Forensic Science: Fiber Evidence

Fiber evidence can be great evidence, or can be of little importance. Common fibers such as cotton will not be as important as a fiber like silk. Unlike DNA or fingerprints you can not actually use any type of fiber to prove that someone was indeed at the crime scene, only that someone that had this certain type of fiber on them was present. But some times less-common fibers can likely place someone at a crime scene, like flax which is rare because of its hefty price tag, can narrow down the people who could be there because not everyone possesses something with flax in it. The careful collection of fibers at the crime scene in the first 24 hours is vital because in the first 24 hours 95% of all fibers may have fallen from a victim or been lost from the crime scene in general. But still no matter how good evidence is, it will mean nothing if it is not collected correctly. Evidence that is properly collected, and classified can be great evidence for a conviction. Sometimes criminals will use something that might not be a rare fiber, but can be a peculiar weave like in the case of John Joubert.

A young paper boy was found murdered with little evidence and no real signs that could point to a criminal except for the rope he was tied up with. This rope was so odd because it was not native to the area because Joubert brought it back from Korea. The peculiarity of the rope was so conclusive in this case that Joubert outright confessed. This is a good example of evidence being handled properly and a piece of fiber being used to its fullest extent. But sometimes the fiber evidence is not as conclusive, like for example if the paper boy was not tied with rope from Korea but from Lowes, even if this was found in Joubert's possession it really would not mean anything since many people have that same rope. Evidence that cannot place someone at a crime scene for sure like using a common rope, in my opinion would work much better when it is backing up a strong piece of evidence like a fingerprint. So, fibers can either be used as primary evidence or as supporting evidence in a larger sense.

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