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How Did Sherlock Holmes Revolutionize Forensic Science

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Sherlock Holmes played a major role when it came to revolutionizing forensic sciences. Millions of detectives now a days benefited from his work from the 19th century. Sherlock Holmes played within finding the serial killer dubbed as the “Jack the Ripper” killer. Crimes scenes weren’t what they used to be, either. Detectives typically looked for eye witnesses where as Sherlock used evidence in crime scenes to find the killer who committed the crimes. However, the Jack the Ripper crimes were unsolved. The techniques Sherlock Holmes used would forever change the way of how forensics would be conducted. Throughout the 19th century, a author by the name of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote the stories of Sherlock Holmes and his forensic science endeavors. …show more content…

Use of blood evidence to determine suspects within the crime scene were essential, and this helped detectives think about what makes sense. One case that involved Sherlockian techniques was when Doctor Sam Shepherd was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife even when he testified that it was an intruder. Detectives looked at the evidence and the story itself to realize that he murdered her. Concentrating on minor details, such as blood spatter patterns, lead to the realization that he had murdered her. Another case that used Sherlockian techniques was when a man named Robert Curly began to get sick over a span of 11 months, slowly got sicker and sicker and was poisoned. Results from the hospital after doing an autopsy detailed that pest control poison was found within his body, a deadly and poisonous substance. The pallium was found in his Iced Tea, and therefore he was poisoned by somebody close to him that attempted to kill or even joke that ended badly. Investigators found no evidence that any coworkers were involved in the murder. Doctor Frederick Rieders helped solved this case, a world renowned forensics scientist. The sherlockian approach led him back to Robert Curly himself. It was later found that his wife, Joane Curly, poisoned him over time and that her motive was his life insurance. (Source

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A detective who discovered the remains of Pitezel’s three children became ill, the warden at Moyamensing prison later committed suicide. The priest who had delivered Holmes last rites died of mysterious causes. The district attorney’s office burnt down, eerily enough a picture of Holmes fully intact was found among the charred remains of the building (Corey, 2013). The suspicious circumstances that surrounded the case of H.H. Holmes became known as the Holmes Curse. Holmes old office building which was turned into a post office burnt down shortly after being raided by police.

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Todd Sommer died of natural causes at their home at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, lab tests found high arsenic levels in his liver and kidney. The belief for the poisoning it that Cynthia Sommer planned to kill her husband for the life insurance money. The key component the prosecutors use in the time after the death due to the lack of evidence. See Ms. Sommer spent her time after her husband's death partying, drinking, sexual activity, and a costly body fixture. This is what lead the prosecutors to the main idea of this homicide.

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Watson and Holmes ways of investigating were very different. Watson went inside and observed many things in the house while Holmes was outside and investigating outdoors. When they went into the room with the dead body of Enoch Drebber, Holmes turned it around and a women's ring fell off and rolled on the floor. They also saw the word Rache on the wall written in blood. The detective at the scene thought it was the name Rachel just that the murderer did not have time to finish writing it.

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. In 1978 a 61-year-old man Carroll Bonnet was stabbed to death in his apartment. Police collected evidence, including latent fingerprints and palm prints from the victim’s bathroom. The victim’s car was stolen as well. The car was later found in illinois Were they collected additional latent finger prints.

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She was jealous of Mr.Charboneau. Maybe even killing him because of an argument about putting a bell on his classroom door. Which Mr. Chaney said he heard during his interview. She did not premeditate his murder.

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Without the help of DNA, connecting offenders to their victims and the scene of the crime, so many cases would be left unsolved. Shockingly enough, it wasn’t until 1984 where DNA was used for biological identification. Once DNA started to play such a big role in criminal justice, many cases where they didn’t have enough evidence to prosecute, were brought to court and finally solved. Even though there was such a large gap in when the offenses were first committed and when they were solved, there was still justice for the victims and their families. An important case where DNA changes everything would be that of Gary Ridgway, otherwise known as the green river killer.

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Author, Anita Larsen, in her nonfiction textbook article “The Murder with No Body” about a murder solved without an actual victim writes to inform young adults about the role of forensics in solving crimes by using the case of Helen McCourt in a serious tone. This author supports her central idea very successfully. She supports her claim by introducing the case of Helen McCourt, whose disappearance was unexplained and suspicion of foul play could not be proven. She next proceeds to show that a name in the victim's diary led the investigators to blood stained clothes in the possession of Ian Simms, but the inability to prove that the clothes were McCourt’s halted the investigation. Additionally, she explains that the use of genetics had to

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The Boston Strangler, whose real name was Albert DeSalvo, was arrested and charged in 1964 with the murder of over ten women in the Boston Area. While he was convicted and sentenced to life, there were still doubts about whether or not he was the actual killer, or if there were others involved. It was for this reason that the case of murder with one victim was left open, as there was not enough conclusive evidence to lay blame to DeSalvo. That evidence came almost 60 years later where, in 2013, the Boston Police department was able to close the case after using new DNA technology to identify DeSalvo as the killer. Up until this point, technology in sequencing and genomic testing was not nearly as advanced, but with the advent of the

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They could not find anything that had blood on it, but when the police looked at the evidence further they realized that the murderer had to have been in the

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Evidence found at the place of the crime can give investigators clues to who committed the crime. For example, investigators can find footprints, fingerprints, or even the murder weapon. In fact, a hatchet was found on property, which detectives believe is the murder weapon(Allard,2013). This is important because the hatchet gives clues to who committed the crimes.

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H. Holmes were revealed to the masses, they were shocked and horrified. Before the public was informed of Holmes’ crimes, they were terrified of Jack the Ripper who killed shortly before Holmes (“Jack the Ripper Biography”). Most of those who had heard of Holmes probably thought of him as a legitimate businessman who owned a hotel (Benzkofer). The only people who thought Holmes was in any way malicious were those he conned, like the vault company (Martin). Holmes put a vault in to one of the rooms in his hotel, but then he shrunk the entrance to the room, so that the vault could not be removed without damaging the room (Martin).

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Throughout history, it has been evident that the setting of events will always shape how they occur. Be it from past events, the present, or even everyday life. Geography always plays a part in these occurrences. It will be demonstrated how geography affects how things happen by taking a look at The Crucible, “Geography Matters,” and my own life. Firstly, geography affects how certain circumstances are shaped as demonstrated in The Crucible.

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Science has come a long way over the years. It has helped countless every day struggles and cure diseases most commonly found. What you don’t hear about however is the advancement of forensic science. Forensic science has helped solve countless cases of murder, rape, and sexual assault. In the case of John Joubert, it helped solve the murders of three young boys with one small piece of evidence that linked him directly to the crime.

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● It can be used to determine if a person is guilty or not. The evidence from forensic can be enough to put a person into prison. ● It can be used to solve old unsolved cases if there is still DNA available from that case. ● Help identify victims in big disasters where the body of the person can not physically be easily

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A crime that reaches Sherlock Holmes is not just a broken law, but a mystery. Trivia locates patterns to form functional solutions, while Doyle creates a world of disguises, drugs, and intrigue, in which the answer is never the obvious or expected. The facts presented are not the definite, or even likely, conclusion. This is apparent in the story’s mystery, in which the wife of Neville St. Clair witnessed what appeared to be her husband’s murder, leading to the arrest of a beggar, Hugh Boone, who was found at the scene of the crime. However, Sherlock Holmes deduces that Boone and St. Clair are the same man, revealing that St. Clair had been commuting to the city to beg rather than work and had allowed his own arrest to protect his ruse.

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