Human blood poses mystery

| 29/12/2011

_DEW0859.jpg(CNS): A mysterious but large pool of human blood found outside a shopping plaza in George Town on Wednesdaymorning has triggered a police investigation. An RCIPS spokesperson said that police are appealing to the public to help police find out what happened.  Shortly after 9.00 am yesterday officers were called to the location after a report was made about the blood on the sidewalk near Ed’s Plaza, North Sound Way. Forensic tests were carried out which confirmed that the blood is human. Detective Superintendent Marlon Bodden said the large pool suggested that somehow somebody had been injured at the location. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)

“It is possible that someone has been injured. If that is the case we need to find that individual to make sure that he or she has received medical treatment.  Searches of the area and checks with medical practitioners have, to date, proved negative. Investigations are continuing,” he added.

Anyone who was in the area of Ed’s Plaza on Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning, and has any information which could assist officers as they try to establish what happened, is asked to contact George Town CID on 949-4222.

If you know of anyone who has sustained a recent unexplained injury then please contact the police. Information can also be passed on the RCIPS tip-line 949-7777 or via Crime Stoppers 800-8477(TIPS).

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  1. Knot S Smart says:

    Are they sure its not ketchup?

    The person who dropped the bottle might have cut his hand and his blood and the ketchup  got contaminated?

    Anyway…

    Happy New Year…

  2. Anonymous says:

    It could just as easily have been from a woman having a heavy blood loss, possibly due to giving birth……..

  3. Speaking from painful experience....... says:

    Looks like the aftermath of a drunken face plant to me.

    • Anonymous says:

      oooo had one of those, 6 stitches across the chin, no anestheitc during the worlds worst hangover

  4. R.U. Kidden says:

    Quote:  "“It is possible that someone has been injured."

    That has to be the understatement of the year!

  5. Anonymous says:

    the RCIP have a better chance of finding Waldo than solving this mystery

  6. Anonymous says:

    Paradise is getting grim

  7. Jiminy Hoffa says:

    Best take a DNA sample from the blood, so that you can sort out the owner when the rest of them shows up.

    • Anonymous says:

      DNA typing from such a forensic sample is not entirely impossible, but not as easy as it seems. There is no real world equivalent to the made-for-tv magic of CSI where you could drop a sample in and get the victim's name and picture in seconds.

      Red blood cells, the primary cellular component of blood and thus the majority of this sample do not contain nuclear DNA which is needed for forensic DNA typing. No nuclear DNA = no DNA testing.

      Instead, to do DNA typing from a blood sample you must first isolate the white blood cells, which are a much smaller component of the sample and do contain nuclear DNA.

      Because white blood cells are a small component of the overall sample you may then need to run a PCR reaction (a sort-of bio-molecular Xerox process that duplicates DNA) to expand the sample size to have enough to actually test. This takes a couple days.

      Then you can run the DNA typing. There are several variations on this, but you mostly end up with results that tell you very little about the victim. You won't find out the hair or eye color, height or weight, race or ethnicity, not even the victim's immigration status. You can normally get the male or female info but little more. The results of DNA typing are only useful if you then have a sample from a subject for comparative purposes to see if there is a match.  And the whole process takes a few days.

      • Anonymous says:

        But the pool is large enough to obtain enough white blood cells and appears fresh enough to, and the OP stated it can be compared to the rest of the body when it turns up, which is also true.

        Thanks for all the obvious information, even though it is irelevant to the comment you reponded to.

        PS did you also know the Deathstar in Starwars a new hope also doesn't exist in real life, Middle earth isn't real either LOL

      • Jiminy Hoffa says:

        Sorry – that just ain’t true. Complete DNA strands are in every single cell of our bodies, and the sample size required for profiling is currently very small:

        “The sensitivity of DNA profiling tests have dramatically increased over the last two decades. It used to be necessary to have a sample roughly the size of the ink in an ink pen, skilled forensic scientists can now obtain enough DNA from saliva left on the end of a cigarette to get a DNA profile result. The speed at which results can be obtained has also dramatically improved. This is all, in part, due to the discovery of the polymerase chain reaction, a technique that can amplify large amounts of specific small sequences of DNA from the human genome. It is also due to the advent of various DNA fingerprinting tools. The effect of these advances has broadened the sample size and quality required for analysis.”
        http://www.enotes.com/dna-profiling-reference/dna-profiling

        “The FSS already offers a premium service where customers can obtain rapid DNA testing within 24 hours. Its profiling is faster than any other in the world: matches from mouth swabs or blood can be obtained in less than 10 hours, helping to track down suspects more quickly.”
        http://www.forensic.gov.uk/html/services/analytical-solutions/dna/

        I didn’t say a name and picture would pop out of a machine (we’d need universal DNA profiling on-line to get that), I just said that it would be useful to be able to connect this sample to any body that might turn up later. That sort of stuff is helpful, say, in a murder trial.

  8. Anonymous says:

    OK, So its human blood, Whose Blood?!

    There’s enough blood in that one spot to identify the victim.
    Or is this going to be another unsolved mystery and a coverup too?
    What about blood test? Was the person born here, did they do blood test to get a work permit? Went to school here? any blood test on school records?

    Baines, come again?

    • Anonymous says:

      Your ignorance is astounding. A blood test to get a work permit is mainly to figure out if you have AIDS and can in no way be used to identify someone from blood on a sidewalk. Full DNA profiles are only ever mapped for a very small fraction of the population (they're not useful for a whole lot more than testing for genetic disorders and paternity). Even if a Government or private entity like a hospital or Immigration held that information it would be wholly inappropriate and an invasion of privacy to test this blood against everyone's individual profile to identify the potential victim. We do not live in a police state (well, at least not yet).

    • Anonymous says:

      They don't take DNA samples for work permits or even from arrests so there'd be no database to match it against, even if this was from a work permit holder or criminal.

      It could just be from a punch up. A broken nose or a cut to the head could cause this especially if the victim had to sit or lie down for a while before moving off.

       

    • Anonymous says:

      LOL – you think everyone in Cayman has their blood sample saved at the hospital awa?  They test for blood type and/or diseases, it is impossible to find a match without r someone turning up injured or God forbid dead in order to test for DNA.

  9. Anonymous says:

    On the noon Radio Cayman report the police confirmed that the blood was human and the amount of blood would indicate that someone was injured.

    Obviously Sherlock Holmes has joined the RCIP.

  10. M* says:

    A very serious finding, because if the hospital has no record or there is no report made of someone injured, a large pool of blood could mean someone has been seriously injured or murdered (God forbid) due to a crime. It is good to hear that the Police has already launch an investigation. News like this is disturbing, seeing for this year we have two ladies missing, domestic incidents, and gang warfare. I just hope there is some revelation or some lead for the officers. Fingers cross