This article was taken from the December 2011 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Sherlock Holmes once advised Watson not merely to see, but to observe. Eugene Liscio, CEO of forensic analysis firm AI2-3D, goes a step further by using laser scanning equipment to capture every detail of a crime scene, then recreate it in 3D. "I document the scene, I take the positions," says Liscio. "For example, [with] the victim who gets shot, I use the bloodstains, the wounds on the body and the body location. By taking those measurements, I can start aligning the trajectories back up again."
Over the past four years, Liscio, based in Toronto, has worked on nearly 60 cases around the world. Police use his reconstructions to test their theories of a crime. "You can start running different scenarios -- what would happen if this person was a little to the left: would the trajectory still work? Or could the witness have actually seen the suspect at that point?"Liscio uses off-the-shelf 3D scanning equipment, such as the PhotoModeler Scanner made by EOS, to map entire crime scenes. "If you miss a little thing, it could have a big impact," says the 41-year-old. "If you want to compare two footprints together in 3D, that will show you something very difficult to see with the naked eye," Liscio says.
Three-dimensional modelling is particularly useful when the crime scene no longer exists: "I'm working on a case right now: the 20-year-old murder of an 18-year-old," says Liscio. "I'm using 3D techniques to try to pull information out of the cartridge case."
Check out the gallery to see the multiple angles AI2-3D can visualise.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
