Decomposing Human Blood: Canine Detection Odor Signature and Volatile Organic Compounds |
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| Authors: | Marcello Rendine D.B.A. Carmela Fiore M.D. Giuseppe Bertozzi M.D. Dania De Carlo M.D. Vera Filetti M.Sc. Palmira Fortarezza M.L.T. Irene Riezzo M.D. Ph.D. |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Section of Legal Medicine, Azienda Ospedaliero – Universitaria “Ospedali Riuniti” of Foggia, Ospedale Colonnello D'Avanzo, Viale degli Aviatori 1, 71100 Foggia, Italy;2. Section of Forensic Toxicology, Ospedale G. Tatarella, Via Trinitapoli, 71042 Cerignola (FG), Italy;3. Anatomy and Histology, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Biotechnologies, University of Catania, Via Santa Sofia 78, 95123 Catania, Sicily, Italy;4. Section of Legal Medicine, Azienda Ospedaliero – Universitaria “Ospedali Riuniti” of Foggia, Ospedale Colonnello D'Avanzo, Viale degli Aviatori 1, 71100 Foggia, ItalyCorresponding author: Irene Riezzo, M.D., Ph.D. E‐mail: |
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| Abstract: | The admissibility of human “odor mortis” discrimination in courts depends on the lack of comprehension of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) 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 VOCs 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 VOCs and a good target for canine training. |
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| Keywords: | forensic sciences human scent human blood decompositional process volatile organic compounds canine detection |
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