Drug Analysis Using Hair

The body of a young woman was found in a remote field in Western Canada. She had been stabbed and her throat was slashed. There were indications that she had been sexually assaulted. Faced with investigating a homicide for which there were no suspects or eye witnesses, the police started searching for physical evidence. They recovered several hairs, most of which were found clutched in the victim’s hands. One hair was found in her mouth. In the laboratory the hairs were all identified as human pubic. Through comparison to a known sample of the victim’s pubic hair, it was determined that the hairs in question were not her own, and that they had several unusual microscopic features.