Richard and Selma Eikelenboom

This is an article about a cold case from 1985. The victim's mother wants the Eikelenbooms to use touch DNA to help find the killer, but at the time of the article, August, 2009, the Eikelenbooms had not yet received the necessary certification in order to do the testing. I think this is the whole problem (besides the out of country thing) that the State has with these people.

A Burnsville mother won't let her daughter's murder case go cold
A newly released 911 call brings fresh, chilling attention to a 1985 killing in N.Y.

By ALEX EBERT, Star Tribune
Last update: August 13, 2009 - 9:41 AM

~ Snipped and BBM ~

In recent months, O'Connell has struggled with the New York State Health Department in her effort to get new scientists to review the scant evidence. After renowned Dutch forensic scientists Selma and Richard Eikelenboom agreed to analyze the evidence for "touch DNA," O'Connell said she thought she had caught a break. They had taken tiny particles left at crime scenes and solved several famous cold cases throughout the United States.

Seneca County agreed to pay the $10,000 to $30,000 it would cost for testing, but the health department won't release the evidence to the Eikelenbooms because they don't have the special certification required by state rules.

"At this time we are still awaiting their application," department spokesperson Jeffery Hammond said. Another New York laboratory, Bode Technology Group, is certified to do the work, he said.

http://www.startribune.com/local/53083902.html

Contact DNA testing

Posted on September 27th, 2010 by Valhall

Richard Eikelenboom is the expert Casey Anthony’s defense team would like to perform additional DNA testing on the laundry bag and shorts found with Caylee’s remains. Richard and his wife, Selma, are Dutch forensic scientists who started their own business, Independent Forensic Sciences, a few years back in the Netherlands. They specialize in several areas of forensics including trace evidence, bloodstain analysis, and DNA testing. The type of testing that Casey’s team wants performed by Eikelenboom is referred to as “touch DNA”, or “contact DNA” testing.

Contact DNA testing involves attempting to obtain blood, sperm, saliva, sweat or epithelial cells, (i.e. skin cells) that belong to a perpetrator and were transferred to a victim or an item of or connected with the murder of the victim during the commission of the crime. In other words, when you touch something or someone you almost invariably transfer some amount of yourself (cells) to that surface. In the case of skin cells the issue is that they usually are very problematic in producing a full DNA profile unless you get a significant amount. But if you can get enough of them and you perform an adequate number of cycles of amplification, you have a chance of producing a usable profile for DNA identification. (Please see my former articles pertaining to nuclear DNA testing and mitochondrial DNA testing to refresh your memory on how DNA testing is performed.)

Read more: http://www.thehinkymeter.com/2010/09/27/caylee-anthony-case-contact-dna-testing/

Richard Hornsby's take on touch DNA, as well as a couple of other things.....

DNA Tests Must be Done in US, Says Judge

Posted by Carlin DeGuerin Miller
September 28, 2010 1:26 PM

ORLANDO, Fla. (CBS) Casey Anthony's defense team filed a motion Friday to allow Dutch experts to do additional DNA testing in the young mother's trial for the murder of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee, but was told the testing has to stay stateside, according to a report.

In a newly filed defense motion Casey Anthony's lawyers argued that Richard Eiekelenboom's Dutch lab, Independent Forensic Services, has sophisticated technology not available in most U.S. labs, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Defense attorneys Jose Baez and Cheney Mason also argued that all 15 Florida based labs were directly affiliated with law enforcement and therefore were potentially biased against the defense, the paper reported.

"In order to conduct truly independent forensic testing many lawyers have relied on experts from areas of academia or former law enforcement to test evidence and draw away from the inherently biased approach of law enforcement only testing," the motion states.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20017873-504083.html

Info on the E's.... (They call their little lab at their farm the "Crime Farm":

Sheriff Looks to "Crime Farm" for Clues
Missouri Investigator Hopes Technology Pioneered by Dutch Forensics Experts Sheds Light on Mischelle Lawless' Killer
March 16, 2010
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/16/48hours/main6304279.shtml

Web Extra: Inside The Crime Farm
March 16, 2010 10:18 AM
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6304404n&tag=related;photovideo#ixzz10rb49bnh

AJ, I agree that this technology has the potential to be very beneficial in solving cases in the future. I only hope that it is used properly... and that juries listen carefully about the technology until more is known about it. Just like when DNA was first introduced into trials. I would hate to see someone like JB and his clan screw things up for scientists for the foreseeable future.

Interesting article on the E's, albiet older......

CSI: FOR HIRE
THE DEATH-OBSESSED COUPLE REVOLUTIONIZING DNA SCIENCE

By MAUREEN CALLAHAN
Last Updated: 3:52 AM, December 14, 2008
Posted: 3:52 AM, December 14, 2008

In 2005, they founded Independent Forensic Services out of their home. Every room, aside from the bedroom and bathroom, is lab space. The Eikelenbooms rarely have people over; they can't risk contaminating any evidence, and there is no place to eat or drink. But they like it this way - staging crime scenes all day, working on DNA recovery and lab analysis, then curling up in bed at night to watch their favorite shows: "Law & Order" and "CSI." (Richard just bought a new microscope used by an investigator on a recent episode of "CSI.")

"Our last holiday was two years ago," Richard says. They spent three days in Belgium with their lab work. "I know it's not healthy." They have two German shepherds and a cat, but no children. "I've seen too many dead children," Richard says. "It rips you apart. With children - it's too much."

The Eikelenbooms may present their findings in their second US case as early as this week: they were recently hired by the defense lawyer for another Colorado man, Tim Kennedy, who has served 13 years for a double homicide and is seeking a new trial. "This case is at least as spectacular as the Masters case," says Kennedy's lawyer John Dicke, who was referred to the Eikelenbooms by Masters' defense attorney. "They are the most diligent, painstaking skin cell research team you could hope to find."

While here, the Eikelenbooms will also be looking at houses in Colorado; their goal is to be based in the States full-time. "America is much bigger; you have more cases, and more interesting cases," says Richard. "People can go from state to state to kill and dump. In Holland, we have 16 million people living in a 50x100 mile area - it's hard to dump a body."

"Plus," Selma says, "your houses in the States are so huge."

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/item_cFtlsWfOk57J93gB3DJt7O/1#ixzz118eZEZIS