Decomposing Human Blood: Canine Detection Odor Signature and Volatile Organic Compounds

• Published in: Journal of forensic sciences Vol. 64; no. 2; pp. 587 - 592
• Main Authors: Rendine, Marcello, Fiore, Carmela, Bertozzi, Giuseppe, De Carlo, Dania, Filetti, Vera, Fortarezza, Palmira, Riezzo, Irene
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-03-2019
• Subjects: Animal training; Blood; canine detection; Decomposition; decompositional process; Dogs; Fatalities; Forensic sciences; human blood; human scent; Sniffer dogs; Traffic accidents; VOCs; Volatile organic compounds; Young adults; human blood; human scent; forensic sciences; volatile organic compounds; decompositional process; canine detection
• ISSN: 0022-1198; 1556-4029
• DOI: 10.1111/1556-4029.13901

The admissibility of human “odor mortis” discrimination in courts depends on the lack of comprehension of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during the human decay process and of the lack in standardized procedures in training cadaver dogs. Blood was collected from four young people who died from traffic accidents and analyzed using HS‐SPME/GC‐MS at different decompositional stages. Two dogs, professionally trained, were tested to exactly locate blood samples, for each time point of the experiment. We found a long list of VOCs which varied from fresh to decomposed blood samples, showing differences in specific compounds. Dog performance showed a positive predictive value between 98.96% and 100% for DOG A, and between 99.47% and 100% for DOG B. Our findings demonstrated that decomposing human blood is a good source of VOCs and a good target for canine training.