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Mary Lou Pratt, a known prostitute, was shot in the head, her partially clad body left in the street, her eyes removed.  Two more women were killed and mutilated before a tip led police to the home of Charles Albright. Police were able to link Albright to the crimes using hair samples and carpet fibers found on the bodies which matched samples found in a vacuum cleaner at Albright’s home.

Hair comparison is done with microscopic examinations which may be combined with DNA testing.  

According to Forensic Science Communications ‘a number of features or characteristics that may be present in a given hair sample that, when considered collectively, provide a basis for association.’ (1) 

The following 15 characteristics are recommended at a minimum for comparison -

Race: Can be determined through hair analysis

Body Area: Most comparisons are conducted using head and pubic hair samples.

Color:  Hue (color shade), value (lightness or darkness), and intensity (saturation)

Length

Tip:  May be cut, broken, split, abraded (rounded), or finely pointed.” Grooming, health, hygiene and nutrition may affect these features.  

Root: The mature hair root will be hardened, have a bulbous shape, and have little or no follicular tissue adhering to it. A root that has been plucked prior to maturation will be soft, have a distorted appearance, and may have tissue adhering to it.

Diameter: The overall shaft diameter can range from very fine (40-50um) to very coarse (110-120um)
Cuticle: The cuticle is comprised of an outer layer of scales that may vary in thickness and color

Scales: The scales may be undisturbed and closely aligned with the hair shaft, or they may protrude outward from the shaft.

Pigment:  May be absent (gray hair) or may be so dense that they obscure the inner structural detail of the hair specimen.

Medulla: Can vary from continuous throughout the center of the hair shaft to fragmentary, or absent altogether.

Cortex: Located beneath the cuticle of the hair. This part of the hair contains pigment granules.

Artificial treatment: Artificial bleaching can be distinguished from solar bleaching by a sharper line of demarcation between the bleached and unbleached regions.

Damage:  Cut, broken or burned hairs are distinguishable by edges.

Special Characteristics: Evidence of disease or deficiencies.  * The presence of a dark band at the root end may indicate it was shed postmortem.

(1)

Michele Wallace was adventurous and enjoyed exploring the outdoors.  She took a trip to the Colorado Rockies to take photographs, telling her family not to worry.  Two weeks later, Roy Melanson was stopped driving her car in Amarillo Texas.  Melanson was arrested for suspicion of dealing drugs.  He had Michelle’s driver’s license and her camping equipment in his possession, as well as, a ticket to a pawn shop for Michelle’s camera.  Nonetheless, without a body, Melanson wasn’t charged for Wallace’s murder. The case remained unsolved for 15 years, until Detective Kathy Young decided to re-investigate.  While looking for old files of the Wallace case, she discovered a mass of human hair, with braids and human tissue.

The braids immediately called to mind a photo of Michele Wallace.  The hair was sent to a Forensic Botanist for examination. The debris was examined and evaluated, providing clues for investigators to search for a body.

Forensic Botany “…is an area of specialty science that could include traditional botanical classification of species, DNA, or materials evidence (trace and transfer evidence), crime mapping or geo-sourcing, all dependent on the specific case application under consideration….Analogous to other forms of forensic testing, forensic botany first requires the identification of the plant species by morphological characteristics, microscopy, or molecular biology.” (2)

A skull was found and identified as Michelle’s through dental records. Forensic anthropologist excavated the site and recovered several more bones. Melanson was brought back to Colorado and charged in the murder of Michelle Wallace.

Donna Payette was a guard at Green Haven Maximum Security Prison, working in the hospital ward. She received a phone call and left her post, telling no one where she was going. The next morning, her body was found in a garbage dump.  Authorities believed she had been murdered in the prison and her body was put in the trash, picked up and taken to the dump.  Donna Payette had only worked at the prison for a month.

The autopsy showed she had been strangled, sexually assaulted and her nipples were bitten off.   The bite marks and method of murder resembled another case in which Lionel Smith had been convicted.  He was serving time at Green Haven.  Forensic Orthodontist compared the bite marks of both victims and found a perfect match. A mold was then taken of Lionel Smith’s teeth and they matched the marks found on Payette.

1. Deedrick, Douglas and Koch, Sandra: Microscopy of Hair Part 1: A Practical Guide and Manual for Human Hairs, Forensic Science Communications, January 2004, Volume 6, Number

2. Coyle,Heather, et al:  Forensic Botany: Using Plant Evidence to Aid in Forensic, 2005, Retrieved January 2008.