Zombie CSU (13 page)
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UST THE
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ACTS
Crime Scene Photography
Before evidence is removed, the entire scene needs to be completely documented. Even though a detailed and measured sketch is made of the crime scene, nothing is as telling as a complete set of high-resolution photographs.
Crime scene photographers come in all shapes and sizes, from freelancers hired by departments on a per-case basis, to contracted civilian photographers, to police officers, to photographic experts working in law enforcement. Many police departments still use film cameras, and there’s some good arguments in favor of this since digital photos can more easily be manipulated than can film negatives. Retouching via computer software (Photoshop, etc.) is easy; retouching a photographic negative or print is much harder and easier to detect, especially if the negatives can be produced for court purposes. However digital is making inroads, and often both are used. Digital cameras used in crime scene documentation tend to be higher-end, with large files in excess of five megapixels (often considerably larger) so that the images can be viewed in minute detail without actually intruding into the secured physical scene.
Art of the Dead—Ryan Allan
Rot and Ruin
Photo evidence of the living dead would be crucial in establishing that zombies exist—especially in the absence of
living
witnesses.
Flash photography is often used to eliminate shadows that might hide crucial details; though many photographers prefer to take flash and nonflash photos for later comparison. Just as a flash can reveal something in a shadow, it can also wash out details already clearly lit in bright sunlight or under bright artificial light.
Photographers take photos of the scene of the crime and then document the surrounding area, including roads, doorways, vehicles in nearby parking lots, nearby woods, and so on. The rule of thumb being that it’s better to have too much documentation than not enough. When possible photographers will take overview photos, either from atop a platform (car roof, leaning out of a window, etc.). Photos are taken from multiple angles as changes in perspective can bring otherwise unnoticed items to light.
Zombies…Fast or Slow? Part 2
“I grew up with the traditional voodoo zombie in the horror comics and movies I loved, so in my mind zombies are magical creatures. There are too many problems to overcome when telling stories about science-based zombies—how do they move with rotting muscles, where do they get the energy to move if they can’t eat and digest food? They’re closed systems, and they should cease functioning in a short time, a few days at the most. You don’t have those sorts of problems with magical zombies. Plus, magic comes from the shadowy realm of the unknown, where science belongs to the world of cold hard facts. Magic—the dark kind found in supernatural horror—has a greater potential to be scary in fiction.”—Tim Waggoner, author of
Darkness Wakes
and
Like Death
.- “If I have to outrun them, then I like my zombie’s slow. But that scene in
28 Weeks Later
when Bob Carlisle is being chased from the farmhouse by the Zombie International Olympic Sprint Team is at once scary and cool. As long as fast zombies chase someone else, I’m all for them.”—Weston Ochse, winner of the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel,
Scarecrow Gods
. - “Well…that depends on if they’ve eaten.”—Steve Alten, author of
The Lock
. - “Slow is better. I don’t mind fast, really…as long as they’re not superhumanly strong…which I think really defeats the purpose.”—Robert Kirkman, author of
Marvel Zombies
and
The Walking Dead
. - “Slow…then you can get away even if you are not a good runner or are ambushed!”—Patricia Tallman, actress and star of
Night of the Living Dead
(1990) and
Dead Air
. - “In my book,
Deadlands,
I put forth the thought that it depends on the age and rate of decay of the zombie. A new, fresh zombie would be able to move much faster than one that was being held together by rotting tissue and strings of flesh. As they begin to rot, their speed decreases. As their brains turn further and further into mush, they lose all but the basest of animal instincts.”—Scott A. Johnson, author of
Deadlands
.
Photos are taken of the victim, ideally before transportation to the hospital. Photos of the wounds prior to their being treated and dressed are very useful in court; and sometimes follow-up pictures are taken during surgery and, if the situation turns even nastier, during an autopsy. Photo evidence of all marks such as bruises, bumps, lacerations, bullet wounds
3
, and in our case bite marks, help detectives form a clearer picture of what happened during the altercation. Some criminals have known patterns of attack, and this can be used as another piece of evidence to either help build a profile or match the attack to a known modus operandi.
Many crime scenes are videotaped these days as well, and guard stations and entranceways of warehouses and facilities are often fitted with digital recorders. The age of videotape is fading. A photographic evidence expert can easily remove the disk or drive from the recorder and download it, or sometimes use cables to download directly from the recorder to a police laptop.
Expert Witness
According to Daily, “photographing bite marks with the digital camera and the ability to have what amounts to a darkroom in your computer have allowed us to view images in different ways in real time. The patterns typically continue to change for up to a few days. That is why we suggest our Forensic Photographers take serial photographs (i.e., new pictures each day until the marks stop changing). Think of the body as the crime scene with new evidence appearing each day. Decomp often short circuits the process described.”
According to best-selling author and forensic expert Andrea Campbell,
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view differs somewhat: “Photography is hand-in-glove with forensic art, all aspects of it. For example, you cannot haul a completed clay bust around from location to location so you take photographs of the recreation and those are put into the newspaper (or at the post office) when seeking identification. Photography is also what 2-dimensional or superimposition is all about. Imposing a graphic against a real skull and matching: proportions, features, dimensions.”
