Hairs being compared under the microscope
The Hair Evidence
Anomalous hairs were retrieved from the victims, their
clothing, the crime scene and other items entered into evidence. These
are
- Four hairs removed from the body of Michael Moore. One was
described as being recovered from his ligature. One was described as a
dyed dark brown hair among head hair combed from Moore's scalp. Two were
described as Caucasian hairs found among the hair shaved from the head
of Michael Moore during the autopsy.
- Two hairs (FP5 93-05717) removed from the body of Stevie
Branch. These were described as razor proximal cut and found among the
hair shaved from Stevie Branch head during the autopsy. Alabama
describes these as three hairs. Similarities to this set of hairs are described below.
- Four hairs removed from the body of Christopher Byers.
These included one described as found on his body, one found on his
lower body, one from his perineum, and one from beneath a ligature.
- One hair fragment described as being Negroid in origin from the
white sheet used during transport of Chris Byers to the medical
examiner.
- Two hairs found on the children's clothing, one on the blue pants and a light brown hair on the Scout cap.
- One Caucasian brown hair (possibly a pubic hair) found on a
tree stump near the crime scene. Numerous Caucasian hairs were found
among the items in a bag found at the crime scene.
- Other hairs described as being found on knives: one hair each from
two knives belonging to Richard Cummings, one from a knife seized from
the home of Domini Teer, and a brown Caucasian hair, possibly pubic in
origin, from the knife of Jason Crosby.
The above list was compiled from the DNA testing
motions and the evidence
lists. The case summary added this comment: "A dark colored hair,
most likely Caucasian, was located on the buttock of one victim and the
neck area of another;" although this does not correspond to any
of those in the
above list. Only the hairs removed from Stevie Branch's head
were described as proximal cut. The Negroid hair and hairs from E147
"knife with black sheath" were described as fragments. Hairs with
roots can be tested by either mtDNA or STR DNA
analysis while hairs missing the roots can only be tested by mtDNA.
Hairs were compared by microscope for similarities with hairs
taken from suspects and family members by the forensic laboratories in
Arkansas and Alabama. These analyses were performed on several
occasions as more samples became available.
In the first set of analyses, the Arkansas State Criminal
Laboratories reported on May 24, 1993, the hairs from Stevie Branch
(FP5 93-05717) were compared to those from Damien Echols submitted for
evidence on May 11th. The results were described as inconclusive and
more hairs from Damien Echols were requested.
After the arrests, a second set of
hairs were obtained from Damien Echols and on June 29, 1993 another
report was issued. In this case the same hairs from Stevie Branch were
found to be similar to the new sample from Echols and also to hairs from
suspect Tim Dodson. Some of the Echols and Dodson's hairs were described
as very similar to each other. Also in this report the hair found on Chris
Byers perineum was described as being similar to other hairs from Chris
Byers' head.
A second set of hairs were obtained from Jason
Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, Jr. [E143 and E146, respectively].
These were compared to the queried hairs. A report dated
September 9, 1993 from the Arkansas Laboratory stated: "Due to submission of addition
standards, a caucasian head hair recovered from the ligatures (FP8 -
5718) [Christopher Byers] was found to be microscopically
similar to hairs in E143a. [Jason Baldwin]"
Alabama Department of Forensic Science
examined slides with the hairs retrieved from Stevie Branch (FP5
93-05717, the same referred to in the Arkansas reports) along with two hairs
retrieved from Chris Byers, one from his leg and one from beneath his
ligature, and one hair found on the Cub Scout cap. Not examined
were the Negroid hair, the dyed hair, the hair found near the tree
trunk, or any of the other hairs found on the bodies or the victims'
clothing. On January 5, 1994, they reported the hairs found on
Stevie Branch "exhibited some
similarities to both the known hair of Echols and Dodson." They also
found the hair on the lower leg of Chris Byers to be similar to the
hairs from Echols (although Arkansas hadn't come to this conclusion).
The other hairs were deemed "either dissimilar to
the known hairs of the suspects or in this examiner's opinion lack
sufficient microscopic characteristics for an adequate comparison."
On January 20 the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory reported on the
questioned hairs from the lower leg of Byers and those from Stevie
Branch to hairs taken from family members. The hairs from Stevie Branch
were also found similar to those from his biological father, Steve
Branch, Sr. Although Alabama had hair samples from Steve Branch, Sr.,
they did not reach this conclusion.
Only one hair, that from an unspecified knife, was analyzed by
HLA DQ
alpha. The results came back with 1.1, 4 matching that of Chris
and John Mark Byers. These results were only referred to in passing in
the Echols/Baldwin trial with no follow-up by the prosecutor or by the
defense. Prosecutor Fogleman questioning the head of Genetic Designs Lab, Michael DeGuglielmo:
Fogleman: But other than those things, nothing matched anybody?
DeGuglielmo: Up until the knife and the hair specimen -
Fogleman: Right.
DeGuglielmo: No sir, that's correct.
Fogleman: I don't have any further questions.
The findings from the hair analyses were
not
part of the prosecution's case. The reason may have
been due to the multiple unexplained hairs that were not found similar
to the suspects or else due to the fact that the ones that were found
similar were also
found similar to multiple sources. The Alabama and Arkansas
laboratories had different conclusions. For the sample from Steve
Branch, Arkansas found some of the questioned hairs
similar to Echols, Dodson and Branch, Sr. and Alabama finding
similarities only to Echols and Dodson. Arkansas found
similarities between Baldwin's hair and a queried hair from Christopher
Byers ligature. The criteria for determining
similarity was also different between labs. Alabama excluded both hairs
which lacked sufficient microscopic characteristics for comparison and
those that were not found similar, while Arkansas requested a second
sample from Echols after the results from the first set of hairs were
inconclusive and a second set from Baldwin and Misskelley after no
similarities were found after comparisons with the first set.
The defense attorneys brought up the unexplained Negroid hair
as possibly pointing to another perpetrator - but did not bring up the other
unsourced hairs. In the defense's summation, the mysterious Bojangles
man was suggested to be a source of the Negroid hair.
Although the hair evidence didn't play a prominent
role in the trial, most of the potentially meaningful biological
evidence from the crime scene for the DNA analyses is in the hairs.
All previous findings of similarity or exclusion became moot
with the DNA results.
Richard Cummings, recent. Hairs found
on two different knives seized from his
home were sent for comparison. |
