HOUSTON – As the Houston Police Department homicide investigators got ready for their lineup, there were officers, the evidence and their special experts. The experts included James Bond, one of their bloodhounds. 

Bond, who is handled by Keith Pikett, is part of a scent lineup and the evidence that the dog uncovers is admissible in court. The dogs are used to match smells from shell casings and other evidence to scent swabs of the suspect’s skin cells.

“The average person loses 50 to 70 million skin cells a day. Wherever you go, you're leaving cells. They're microscopic. We can't see them or smell them, but the dog can,” said Keith Pikett, a Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Deputy.

Pikett has trained his dogs since they were pups. He’s had six bloodhounds altogether, and years ago thought he could at least help find missing children if needed.

That turned into requests for help to find criminals. In fact, the former teacher was so overwhelmed by volunteer work that he finally surrendered and became a Fort Bend County Sheriff's Deputy. 

The team assists in high profile cases across the country. The dogs got evidence that helped indict serial killer Rafael Resendiz Ramirez, who was known as the Texas Railway killer, and Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph.

In the Ramirez case, the dogs went to five of the murder scenes, and were able to tell authorities the same person was at each location.  So investigators knew they had a serial killer on their hands.

One of the dogs, Quincy, has helped solve 92 homicides. According to Pikett, the bloodhound’s sense of smell is approximately 3 million times better than a person’s, but the real key to success is the relationship between the handler and the dog.

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Quincy is one of the superstars on the bloodhound team.

“My wife says if the dogs thought they were working, they would quit. They just think they're playing. It’s important that they are having fun,” said Pikett.

In fact, the canines don't just work with Pikett and his wife -- they live with them.

Deputy Pikett has estimated that his pack of bloodhounds has indicted over 1,000 suspects including burglars, rapists and killers.  And the deputy dogs have yet to lose a court case.