Nondestructive recovery and examination of bullet fragments from brain tissue

A technique providing both analytical and toolmark results for lead fragments from bullets is discussed. It permits the nondestructive recovery of bullet fragments from soft cadaver tissue and was used with a plasma asher in an actual homicide case. The lead fragments are examined by neutron activation analysis (but other analytical techniques can be used) for their antimony and arsenic content and by microscopy for matching toolmarks.