Finding fingerprints on fired bullet casings used to seem impossible. However, researchers at Maynooth University in Ireland have made a significant breakthrough.
They found a way to recover fingerprints from heated bullet cases, revealing fine details like pores and ridges. This could help identify a shooter, even though their tests involved heating bullets in a furnace, not firing them from a gun.
“Retrieving prints from fired ammunition has always been the ‘Holy Grail’ of forensic science,” says chemist Eithne Dempsey. Traditionally, the extreme heat from firing destroys most biological material. But her technique uncovers fingerprint details that would typically go unnoticed.
Dempsey and her former PhD student, Colm McKeever, have developed a method that may also bring hidden biological residues to light. This opens up the possibility that some evidence remains intact after a bullet is fired, much like revealing invisible ink.
Using a special chemical solution and a small electrical charge, they can enhance fingerprints—even those on casings that were touched and heated over a year ago. “We can use the material left on the casing as a stencil, allowing us to visualize the prints,” explains McKeever, who now works at the Technological University of the Shannon.
The researchers are excited but know more tests are needed. They want to see if the technique works with bullets actually fired from a gun. Some studies indicate that gases from gunfire might erase fingerprints, not just the high temperatures.
While this new method is promising, forensic experts caution that challenges still exist. The search for the ultimate way to recover fingerprints from fired ammunition is ongoing.
This research was published in Forensic Chemistry.
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