Oak Ridge National Laboratory - General Information/Background

by hawaiicalls on Sun Sep 19, 2010 11:30 am

As we go into the depos with the defense, some interesting info pertinent to Oak Ridge Lab:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070118163355.htm

Dead Giveaway: Odors Released From Corpses Leave Chemical Fingerprint

ScienceDaily (Jan. 21, 2007) — Decompositional odors released from corpses in clandestine graves are providing a chemical fingerprint that could help law enforcement officials find these burial sites and provide evidence that ultimately points to the victim's killer.

(*More at link)

(* My note:) Adding this for reference: Results of FBI & Oak Ridge Lab tests on trunk of car:

This PDF includes documents released by prosecutors in the Casey Anthony case. The document has been edited to remove personal information such as dates of birth and phone numbers.

Please be patient while the document loads; there are 34 pages of evidence.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-casey-anthony-documents-102408,0,5346622.htmlpage

(*Snipped by me from article - 10/24/08 - OS)

The FBI lab tested items found in the trunk of Anthony's Pontiac Sunfire, including a hair strand, pieces from a tire cover and the trunk liner.

Here are some of the findings:
• The root of the hair showed signs of decomposition. A comparison to hair taken from Caylee's brush and DNA taken from Anthony showed that neither the mother nor the daughter could be excluded as the source of the hair.
• Pants, skirts and shirts taken from Anthony's home showed no signs of hair with decomposing roots.
• Residues of chloroform were found on a tire cover in te trunk.
• A hair fragment was found in the label on the handle of a shovel Anthony borrowed from a neighbor in mid-June, about the time Caylee is supposed to have disappeared. The hair was too small for microscopic comparison but DNA analysis found it did not belong to Casey Anthony or Caylee.
• No fingerprints were found on the shovel.

Air samples and pieces of carpet from the trunk were sent Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee to determine whether there was signs of decomposition. The lab has been doing this type of research since 2002 and has developed the Decompositional Odor Analysis database.

Here are some of the results:

• The test showed early decomposition products and five major compounds associated with human decomposition.
• A portion of the total odor signature from the trunk "is consistent with a decompositional event that could be a human origin."
• There appeared to "an unusually large concentration of chloroform -- far greater than what is typically seen in human decomposition."

However, the results do not rule out the "remote possibility" that a variety of products and materials -- items not in the trunk when vehicle was discovered -- could have affected the overall chemical signature.