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Decomposing Human Blood: Canine Detection Odor Signature and Volatile Organic Compounds
Author(s) -
Rendine Marcello,
Fiore Carmela,
Bertozzi Giuseppe,
De Carlo Dania,
Filetti Vera,
Fortarezza Palmira,
Riezzo Irene
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/1556-4029.13901
Subject(s) - odor , human blood , chromatography , medicine , chemistry , physiology , organic chemistry
The admissibility of human “odor mortis” discrimination in courts depends on the lack of comprehension of volatile organic compounds ( VOC s) during the human decay process and of the lack in standardized procedures in training cadaver dogs. Blood was collected from four young people who died from traffic accidents and analyzed using HS ‐ SPME / GC ‐ MS at different decompositional stages. Two dogs, professionally trained, were tested to exactly locate blood samples, for each time point of the experiment. We found a long list of VOC s which varied from fresh to decomposed blood samples, showing differences in specific compounds. Dog performance showed a positive predictive value between 98.96% and 100% for DOG A , and between 99.47% and 100% for DOG B . Our findings demonstrated that decomposing human blood is a good source of VOC s and a good target for canine training.