By determining the angle of impact, blood spatter analysts were able to find that the killer of Marilyn was left-handed, while the convicted Sam Sheppard was right handed. The projected blood spatter that was used to calculate this is cast-off patterns. This is when blood from an object moves through the air to a new surface. Cast off patterns can tell many things. The directionality can tell the location of the attacker and various characteristics.
Transfer is also a vastly used blood spatter pattern. Transfer is caused by the contact of two or more objects, making a transfer of blood from one surface to another. Tranfer patterns can show if a body has been moved, if a victim tried to escape, On the knee of a pair of Sam Sheppard’s pants, blood transfer was found. The pattern suggested that he knelt in a pool of blood.
The stains to the bedding are considered passive drops. These indicate no or little movement. This sort of spatter can tell many things, such as how much blood was lost, where the body was located, or how long the body was there. The passive pooling of blood in the bed indicates that Marilyn was attacked while sleeping.
Projected spatter, transfer patterns, and passive blood drops are the three main categories of blood spatter, all used in the murder case of Marilyn Sheppard.

That's the bare bones of my paper.

How long does this paper have to be?

8 pages double spaced 12 pt arial,
What I posted is about 2 pages

You need to do more with explaining the concepts of blood spatters before you get into the case itself.

I would go about it a little differently if I were writing it. Start explaining what all of them are. Then late go back and explain how they were each applied to the case, rather than explaining what one is then immediately going into how it was used in that case. Then it will be easier for you to explain the differences in expert opinion. Because clearly the original investigators had a different opinion than those that helped acquit him.

Do you have an outline put together of how you want this paper to flow?

No, and because of the format we have to follow, we have to follow a three part thesis. Or I get 0 points for the whole thing

What are the three parts of the thesis? (very briefly)

The three divisions of the blood spatter

Our thesis had to be like this

Main topic is/does/was/by/etc blank, blank, and blank

Your last line makes no sense to me. So the paper has to be on the blood spatters only? What about starting with general info about the forensics of blood spatters? I used the word "forensics" in my Google searches on blood spatters and came up with a number of legit sites. (Justcurious is right on the ball.)

Sorry, that's how the teachers at my school explain it.

It's the main topic, then three supports

Mine is three types of blood spatter

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Originally Posted by xXxEmOxXxPrInCeSsxXx

sorry, that's how the teachers at my school explain it.

it's the main topic, then three supports

mine is three types of blood spatter

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Wish I'd been in class with you...

So start with generalities about blood spatters, the forensics of each, then go into the specifics of the case. You should be able to get enough pages with no problem.

Perhaps I should take out the whole thing about the case and just do it on blood spatter, I figured I'd leave it as tying into the case since I already wrote something about it, but it turns out to be limiting what I write.

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Originally Posted by xXxEmOxXxPrInCeSsxXx

perhaps I should take out the whole thing about the case and just do it on blood spatter, I figured I'd leave it as tying into the case since I already wrote something about it, but it turns out to be limiting what I write.

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Not necessarily. The case is the specific, the practical application of the forensics. If you had time, you could include other cases as specific examples.

Unfortunately I haven't time, thank you procrastination

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Originally Posted by xXxEmOxXxPrInCeSsxXx

Unfortunately I haven't time, thank you procrastination

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I was a procrastinator long before you were ha ha. Was this topic your choice or your instructor's?

Mine, well blood spatter was. But I have to (in annoying teacher mock voice) "narrow it down"

Choose a type of wound -- head wound is the obvious one.

In relation to what?

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Originally Posted by xXxEmOxXxPrInCeSsxXx

in relation to what?

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Um, the source of the blood. Bashing on someone's head produces amazing blood spatters that reveal all sorts of stuff.

Good idea WG now I just need to figure out how to make that into a three part thesis

Quote:

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Originally Posted by xXxEmOxXxPrInCeSsxXx

Good idea WG now I just need to figure out how to make that into a three part thesis

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The thesis statement or topic sentence could be "The blood spatters from a head wound tell a fascinating tale to the criminal investigator who is willing to take the time to analyze them."