Blood test kit key to murder case

With the help of a newly acquired test kit, detectives at Kenya’s Directorate of Criminal Investigations are now able to link suspects to criminal activities. The Kastle-Meyer test gives a positive or negative reaction to the presence of blood at a crime scene and can link suspects and weapons to the scene. The Daily Nation reports that the kit uses a chemical indicator, phenolphthalein, to detect the possible presence of blood in a specimen. Police have used the kit to link two suspects, Benjamin Odhiambo and Vincent Owuor, to a murder in a remote village in Siaya County in November. The suspects are accused of intentionally driving over the victim and the incident was initially reported a ‘hit and run’. The investigating officer was able to link the suspects to the crime by discovering ‘dried blood and brain matter’ under the vehicle several days later.

Full report in The Nation