MAYHEM IN THE LIBRARY

On Monday, at 7:00 a.m., Mrs. Pettyjohn unlocked the library doors, she noticed that the inflatable Uncle Sam was missing. He was always sitting on top of the bookcase near the main entrance to the room. After a look around the library for Uncle Sam, Mrs. Pettyjohn decided that her Uncle Sam had been abducted.

Found at the scene were the following: pieces of broken glass, a napkin with lipstick on it, a cosmetic case containing a tube of lipstick and a hairbrush, and a note with a partial message that said “I have Uncle Sam.”. The rest of the note was missing. Each item was bagged and placed in the evidence room for further investigation.

Mrs. Pettyjohn called Mr. Ringwall, the custodian, to see what groups had been in the library over the weekend. He replied that the only people who were supposed to be in the library Saturday and Sunday were the school secretaries. They used the library tables to sort through boxes of files.

Mrs. Pettyjohn thought that there was something very familiar about the color of lipstick found on the napkin but she couldn’t place why. Perhaps further discussion with Mrs. Pettyjohn may jog her memory. What device could help her recall why she is bothered by the color?

It is up to you to find the person(s) responsible for the abduction of Uncle Sam.

CAN YOU SOLVE THIS CRIME?

Complete the table below:

Clues to the crime	Questions to ask	People to contact/interview via email
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

What are you going to do with the list of clues? Write your procedure for your investigation.

Secretaries working in the library:

Mrs. Dreher

Mrs. Banjoff

Mrs. Didion

Mrs. Kiczek

The technicians have taken lip prints from all of the secretaries who were at the work session. You may check them out of the evidence room.

Read about lipstick and how to lift lip prints in the attached information and at the following link:

http://www.ltisdschools.org/12342041313341987/lib/12342041313341987/ch09_230-267.pdf

SCROLL down to page 24 to find the lipstick information.

TABLE 1

Observations from lip print samples.

Lip Print Samples	Mrs. Dreher	Mrs. Banjoff	Mrs. Didion	Mrs. Kiczek
Matches

Chemical Analysis:

Now you are going to analyze the lipstick used by each of the suspects and compare them to the lipstick found at the scene of the crime. You will use a technique known as paper chromatography to distinguish among the brands of lipstick used by each of the suspects and compare them to the lipstick found at the scene of the crime. In paper chromatography, a small amount of the substance to be analyzed is placed on a strip of paper. The paper is placed in a liquid solvent, which is absorbed into the paper. As the solvent moves up the paper, it carries with it the chemicals from the substance that readily dissolves in it. These chemicals travel at different speeds up the paper, and as they travel they separate. The pattern formed by the visible bands of separated chemicals will be different for different mixtures of chemicals—like different brands of lipstick.

The paper chromatography process will take two days to complete.

Day One:

1) Cut 4 strips of filter paper (8”x1/2”)

2) Using a pencil (NOT a pen) draw a horizontal line 2 cm from one end of each strip.

3) Using a pencil (NOT a pen), label the 4 strips “A”, “B”, “C” and “D”

4) Draw a thin, horizontal line of the appropriate lipstick on each strip (tubes are labeled “A”, “B”, “C” and “D”). Remove the strip from the envelope labeled “lipstick evidence”. Use a pencil to label this strip “E.”

5) Add enough chromatography solvent (50% acetone/50% rubbing alcohol) to each of 5 clean glass 30ml beakers (other very small glass containers are OK) so that the height of the liquid in the beaker is approximately 1 cm. NOTE: Chromatography solvent produces unpleasant, noxious fumes. Use in a well-ventilated area. Both acetone and rubbing alcohol are flammable.

6) READ THIS ENTIRE STEP BEFORE COMPLETING. Place paper strips in the beakers-one strip per beaker. The strips should be placed with the lipstick line toward the bottom of the beaker but not touching the liquid. Fold the strips over the lip of the beaker and cover with a plastic petri dish. Make sure the strips are not touching each other and that they are not flattened against the side of the beaker. Either of these conditions will cause the pigments to run “streaky”, resulting in inaccurate data.

7) Leave the strips in the beakers overnight.

Day Two:

8) Remove strips from beakers and dry for at least 5 minutes

9) Add enough chromatography solvent to each of the 5 glasses, 50 ml graduated cylinders so that the height of the liquid in the cylinder is approximately 1 cm. Place one dried paper strip in each cylinder so that the lipstick line is not touching or submerged in the solvent. Cover with small plastic petri dishes.

10) Remove the strips after 45 minutes.

11) Allow strips to dry. Complete Lipstick Chemical Analysis Data Sheet.

Lipstick Chemical Analysis Data Sheet

Draw the pattern of bands you observed on each of the chromatography strips you analyzed. Draw the line 2 cm from the bottom of each strip. Use a ruler to determine the exact location of each band. Record the distance in millimeters from the starting line to the beginning of each band. Draw a line where the solvent reached on the paper, and measure the distance in millimeters from the starting line.

e

x

a

m

p

l

e

E

D

C

B

A

86 mm

81 mm

58 mm

The investigators found a new glass pencil holder on Mrs. Banjoff’s desk as well as new glass vases on the desks of Mrs. Dreher(Mrs. Kiczek shares her desk), and Mrs. Didion. Compare that glass to the glass found at the scene of the crime:

Read the information at this site about how to compare glass fragments:

http://www.michigan.gov/msp/0,1607,7-123-1593_3800-15961--,00.html

Glass Table:

Glass example #

Density

Appearance

Mass/Volume

Hair Analysis:

Read about hair found at the scene of a crime and what it can tell you:

http://www.enotes.com/forensic-science/hair-analysis

http://www.crimeandclues.com/hair_evidence.htm (Structure of hair)

Observe the hair taken from the brush under a microscope:

Now observe the hair collected from each suspect by the CSI technicians:

Characteristics	Sample taken from crime scene	Mrs. Banjoff	Mrs. Dreher	Mrs. Didion	Mrs. Falatach
Color
Length
Other features (read structure of hair at site above)

Typed note left at the scene of the crime:

Go to this site to read how you can determine what laser printer a piece of paper may have come from: http://home.earthlink.net/~thekeither/Forensic/page4.htm

If there are no samples from the printers in the library and office in the evidence room, obtain a subpoena and obtain samples from all of the office printers and the library printer.

You have developed several pieces of evidence. Now is the time to write your report. Be sure to include who, what where, when, why, and HOW about this crime.

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