2014/09/29

For the first time ever, mitochondrial DNA from shed cat hair was accepted as evidence in a U.S. legal proceeding and helped to convict a suspect of murder.

The case, which will be outlined in the November issue of the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics, could set a precedent, such that pet hair may be more commonly introduced as evidence in U.S. trials.

"Dog hair has been used in both state and federal courts," co-author Beth Wictum told Discovery News. "Cases range from animal theft to animal cruelty, murder, sexual assault, bestiality, and pretty much anything you can think of."

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Wictum, who is associate director of the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory Forensics Unit at the University of California at Davis, and her colleagues analyzed the single light orange-colored cat hair that was found in one of the victim's jean pockets. The individual, from Clay County, Missouri, was found severely beaten with his throat violently lacerated to near decapitation.

Both the victim and the primary suspect lived with cats, so the cat hair by itself did not mean much, given how frequently felines shed. As any cat owner knows, strands of cat fur seem to wind up everywhere. Prior studies have demonstrated how shed cat hair can cling to everything from curtains to clothing. more