Brendan Chapman

• Bachelor of Science
• Academic Chair at Murdoch University

The quiet rest of the warrior: a story of life, death, taphonomy and bone diagenesis Abstract The history of archaeological human skeletal remains housed in museum collections can, over time, remain mysterious and in need of closure. Multidisciplinary expert collaborations can assist in the reconstruction of at least part of the history of these el...

In forensic science, detecting transfers of physical and biological material is critical for establishing evidence of criminal involvement. Unique bacterial signatures from the reproductive system transfer during unprotected penetrative intercourse offer a novel tool for criminal investigation. Here, we demonstrate this transfer using full-length 1...

Extended reality (XR) devices, including virtual and augmented reality head-mounted displays (HMDs), are increasingly utilised within healthcare to provide clinical interventions and education. Currently, XR devices are utilised to assist in reducing pain and improving psychological outcomes for immunocompromised patients in intensive care units, p...

Learning Overview: After attending this presentation, attendees will have gained a better understanding of the genital microbiomes and its potential for forensic application. Impact Statement: This presentation will impact the forensic science community by presenting support for genital microbiomes as potential evidence in sexual assault evidence i...

Cold case review of large-scale homicide and sexual assault cases requires extensive human resources to pore over often thousands of pages of documentation to find an unexploited opportunity. Many law enforcement agencies have dedicated cold case units, housing investigators and sometimes forensic or criminology expertise, however they are rarely e...

Being fatigued can make driving far more dangerous then it otherwise is; about 20% of road fatalities can be attributed to fatigue, however it is difficult to combat this danger as suitable methods to assess fatigue levels are not available. The discovery of a biomarker of fatigue, ideally in saliva, could form the basis of a method for police to i...

Current Forensic DNA analysis practices are broken down into a series of linear steps which follow the process from field sampling to interpretation of the results. The initial step of collecting any sample from a crime scene most often involves using a swab, which is then sent to the laboratory to be processed. In many cases, the laboratory then n...

In the wake of a crime, efficient sampling is vital for optimizing forensic DNA analysis. This is particularly true when dealing with low or trace amounts of DNA, especially considering the loss that samples are exposed to during downstream processes. In this study, the efficacy of certain techniques, as well as the performance of these techniques...

Forensic DNA sampling requires personnel trained in sampling methodologies and access to specialised forensic equipment such as swabs and forensic tapes to acquire cellular material from which DNA samples can be analysed. Access to forensic equipment may not always be available though, particularly in scenarios wherein a covert operative is require...

Fluvial forensic taphonomy is an understudied topic, and most of what has been researched involves the decomposition of human bodies and the transport of human skulls. This can be due to the practical difficulties of accessing skeletal remains, human or non-human, archaeological or recent, with an undisputed taphonomic history involving the exposit...

In Australia, police reporting of sexual assault has increased 13% since 2020. While sexual assault is on the rise, our ability to detect male perpetrator through autosomal DNA analysis has barely improved. Evidence collected by specialized sexual assault clinics varies but includes samples such as urine, saliva, blood, and numerous swabs including...

The detection and recovery of male DNA post-assault is important in sexual assault investigations, particularly where an offender is unknown to the victim. The collection of DNA evidence often occurs when the female victim undergoes a forensic medical assessment. Analysis regularly results in mixed autosomal DNA profiles with both victim and perpet...

Violence in serial homicide is a complex and dynamic part of an offender’s behavior. This chapter explores how aggressive and violent behavior is a part of serial homicide and the escalation of aggression to violence. The organized/disorganized dichotomy of serial killers and reactive and proactive aggression is used to help explain different types...

Sexual assault can be one of the most personally violating and horrific acts enacted on an individual, second only to murder. Forensic science has constantly evolved to become more equipped to respond to these offenses- yet there are still opportunities for advancement. This article describes the forensic processes from the outset of a sexual assau...

In recent years, students in police academies and higher education institutions around the world have worked together to analyse cold cases including long-term missing persons cases in collaboration with investigators and prosecutors. In 2020, three European organisations, the Police Expert Network on Missing Persons (PEN-MP), AMBER Alert Europe an...

Learning Overview: Upon attending this presentation, attendees will gain insight into the forensic applications of immunomagnetic cell isolation. Impact Statement: This presentation will impact the forensic science community by presenting support for novel applications of sperm-specific antibodies in the use of testing sexual assault evidence. Inti...

Learning Overview: Upon the conclusion of this presentation, attendees will understand the current analytical techniques and future direction for the application of phenomics to forensic fingerprint evidence in the investigative landscape. Impact Statement: This presentation will impact the forensic community by raising awareness of the field of fo...

Open-source intelligence (OSINT) is a technique involving the use of publicly available information for the purpose of addressing a specific intelligence issue. Open-source, user-reported data on ecstasy pills was extracted from a clear-web site known as Pill Reports (available at www.pillreports.net) and analysed to establish whether drug intellig...

The majority of geographical profiling research focuses on the relationship between offender and location, which works particularly well when a burial site is known. In real-world investigations, however, burial or dump sites are often not known. The aim of the current paper is to outline a relatively under-used method of geographic profiling: Wint...

Osseous remains provide forensic anthropologists with morphological and osteometric information that can be used in building a biological profile. By conducting a visual and physical examination, an anthropologist can infer information such as the sex and age of the deceased. Traditionally, morphological and osteometric information is gathered by p...

Many factors affect the solvability of homicides, including body disposal location and time between death and recovery. The aim of this exploratory study was to probe a number of spatiotemporal variables for trends across a subset of solved homicide case data from 54 North American serial killers, active between 1920 and 2016 (125 solved cases) to...

Learning Overview: After attending this presentation, attendees will understand the current problem within digital forensic data analysis in relation to the retrieval of text messages due to advancements in encryption in order to protect the privacy of the users. To combat this problem, current research has proposed a way to utilize the CCTV and de...

Learning Overview: The goal of this presentation is to showcase another investigative tool for crime linkage by using facial biometrics of serial killer victims. Impact on the Forensic Science Community: This presentation will impact the forensic science community by introducing new techniques to investigators in serial killer cases when all other...

Learning Overview: The goal of this presentation is to inform attendees of sexual assault case relevance and confidence in the determination of a sexual act. Impact on the Forensic Science Community: This presentation will impact the forensic science community by developing scientific confidence in sexual assault case reports in determining that a...

In forensic laboratories, increased extraction efficiency of trace evidence is paramount because analytical success is intrinsically dependent on the quantity of DNA recovered. Moreover, highly concentrated nucleic acids are vital for effective downstream analysis and high quality results. This study investigated the efficiency of extraction with t...

Currently, forensic investigators utilise various types of swabs and tape lifts to recover cellular material from coarse surfaces identified during a criminal investigation. However, a number of challenges prevent successful recovery and therefore warrants the need for an alternative method. Plasti dip® is peel-off rubber coating that can be applie...

Some sexually motivated serial killers target victims on the basis of appearance. Therefore, multiple victims of a single serial killer are likely to have some facial features and geometries that are similar. The current research was undertaken to propose a technique, termed face similarity linkage, to evaluate whether victims of a serial killer ha...

Law enforcement officers in the USA have one of the highest lethal force rates in the world. A shortcoming of previous research on the use of force is that officer-subject encounters are observed as static events, and not a complex escalation of behaviours. Behaviour sequence analysis can identify common pathways that show chains of behaviours occu...

Crowdsourcing and crowdfunding have been successfully used in a range of scientific disciplines and present opportunities for forensic researchers to draw on the power of large numbers of people to contribute to research projects through participation or by providing an alternative source of funding. This review aimed to examine whether contributor...

A review was undertaken of the developments made with integrating forensic evidence into the analytical process to support police investigations. Evidence such as DNA, fingerprints, fibers, accelerants, tyre marks, and so forth, can support to differing degrees the various working theories or hypotheses about the nature of the alleged crime, the pe...

Purpose Cold case review teams and the processes that they adopt in their endeavour to solve historic crimes are varied and largely underreported. Of the limited literature surrounding the topic of cold case reviews, the focus is on clearance rates and the selection of cases for review. While multiple reports and reviews have been undertaken and re...

In an applied criminology context, recent meta-analyses and randomized control trials have demonstrated the benefits of targeting police patrols at hot spots or concentrations of street level crime and disorder. This study asked a group of 79 police officers from Perth to make a prediction, based on their experience, of where hot spots of crime wou...

The recently extinct New Zealand adzebills (Aptornithidae, Aptornis spp.) were an enigmatic group of large flightless birds that have long eluded precise taxonomic assignment as they do not closely resemble any extant birds. Adzebills were nearly wingless, weighed approximately 16–19 kg, and possessed massive adze-like reinforced bills whose functi...

The secondary transfer of DNA has become an increasingly common scenario, allowing an individual’s DNA to exist at a crime scene when they were not present. With an increase of knowledge, it has become more common in the court system where defendants rely on the possibility of indirect transfer as an explanation for the presence of their DNA. This...

Firearm-related exhibits are often found at crime scenes. These exhibits may include the firearm, cartridges, cartridges cases or bullets. As ammunition needs to be handled to load the weapon, regardless of the action or loading type, DNA may be deposited onto the ammunition via touch. As reproducible DNA profiles have been obtained from fired cart...

In many sexual assault cases, the most common evidence gathered comes in the form of intimate swabs. These swabs contain cells from both the female and male. In these cases the most common cell present is epithelial cells from the female with relatively few spermatozoa from the male. To produce an STR DNA profile suitable for an investigation, sepa...

As DNA sequencing technology advances, in-field genome sequencing capabilities are being explored, utilized and validated. With the assistance of such advances, forensic DNA processing is at the dawn of an era of mobile analyses, as a supplement to the ‘bricks and mortar’ lab model that it is current practice. The prospect of getting a preliminary...

Many terrorist attacks employ the use of improvised explosive devices such as pipe bombs. In these circumstances, the perpetrator may be absent from the scene, necessitating the need for a quick resolution. Forensic DNA analysis is one of the key disciplines utilized to identify possible offenders in terror-related crimes; however, its success in p...

Biological evidence that can generate a DNA profile is considered highly important evidence in sexual assault cases. As ejaculate evidence is unlikely to be found on intimate swabs after 24 hours, textile evidence is of significant importance in such cases. Fabric garments may be exposed to water, potentially to remove evidence, or due to the locat...

In sexual assault cases and more specifically those involving childhood sexual abuse (CSA), victims may have had their potentially semen-stained clothing washed multiple times before a criminal investigation commences. Although it has been previously demonstrated that spermatozoa persist on cotton clothing following a single wash cycle, items of cl...