Human scent signature on cartridge case survives gun being fired: A preliminary study on a potential of scent residues as an identification tool

This paper focuses on a chemical analysis of human scent samples that were obtained from cartridge cases after being fired and their comparison with scent samples collected under laboratory conditions. Scent samples were analyzed by comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled with the time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The results obtained from the chemical analyzes confirmed the desired stability of the human scent evidence and outlined the possible application for forensic purposes. The qualitative results of the study converge with the findings of previous studies on the composition of human scent and the chemical composition of human fingerprints. Furthermore, statistical analyzes were performed employing similarity algorithms such as Pearson's and Spearman's correlations, or Kendall's tau. The resulting comparison of the scent samples secured on fired cartridge cases compared with those samples collected under laboratory conditions yielded ten out of ten correct identifications of the scent inflictor.

Automated summary

This paper focuses on the chemical analysis of human scent samples from fired cartridge cases and their comparison with scent samples obtained under laboratory conditions. Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometer was used for analyzing the scent samples. The results confirmed the stability of human scent evidence and its potential application in forensic purposes. The qualitative findings align with previous studies on the composition of human scent and the chemical composition of human fingerprints. Statistical analysis using similarity algorithms yielded a perfect identification rate of the scent inflictor when comparing the scent samples secured from fired cartridge cases with those collected under laboratory conditions.