Charlotte Cagliostro
Forensics
C Odd / Current Event 19
3/21/20
Hayhurst, Claire. “How a Remarkable 32-Year-Old Murder Cold Case Was Solved.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 10 May 2019, www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/melanie-road-murder-how-dna-collected-in-1984-solved-the-32-year-old-case-with-christopher-hampton-a7022056.html.
Claire Hayhurst wrote an extremely interesting article for The Independent, in which she described how a 32-year-old murder case was recenlty solved by investigators. The victim, Melanie Road, was only 17 years old when she was murdered in 1984. Although investigators found traces of semen and blood on her body and around the scene, the DNA did not match any samples on file or that of any suspects. The murderer, Christopher Hampton, was identified and charged over 30 years later when his daughter’s DNA was uploaded to the national database because of unrelated domestic violence issues. The system identified the familial connection between the unknown DNA sample from the 1984 murder and the sample from Hamptom’s daughter. Now having linked the DNA, investigators were able to collect a sample of Christopher’s saliva and match his DNA to the samples from Melanie’s case.
This article demonstrates the importance of DNA analysis in criminal cases. If Christopher’s daughter’s DNA had not been uploaded to the federal database, he certainly would not have been caught. There are thousands of cases that mirror this one and illustrate how powerful and advanced DNA analysis has become. DNA is such a great type of evidence because it is airtight, and it was the only thing that could put Christopher at the scene.
I quite enjoyed reading this article. Claire Hayhurst wrote in a very sophisticated, yet informative manner. I think she did a great job summarizing the case and prioritizing the relevant information in her article. In specific, I appreciated how many details and facts from the case she included, since they legitimized her writing. However, I do wish she had spoken to the relevance of this case and how it speaks to the importance and usefulness of DNA analysis and federal databases.
6 comments:
Isabelle Kennedy
3/22/20
Current Events 19
Hayhurst, Claire. “How a Remarkable 32-Year-Old Murder Cold Case Was Solved.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 10 May 2019,
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/melanie-road-murder-how-dna-collected-in-1984-solved-the-32-year-old-case-with-christopher-hampton-a7022056.html.
For this week's current events I decided to respond to Charlotte Cagliostro’s response to “How a Remarkable 32-Year-Old Murder Cold Case Was Solved.” Charlotte does an excellent job at summarizing the case, making it clear how forensic development has enabled scientists to be able to solve old cases. “ Although investigators found traces of semen and blood on her body and around the scene, the DNA did not match any samples on file or that of any suspects. The murderer, Christopher Hampton, was identified and charged over 30 years later when his daughter’s DNA was uploaded to the national database because of unrelated domestic violence issues. The system identified the familial connection between the unknown DNA sample from the 1984 murder and the sample from Hamptom’s daughter.” Charlotte clearly conveys how that years later the system has evolved, making familial DNA able to connect crimes, even if the DNA was not directly from the perpetrator. Charlotte then goes on to explain the significance of DNA evidence in criminal cases. “If Christopher’s daughter’s DNA had not been uploaded to the federal database, he certainly would not have been caught. There are thousands of cases that mirror this one and illustrate how powerful and advanced DNA analysis has become.” Charlotte clearly explains the advancedness of DNA analysis and once again emphasizes how DNA of family members can be used in other crimes. Charlotte also did an excellent job at explaining what she liked about the article. “ Claire Hayhurst wrote in a very sophisticated, yet informative manner. I think she did a great job summarizing the case and prioritizing the relevant information in her article. In specific, I appreciated how many details and facts from the case she included, since they legitimized her writing.” She clearly articulates the strengths in Hayhurst’s writing providing specific detail to the reader.
Charlotte however, could have included more direct quotes from the article to further illustrate the author’s point of view. Furthermore, Charlotte could have also included more details about what she didn’t like about the authors writing. “However, I do wish she had spoken to the relevance of this case and how it speaks to the importance and usefulness of DNA analysis and federal databases.” More specific examples of the proposition she highlighted would have enacted a stronger response.
Overall Charlotte did an excellent job at conveying how DNA analysis has really grown and provided a specific example on its changes. Her response was very well written and clearly highlighted all of the author's main points.
Sophia Prior
Ippolito
Current Event 19
March 23, 2020
Hayhurst, Claire. “How a Remarkable 32-Year-Old Murder Cold Case Was Solved.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 10 May 2019, www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/melanie-road-murder-how-dna-collected-in-1984-solved-the-32-year-old-case-with-christopher-hampton-a7022056.html.
After reading Charlotte’s article by The Independent I think it had a really clear and concise summary paragraph. In addition, it had an amazing use of detail about Melanie Road’s murder and the investigation that took place. This topic of research was very important because of how DNA analysis is always evolving.
I think what Charlotte could have worked on was more quote integrations into her piece to add more supportive evidence behind the story. Also, I think she could have added some more of their own opinion into the review to add more depth.
From Charlotte’s article review, I learned more about the importance of DNA analysis and how difficult it can be sometimes. Also what an impact it has made in forensic science.
Hayhurst, Claire. “How a Remarkable 32-Year-Old Murder Cold Case Was Solved.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 10 May 2019, www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/melanie-road-murder-how-dna-collected-in-1984-solved-the-32-year-old-case-with-christopher-hampton-a7022056.html.
Charlotte’s review of “Melanie Road Murder: How DNA Collected in 1984 Solved the 32-Year-Old Case” by Claire Hayhurst and published by The Independent was very well written and extremely informative. Charlotte did a good job of introducing this case and providing lots of relevant background information that made it easier for the reader to understand the case. In addition, Charlotte did a good job of explaining the importance of DNA in forensics and this case in particular. She explains why DNA analysis is so important in investigations and the crucial role it plays in catching criminals. Lastly, Charlotte also did a good job of pointing out what the author of this piece could have done better.
While Charlotte did a good job of summarizing the article and the contents discussed there were a few things she could have done to make her review better. First, I think the review could benefit from more analysis and opinion on her part. She did a good job discussing what the article is about and what the case is. However, more of her own opinion could make her review better. In addition, I think some quotes from the article integrated into her review would help the reader fully grasp the events surrounding this case.
Overall, I found this article and review to be very engaging and informative. The big takeaway for me from this article and review was the importance of DNA in solving cases, even if the crime occurred a long time ago. I knew DNA was crucial in investigations, but I didn’t know that it could help solve decades-old cases.
Sunday Ladas
Mr. Ippolito
Forensics D-ODD
22 March 2020
Hayhurst, Claire. “How a Remarkable 32-Year-Old Murder Cold Case
Was Solved.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and
Media, 10 May 2019,
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/melanie-road-murder-how
-dna-collected-in-1984-solved-the-32-year-old-case-with-chr
istopher-hampton-a7022056.html.
https://bhscsi.blogspot.com/2020/03/charlotte-cagliostro-forensi
Cs-c-odd.html
I thought that Charlotte did a very good job writing about this current event. To begin, I thought the beginning paragraph had a really energetic and exciting feel to it. I thought that she did a really good job in writing with energy. I thought that she also did an exceptional job analyzing the writer's writing style. I thought that she brought up many points about how the article was confusing for her and then provided examples as to why it was confusing. I thought that was a very interesting observation and point. Lastly, I thought that it was really interesting how she included that she brought up another study that was previously researched that was along the same lines as the topic she was reading about now.
Charlotte does a really good job throughout the article listing the facts and everything however, I felt that she could have had a more captivating introduction. I thought this because her introduction to the reader was very factual and very dull. Even though stating facts are a good way to explain the main point of the article, I feel like it is not the most effective way to introduce a topic. I also felt that she portrayed her opinion on the article more, she briefly touched on her opinion on the article. I felt it would have been more interesting to read his point of view.
I thought that in general that this topic that Charlotte wrote about was very interesting. I thought that it was interesting information to know just in case in the future and I read an article about this topic I can remember reading about it before. I thought that this topic enlightened me about the recent problems in the environment. I thought that learning about the warming of the earth can be a topic that should be researched more and hopefully there will soon be a way to stop it.
Ruby Howell
Forensics Current Event 19
March 22nd, 2020
Mr.Ipp
Hayhurst, Claire. “How a Remarkable 32-Year-Old Murder Cold Case Was Solved.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 10 May 2019, www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/melanie-road-murder-how-dna-collected-in-1984-solved-the-32-year-old-case-with-christopher-hampton-a7022056.html.
After reading Charlotte's review of “How a Remarkable 32-Year-Old Murder Cold Case Was Solved.”, it was clear that she had a deep understanding of the article. She did an impressive job of coherently contextualizing the background of the article, while also relating it to the events that followed. Furthermore, she paid excellent attention to detail when discussing the importance of DNA analysis in relevance to solving the murder case.
Although I do believe that Charlotte wrote a quality review of the article, there were some areas that she could improve on. For example, while she was able to cut down the information discussed in the article and include the essential details, she was very vague on her description of how the DNA was taken and linked to the suspect of the crime. I also believe that if she were to include details that were emphasized within the text, her review would have more validity and strength.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article and chose it because it was interesting and was an impressive story. While I do believe there was some lack in detail in the review, I am glad that it provided a quality learning experience in addition to changing my perception of the importance of DNA analysis.
Bethany Lee
Mr. Ippolito
Forensics//EF Odd
September 14, 2021
Hayhurst, Claire. “How a Remarkable 32-Year-Old Murder Cold Case Was Solved.” The Independent, Independent Digital
News and Media, 10 May 2019, www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/melanie-road-murder-how-dna-collected-in-1984-solved-the-32-year-old-case-with-christopher-hampton-a7022056.html.
I reviewed Charlotte Cagliostro’s current event article from March 21, 2020 about an Independent article titled, “How a Remarkable 32-Year-Old Murder Cold Case Was Solved.” One aspect of her current event that was particularly well-presented was her purposeful organization: the first paragraph gives the reader insight about the murder case, the second paragraph is about the importance of DNA analysis, and the third paragraph includes her opinions on the article. Therefore, it was very easy to follow her train of thought throughout. Another idea that was very well-articulated was her succinct synopsis of the news article. She picked out the most important information that it is critical for us to know, making the crime very easy to understand. Lastly, Charlotte emphasizes the idea that using DNA analysis in criminal cases is extremely beneficial to determine the perpetrator. It was important that she did this so that the reader does not have to wonder about what the takeaway is from this article; we immediately learn that she makes the case for the importance of DNA analysis.
Although Charlotte did a great job of writing this current event, there are a couple of ways in which it could have been made better. First, it would have been more compelling in her argument for the growing relevance of DNA analysis to include other notable crimes in which criminals have been found based on their DNA. Second, I would find it helpful if she provided a brief explanation of how a national database of DNA samples functions and the legal issues behind them, if any.
Because I am not familiar with many murder cases, this article opened my eyes to the power of DNA samples in identifying a crime’s perpetrator and bringing the victim’s family to justice. I do not really think about the fact that I leave my DNA almost everywhere I go, so the idea that I could be tracked based on my DNA is a little daunting. Nevertheless, DNA analysis is such an important breakthrough in this day and age that we can all benefit from.
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