GRAND RAPIDS (WZZM) - Crime scene instructors pulled out all the stops Wednesday as they simulated a murder scene covered in real human blood and dragged across the floor.
"We'll simulate beatings and stabbings," said Jeff Gurvis a blood stain pattern analyst. Gurvis says blood stain often hold the key in many cases.
"It's one of the few disciplines that can actually help you what happened rather than who was there," said Gurvis.
Fingerprints and DNA can help identify a suspect but blood patterns tell the story of how a crime happened.
A class of crime scene technicians and students from agencies across West Michigan are learning how to read the patterns and designs.
Amanda Smid of the Grand Rapids Police Department pointed to a wall ,"Going across here was a baseball bat whipped around so it was the blood coming off the baseball bat and making this arch."
On the first floor students simulated their own crimes.
"Based on the shapes of the drops you can get and indication of the angles as well," added Smid.
Upstairs instructors were busy creating specific blood spatters. Those will be studied in the coming days for analysis. The hope is, in real life, the correct answer would crack the case and solve a crime.
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