Study May Change Way Law Enforcement Conducts Bomb Investigations

An assistant professor and students in the Forensic and Investigative Sciences program at IUPUI are involved in a study that may change the way law enforcement agencies conduct bomb investigations.

They, along with representatives from the Indiana State Police (ISP)Bomb Squad, Indiana State Police Forensic Science Laboratory, and Forensic ID, Inc., detonated on January 8, 2009, nine pipe bombs at a gravel pit in Noblesville.

The detonations are part of study to determine whether DNA survives an explosion.
The study hopes to establish the best way to recover DNA from bomb debris.

According to John Goodpaster, an assistant professor with the IUPUI Forensic and Investigative Sciences program, DNA can be quite resilient. Other scientists have noted that bombers may unwittingly leave traces of their DNA on an explosive device that can be recovered even after the device explodes.

However, the collaborative IUPUI, Indiana State Police and Forensic ID team  will be the first to truly recreate the assembly, placement and initiation of a pipe bomb by a suspect, Goodpaster said.

 In addition, a new swabbing technique developed by Forensic ID will be used alongside the traditional method.  Debris from January’s pipe bomb explosions will be collected by IUPUI students and sent to the ISP laboratory for DNA typing and, later, to IUPUI for explosives residue testing.