Localization of DNA on a dishcloth used as a strangulation tool allowed perpetrator identification within a family Isabella Spinetti a , Chiara Toni a , Silvano Presciuttini b, * , Ranieri Domenici a a Unit of Legal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy b Inherited Disease Research Branch, NHGRI, NIH, Baltimore, MD, USA Abstract. A case report of a domestic murder is presented. The victim was strangled with a kitchen cloth; the suspect, victim’s ex-husband, who still frequented the house, admitted of having used that cloth, though to dry his hands only. The pattern of DNA amplified from the cloth, belonging to both victim and suspect, allowed suspect’s version to be rejected. D 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V. Keywords: Strangulation; DNA pattern; STR 1. Introduction In cases of strangulation by ligature, it is often possible to extract DNA of both the victim and the assailant from the tool used in the homicide [1,2]. In the case presented here, the dead body of a woman 37 years old was found on the floor of her bedroom whit a dishcloth knotted around her neck. Postmortem examination ascribed death to asphyxia. The last individual to see her alive was her ex-husband. He admitted to have had an altercation with her, from which he had suffered some scratches (he showed finger nail scratches on his face), but denied any involvement in the homicide. He also claimed to have used a kitchen cloth to wipe his hands, so that it was not unlikely that his DNA could be found on the body of evidence. 2. Materials and methods DNA was extracted from blood and nails of the victim, from a cigarette butt smoked by the suspect, and from samples of the cloth. In particular, small fragments were obtained from the cloth edges clutched by the murderer, whereas other fragments were randomly taken from the center and from the two other edges. DNA was extracted using the QIAamp DNA mini kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany). We use Profiler plus AND Cofiler plus kit for the 0531-5131/ D 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V. doi:10.1016/S0531-5131(03)01642-X * Corresponding author. Postal address: Via Roma no. 55, Scuola Medica, U.O. Medicina Legale, 56126 Pisa, Italy. Tel.: +39-50-560527; fax: +39-50-560677. E-mail address: ranieri@biomed.unipi.it (R. Domenici). www.ics-elsevier.com International Congress Series 1261 (2004) 497 – 498