Smoking had them jailed…
In December, 2003, the town of City Bell, in Buenos Aires Province (Argentina) was shocked by a severe fire in the house of the 69 years-old carpenter Carlos Wagner. After a difficult fight against the flames, the firemen found the carbonized body of the house’s owner. The autopsy revealed that its death had not been caused by the fire or the smoke. Instead, he had been stabbed in the chest. At the timethe fire station was called for the fire, a police patrol detained two young men near the house of Wagner. They were seen dragging heavy bags that, as policemen verified, contained machines and carpentry tools. The detainees contradicted themselves when trying to explain what they were doing, so both were taken to the police station. Very soon the investigators of the case tied knots and suspected that the men had broke into Wagner’s home, killed him, took his tools and set fire to eliminate evidence. The case looked very easy in principle, but they had a hard time to find a concrete proof of culpability as the fire had swept all kinds of direct evidence such as fingerprints or hairs, making it more difficult to establish the culpability. Nevertheless, after a meticulous scanning of the place after the fire the detectives found a cigarette butt from which a DNA sample could be obtained. That sample allowed the forensic scientist to extract a genetic profile, which was compared with the DNA profiles of the alleged criminals. Samples were also taken from other people that may have visited the place, such as friends, relatives or customers of Wagner’s. The result of the study showed that the genetic pattern of the sample and one of the men’s were identical. This seemingly small piece of evidence allowed the prosecutors to elevate the accusation to a trial and provide sufficient evidence to discredit the suspects allegations.
