Matanzas Murder Mystery
Credit: Anastasia Pagello and the Palm Coast Observer
Can you solve a murder mystery? On November 19th, the UCF Forensic Science Association (FSA) teamed up with Matanzas High School to help students and hosted their very first “Murder Mystery at Matanzas”.
“Murder Mystery at Mantanzas” was designed as an interactive first look at the disciplines within the forensic science field, with an emphasis on crime scene analysis. The event featured an “active” crime scene, that the students were allowed to investigate and collect evidence from to discover the identity of the mystery killer.
Credit: Anastasia Pagello and the Palm Coast Observer
The lab stations had activities such as, fingerprinting, document analysis, evidence collection, bloodstain pattern analysis, and more. FSA students were stationed at each lab to work one-on-one with the students.
After the students collected their samples from the crime scene, they were given the opportunity to examine those samples under stereo microscopes and examine the blood samples with the Kastle-Meyer Test.
The Vice President of FSA, Jesus Pardo, organized the event with the help of his volunteering committee chair Alexis Weber, and President Lauren Gandy.
Lauren would like to thank Mattheu Miller, Ph.D., for the help and support he provided with the set up and implementation of the event. “Mr. Mattheu Miller, our advisor, attended the event with us, wearing his old toxicology lab coat, and not only helped transport a large portion of the materials, but also was great at communicating with the Mantanza teachers as to what was going on, [as one educational professional to another].
Erin Hanson, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry at UCF, also contributed materials and allowed FSA the use of her lab to evaluate the Kastyle-Meyer blood presumptive test reagents prior to the event. Mrs.Gloria Barton, 9-12th grade Intro to Forensics teacher, “…was our contact and she previously worked for Volusia County Medical Examiner’s (ME) office as a Forensic Investigator.”
Credit: Anastasia Pagello and the Palm Coast Observer
Around 75 students from Mantanzas attended the event. The event was also attended by the Flagler County CSI unit, who spoke earlier that day about crime scene investigation.
The Palm Coast Observer covered the event and featured it on their website.
To read the Palm Coast Observer article click here.