Over $600 missing!
THE CASH BOX CAPER

Mrs. Falatach is in charge of ‘Relay for Life’ for Lee Burneson Middle School. Every year she collects the pledges from the jump rope activity and keeps the money in her office until the end of the day. When Mrs. Falatach went to her office to pick up the bag of cash she found the drawer empty. That was around 7:30 PM last night.

This is what occurred yesterday. Teachers checked pledge amounts to match the numbers to the money collected. When done, they left the room and went back to work in their own rooms or left to go home.  Mrs. Mann, one of the teachers helping, stepped out earlier for to go and get the bank bag from the office.  The bank bag was in Mrs. Dreher’s, the secretary’s, desk.  Mrs. Mann went to get Mr. Ringwald, the custodian, opened up the office for her because the office was locked. As Mr. Ringwald was opening the door for Ms. Martin, Mr. Ringwald saw Miss Kiktavy in the hall. Miss Kiktavy stopped to talk to the custodian.

Miss Kiktavy was one of the teachers who left Mrs. Falatach’s office. She went to the Teacher’s Center to xerox some test papers. After visiting with Mr. Ringwald, Miss Kiktavy returned to Mrs. Falatach’s office. Miss. Kiktavy saw that the desk drawer was open and empty. The only thing in the drawer was a wet, torn slip of paper on the desk. It read, “I took the money…” The rest of the message was missing.

Items retrieved from Mrs. Falatach’s room include styrofoam cups with teeth marks, drink cans, and water bottles. Other items: books, pencils and papers that were left undisturbed. Mrs. Dreher, Mrs. Mann, Mr. Henderson, and Miss Kiktavy were the only other staff in the building and Mr. Ringwald.

Officer Delfing was called in to gather evidence.

The teachers said that people were in and out of the room all day. That included Mr. Henderson. Mr. Henderson split his time between helping the principal with preparations for the Commencement Ceremony.

Look at the evidence. Fill in all your charts. Evaluate the possibilities and solve this crime!

Suspects:

Clues:

The CSI technicians have collected and labeled pens from each of the suspects. Review below how to test the ink.

How to test ink (paper chromatography): http://www.yesmag.bc.ca/projects/paper_chroma.html

CHROMOTOGRAPHY CHART

Divide this chart into 6 sections. Attach the chromatography sample to a section

and label it with the suspect’s name.

Read about fingerprinting:

http://science.howstuffworks.com/handwriting-analysis.htm

You are going to use a new technique to try to identify the fingerprints. You will need to obtain samples from each of the suspects to run the tests.

TOUGH FINGERPRINTS

Directions

Materials:

· Jar with a lid or other closable container (use foil to make container lid for the big jar)

· Two 7 cm squares of aluminum foil (can be slightly smaller)

· Super glue or any glue that contains cyanoacrylate

· Timer or clock (you watch the time)

Procedure:

1. Open the jar and set it on its side

2. Direct the suspect to put extra oil on his/her fingertip by rubbing it alongside his/her nose or in his/her hair.

3. Press the oiled fingertip on one square of aluminum foil, then put the foil in the jar.

4. Squeeze a small amount of super glue onto the other foil square. Put the second piece of foil next to the foil in the jar.

CAUTION: BE CAREFUL NOT TO GET THE GLUE ON YOUR HANDS

5. Close the lid of the jar and wait about 30 minutes.

6. Do this procedure with each suspect.

7. Observe the first piece of aluminum foil, the one the suspect’s finger touched. What do you see?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FINGER PRINT CHART

Sample	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5	#6	#7
Match

Read about how to test for teeth impressions: http://www.cyberbee.com/whodunnit/teeth.htm

TEETH MARK CHART

Sample	Ringwald	Dreher	Kiktavy	Henderson	Mann	Falatach	Mystery Person?
Match

Handwriting background information: http://science.howstuffworks.com/handwriting-analysis.htm

Investigators analyze handwriting on a written document associated with a crime:

a. The form of the handwriting, such as the shapes of the letters and their slant, angles, connections, and curves.

b. The line quality, or the thickness of the line as a result of the type of writing instrument used and the pressure exerted while writing.

c. The arrangement on the page, including spacing, alignment, formatting, and unique punctuation.

d. The content, including the spelling, phrasing, punctuation, and grammar.

The note that was found at the scene of the crime is in the evidence room.

Compare that note to the handwriting samples from the suspects.

Handwriting Analysis Worksheet

Suspects

Indicators for Analysis	Note found at crime scene	Mr. Ringwald	Miss Kiktavy	Mr. Henderson	Mrs. Mann	Mrs. Dreher	Mrs. Falatach
Spacing of letters (small/ ave/wide)
Slant of Letters (forward/backwards/none)
Spacing of Word (small/ave/wide)
Formation of loops (small/ave/large)
Dotting of letters (all/none/random)
Crossing of the letter “t” (short/ave/long)
A combination of printing and handwriting
Formation of less common letters (q, x,z, etc)
Size of words (small/ave/large)

Solubility Table

Write your observations in the Table below.

Name of Substance added to paper

Appearance after 10 minutes of saturation

Color of stain after paper dries

EVIDENCE SPREAD SHEET

	TEACHER	POSSIBLE MOTIVE	HANDWRITING	PEN	FINGER PRINTS	TEETH-MARKS
Ringwald
Kiktavy
Dreher
Henderson
Mann
Falatach

What types of forensic evidence were discovered at the scene? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What method of chemistry was used to tie the evidence to the crime? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What evidence will be used to convict the suspect? Why? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________