Solving underwater crimes: development of latent prints made on submerged objects

Underwater crime scenes always present a challenge for forensic researchers, as the destructive effect of water considerably complicates the chances of recovering material of evidential value. The aim of this study is to tackle the problem of developing marks that have been left on submerged objects. Fingermark deposition was randomly made on two surfaces - glass and plastic whilst the material was submerged under tap water and then left for one to fifteen days before drying and development. For their later development, various reagents - Black Powder, Silver Metallic Powder, Fluorescent Powder, Sudan Black (powder and solution) and Small Particle Reagent - were used and the effectiveness of each of them on this particular type of evidence was then evaluated. The results show the possibility of obtaining good quality developed marks, even under such adverse circumstances. Further and wider research should, therefore, be undertaken in which other variables are introduced such as different substrates, other types of liquids, and environmental or time factors.