Beyond DNA: UCF scientist developing new tools for solving rape cases
"Everything is a piece to a larger puzzle."
UCF forensic scientist Candice Bridge and her student researchers hope to put more puzzle pieces in the hands of investigators, as they work to develop new tools for solving rape cases.
Bridge's work was recently boosted by a grant from the National Institute of Justice to explore evidence gathering beyond DNA.
"The question becomes: What happens in the absence of DNA?" she said. "Most assailants are versed in that, 'if I don't leave my DNA then they can't find me."
The research tracks what else is left behind by rapists, and condoms and lubrications are at the center of the study.
Bridge and about a dozen students are creating a database which profiles the chemicals used in them. They hope it will one day help crime lab techs link evidence to perpetrators.
"They're interested in having a piece to say, 'I helped advance the work that's going on in sexual assaults and finding new tools and methods,'" Bridge said.
Bridge said she's motivated by several sex assault survivors who've confided with her their cases were dismissed over a lack of evidence, and she hopes her work helps change that for the future.
"I'm really hoping that victims recognize that we see them, we are trying to find new methods, find more ways to find more evidence," she said.
The database is expected to become available for use in May.