In the Kate Steinle murder case in San Francisco, the murder weapon, a Sig Sauer P239 that was stolen from a Bureau of Land Management Agent's locked car four days previously, was recovered from the San Francisco Bay. According to the San Francisco Examiner, the firearm was deliberately stored immersed in salt water, and kept immersed in salt water from the bay until July 9th, 2015. That would be a full week immersion in salt water. From sfexaminer.com:
Divers placed the weapon in a Pelican Case filled with murky water from the Bay on July 2, 2015.
Smith said he kept the gun submerged in Bay waters until he tested it July 9, except for when he removed the weapon to test it for DNA on July 6.Why would a firearms expert keep a firearms, of critical importance in a homicide investigation, stored in salt water?
Perhaps someone can explain it. I have a small amount of training in the handling of evidence, and I cannot explain it. I talked to a retired police officer, and he did not have an explanation. I talked to a retired federal agent, and he said that it made no sense to him.
The storage of the handgun in salt water does not appear to have made a difference in the case. It is simply a weird anomaly that I would like to see explained.
©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
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It's pretty standard practice when recovering items from shipwrecks to leave them in the water until they can be properly treated otherwise they degrade rapidly.
I don't know that this is the case here, but since the actions that would have to be taken to prevent accelerated corrosion would very likely be more-destructive to any potential evidence - that's likely why it was kept stored in the condition it was found.
I keep saying arrest the politicians that have created the sanctuary cities and states as accessories to the crimes the illegals commit. Sanctuaries would disappear over night. I guarantee you there are far more than 11 million illegals in this country. Much closer to 50 million. there are numerous reaso0ns why many immigrants are not able to assimilate to out culture and should not be allowed to come here.
In am instance like this, the DNA will be more stable and therefore better preserved if stored in cold, dark, high-mineral content water like seawater. Stability would be improved, and the chance of the DNA getting chewed up by bacterial or abiotic oxidation reduced, by adding in anaerobic conditions.
The main concern I have is with storing it in actual seawater rather than artificial sea water. Artificial seawater will have no microbes in it. Actual seawater has TONS of microbes in it.
Just as a followup, here's a presentation where the author says essentially what I have (beware there are photos of a decaying test cadaver): https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/livestrong8421/forensic-dna-identification-from-human-remains-submerged-in
Why? Because the administration of San Fran is notably LESS sane than the late Emperor Norton.
Explain it? Simple: Destroy the ballistics.
IT SEEMS TO ME THAT ALL OF THE USABLE EVIDENCE WOULD HAVE BEEN REMOVED. OIL FROM FINGER PRINTS DNA BY MICROSCOPIC SEA CREATURES DAMAGE TO PARTS FROM THE SALT. NOTHING LIKE MAKING SURE THE ILLEGAL WILL GET OFF IN A SANCTURY CITY.
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