DNA question?

Question

Since DA can show up in hair strands and you donate your hair to a wig-making organization and a crime is commited by said wig recipient who's DNA will show? Can the same be applied to one who has hair extentions? The situation is one crime , one person two DNA's??

Answer 1

As you have outlined your question, I will try to help you understand the concepts of your question better.

First of all, DNA can be extracted from hair one of two ways. The first is the traditional method, which requires the root ball of the hair. The other method is mitochondrial DNA, which does not require the root ball of the hair.

With a wig of human hair, it is unlikely the root ball would still be intact, thus ruling out the possibility of traditional DNA being done on a hair from it. However, it could be possible that mitochondrial DNA could be done on the hair.

That said, mitochondrial DNA is not, in my understanding, commonly used in most police DNA labs. Most of them are not designed to do it, but can request it if needed. Also, to send it out requires time and possibly money. Furthermore, unless you have a known suspect to compare it to, your results might be useless.

If a hair was found at a crime scene, in general, if it was lacking a root ball, DNA would probably not be done on it. At best, it would provide the police a starting point to begin identifying a suspect. They would examine the hair to determine length, color and other characteristics of the hair , then, using that information, see if any of their suspects have such hair (after ruling out the possibility of the hair being the victims, of course).

Also, if they had a suspect, and the hair found on the scene did not match the suspect (assuming they had other evidence the suspect was at the scene), they would begin looking into the possibility that the hair could have come from some other source. When you purchase a wig, you leave a paper trail. If the suspect owns several wigs, or has access to them from work or through friends, the police would probably find that out. If they were able to locate the source wig that the hair originated from, it would do a lot to link the suspect to the scene.

While your idea of two types of DNA being found at a scene is a neat idea, the reality is that law enforcement uses much more than just DNA to learn the facts of a crime scene. DNA is just one tool in the toolbox of law enforcement, and is not usually used by itself.

Hope that helps you understand it!
-Saffyre

Answer 2

no...hair that is donated to wig making organizations does not include the root of the hair...that is to say, the "bulb" that is located below the scalp, which is where the dna would be gathered from. Even if you were to shave your hair off and donate it, your dna would not be on it. In order to donate dna, you would have to have your hair PULLED OUT BY THE ROOTS (OUCH!!!), and even then, I don't think the dna would survive the process of wig making. Many criminals actually fight an order to obtain a dna sample by hair because (get this!) IT HURTS to have three strands of hair pulled out of their head.

Answer 3

I think that it would be unlikely that the hair would fall out of the wig. But if they were to find one of the wig hairs and extract the DNA, the suspect's DNA sample would be a cheek swab and not be a match.

Answer 4

Sounds like a thriller in the making.

However, most human wig hair comes from India, so I think this one's going to be a stretch.

Answer 5

Actually that has happened in a few cases and upon appeal I believe that if new exculpatory evidence was available they were overturned. Usually it is a LOT more than DNA that puts someone away for a crime such as other trace evidence and circumstantial evidence.

Answer 6

They need the root of the hair folicle to obtain DNA. Wouldn't be applied here.

Answer 7

I hate to answer a question with a question, but now I'm really confused:

Isn't DNA the acronym for National Dyslexics Association?

Answer 8

yes

Answer 9

sounds resonable