Broken Bond Crime

Words: 1615
Pages: 7

Running head: Broken bonds: forensic essay 1
Broken bonds: forensic essay 2
Broken Bonds: Forensic Essay
Bitavina Shanmugalingam
Ryerson University
Dr. R. Iyer

Broken Bonds: Forensic Essay
Statement of Topic:
Bobby Curley was admitted to the hospital in the year of 1991, where he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome as his blood tests were normal and he was exhibiting the symptoms which include numbness in his hands, pain in his feet and hair loss. Upon his second admission, doctors tested him for thallium poisioning thus coming out positive which eventually led to his demise. Bobby Curley?s death autopsy confirmed an intake of a large dose of thallium consumed as which made investigators suspicious. The forensic problem of interest of this case is the murder of Bobby Curley as he was poisoned to death by his wife Joann Curley.
Science and Methods Used:
When Bobby Curley was admitted for the second time, doctors conducted a urine test for thallium poisioning. The urine test in this case was performed to
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Bobby Curley?s family grew suscpicious of his wife Joanne Curley and wanted to know if she was involved in his death. Bobby?s body was exumed and a second autopsy was performed by collecting samples and analyzing the hair. Segmental hair analysis is a diagnostic tool that is very useful in looking at drug use history as it allows for the identification of drug digestion. Hair has no excretion system to remove toxin that have been placed in the hair root, so as the hair grows the toxins move along with it. Compared to urine testing, hair analysis provides a long term information bank of drug use (Saferstein, 2011 p. 237). This is due to the fact that hair grows on average a rate of 1 centimeter per month thus preserving the drug use history, so 1 strand of hair may contain months worth of information (Saferstein, 2011 p.