Supermarket tampering: cocaine detected in syringes and in fruit

Product tampering, as detailed by the Federal Anti-Tampering Act of 1983 (1), is a felony punishable by both fine and imprisonment. The rationale for product tampering ranges from pranks and attention seeking acts to extortion, terrorism, and homicide. One such case submitted for analysis involved four medical syringes found in a supermarket and suspected of being used to tamper with various products. One of the syringes was found piercing a pear while the other three syringes were found with needles exposed in other parts of the supermarket. Microscopic analysis was used to collect residue from the syringe barrels and the pear. A multidiscipline approach involving SLM, PLM, including microchemical analysis, FTIR, and GC/MS analyses, performed on the residual liquid found in the syringe barrels and in the suspect pear, confirmed the presence of cocaine. This multidisciplinary approach is often necessary when there is a possible health risk to the public and rapid response is important. With this approach, it was quickly determined which drugs or poisons were used in this tampering.     

Mitochondrial DNA analysis of the presumptive remains of Jesse James

We report here the results of mtDNA analysis of remains exhumed in July, 1995 from Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Kearney, Nebraska, that are thought to be those of Jesse James. The remains were poorly preserved, presumably due to wet and slightly acidic soil conditions, and insufficient DNA for analysis was obtained from two bone samples. However, two of four teeth, and two hairs recovered in 1978 from the original burial site on the James Farm, did yield reproducible mtDNA sequences. These mtDNA sequences from the teeth and hairs were all identical, suggesting that they came from the same individual; furthermore, this mtDNA sequence was identical to mtDNA sequences determined from blood samples from two maternal relatives of Jesse James. Therefore, either the remains are indeed those of Jesse James, or they are from an unrelated individual who, by chance, happens to have the same mtDNA sequence. To assess the probability that an unrelated individual would have the same sequence, we searched the forensic mtDNA database, and found that this sequence does not appear among the 2426 mtDNA sequences therein. Hence, the mtDNA analysis supports the identification of the exhumed remains from Mt. Olivet Cemetery as those of Jesse James.