FBI agents from around the country learned cutting edge fingerprinting skills at Texas State University in San Marcos.
Fingerprints can unlock mysterious crimes, but it is a gruesome job to recover them from human remains.
The FBI agents are part of a highly-trained Evidence Response Team or ERT. The members respond to major crimes and disasters all over the world.
“Anytime they have to recover fingerprints in difficult situations, this is the team that does it,” said Forensic Anthropology Center Director, Dr. Michelle Hamilton. The center is one of the top forensics programs in the world.
“We utilize human remains to address questions about forensic science, time sense death issues, positive identification, and there are only a few of these in the country,” said Hamilton.
Thanks to the fingerprint recovery training, the agents can identify unknown individuals or recover fingerprints left behind on a body. Agents learned to use special chemical injections to plump up tissue if it is partially decomposed.
“This research is really important because we give identity to people who are unknown,” said Hamilton.
The FBI used these skills in 2004, to help Thailand identify the thousands of people who died in the tsunami. The special fingerprint recovery is also useful in floods, fires, and plane crashes.
