Specific Crime Scene Forensics: Ballistics

Specific crime scene investigators, sometimes referred to as “ballistics experts” or “firearms examiners”, are forensic specialists. They are mainly responsible for collecting and analyzing, from a crime scene, the ballistic-related evidence, including both firearms and ammunition. These forensic specialists are called upon to determine everything ranging from trajectory, to probable distances and angles when examining firearms and ammunition. A “ballistics expert”, studies (depending on the evidence collected) shell casings, bullet fragments, clips, and firearms discovered on the crime scene. They determine this while in a laboratory setting, and can analyze the evidence to solve a crime. Ballistics fingerprinting is the method used by these experts, to analyze such things as what kind of gun was used by looking at the markings on a bullet.

60 year old John Orner, was a taxi cab driver in South Carolina. He was murdered and robbed on the job by a man named Edward Freiburger. Frieburger was pulled over a month later and was caught with the possession of a .32 caliber pistol, the same weapon used to murder John Orner. They were able to identify that he purchased the gun in South Carolina the day before the murder. He was acquitted of the charges and was living freely for almost 40 years. That was until the police department of South Carolina put together a “cold case” crime solving team. Using newly developed technology, they were able to conclude that the bullet that killed Mr. Orner came from the weapon that Mr. Frieburger was found with. He is now