David Exline, Elana Foster, David Freehling and Michele Berry
RJ Lee Group
Forensic hair examination is routinely conducted using comparison microscopy. Over the past decade, complimentary mtDNA testing has added additional discriminating information that has proved valuable to forensic investigations. However, new analytical techniques to evaluate environmental contributions to hair examination have been limited. This presentation will evaluate the use of Raman spectroscopy to characterize hair care products on treated and untreated hair to determine if additional associative evidence can be obtained to compliment the current methods of hair comparisons.