Opinion ID: 2381664
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Forensic Hair Analysis in This Case

Text: Thompson's arrest followed an FBI comparison of the hair samples that Thompson had voluntarily given to the police during the Royal Oaks investigation with the hair evidence that had been gathered from the Bowers Street incident. Our examination begins with a review of why the FBI hair analysis was requested by the Delaware police. The City of Wilmington police were continuing to investigate the Bowers Street case when the Royal Oaks attack occurred outside of the City of Wilmington in New Castle County. As a result of the cooperation between the respective investigating law enforcement agencies, it was discovered that both crimes involved a nighttime burglary by a black male and the sexual assault of a young female victim who was abducted from her bedroom. Hair samples were gathered during the course of both investigations. The Royal Oaks investigation also resulted in the victim's tentative identification of Thompson, who was discovered jogging in the area of the crime in the early morning hours shortly after it had been reported. The Delaware police suspected that there might be a connection between the Bowers Street case and the Royal Oaks case due to the similarity of the incidents. The testimony at the suppression hearing revealed that on Friday, September 21, 1984, the known hair samples of Thompson were transported to the FBI Laboratory in Washington, D.C. by Detective Godek of the Wilmington Police Department. Detective Godek met with Special Agent Warren, who was assigned to observe and compare the known hair samples from Thompson with the hair evidence that had been recovered in both Delaware cases. Detective Godek remained at the FBI Laboratory while Special Agent Warren performed the microscopic hair analysis. Detective Godek described his observations at the suppression hearing. Well, I sat there as [Special Agent Warren] compared them, and he looked at three separate hairs from the scene of the [Bowers Street] case. One head hair was found on a blanket. One was a head hair found on a green seat cushion. And one was a head hair found on a mattress cover. He compared those with head hairs of Keith Thompson, and he told me that he felt that there was a positive comparison. Special Agent Warren told me that hair identification is not a positive identification such as fingerprints, but that he felt that there were enough similarities between the questioned hairs and the head hairs, known head hairs of Keith Thompson, for him to be relatively sure that those head hairs came from Keith Thompson. [6] Special Agent Warren's own testimony at trial was that he has never found head hairs from different individuals, even twins, that he could not tell apart and more specifically that: I can only testify that the hairs present on those items exhibit the same characteristics as his head hair. The fact that we have in this instance three hairs, three separate locations, it is highly probable that those hairs came from Mr. Thompson. Detective Godek immediately telephoned his commanding officer, Lieutenant Thomas Gordon, to report Special Agent Warren's opinion. Lieutenant Gordon then contacted the Wilmington police to arrange for a meeting of Detective Godek with the investigating officers in both Delaware cases. Detective Godek returned to Delaware that same day. He arrived at the Wilmington police station at about 10:00 p.m. Thompson had already been brought to the Wilmington police station for questioning. Detective Godek personally reported the results of the FBI hair analysis to the investigators who also compared their other information about the similarity between the two Delaware cases. Thompson was arrested for the Bowers Street rape at approximately 11:00 p.m.