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.