Blood From Mosquito Traps Car Thief

Frosty Piss writes "Police in Finland have made an arrest for car theft based on a DNA sample taken from the blood found inside a mosquito. 'A police patrol carried out an inspection of the car and they noticed a mosquito that had sucked blood. It was sent to the laboratory for testing, which showed the blood belonged to a man who was in the police registers,' a police officer told reporters. The suspect, who has been interrogated, has insisted he did not steal the car, saying he had hitchhiked and was given a lift by a man driving the car. I'm wondering if the suspect should have denied any association with the car at all. After all, who knows where that mosquito had been?"

Comments

I can see it now:

[Ethanol-fueled]

[ Intro to latest CSI: Miami episode as ripped from the headlines: ]

Police officer: "We were able to extract the suspect's blood from a mosquito found in the car."

David Caruso: "Heh heh heh..."

David Caruso: "SUCKERRRRR!"

[ YEAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! ]

Re:I can see it now:

[mikesd81]

Grissom from the original CSI was the bug guy...infact in a few episodes they got DNA from maggots.

Re:I can see it now:

[davester666]

Of all the CSI characters, the one David Caruso does is by far the worst.

Who the hell walks up to anybody, and ALWAYS turns their body 45 degree's so they have to then turn their head to have a conversation? I mean, besides David Caruso.

I think he has a minimum number of 'pose' shots written into his contract, because that's all he does every episode.

Re:I can see it now:

[coolsnowmen]

Well, in defense of the idea, when I've met people who have been combat trained (military/cops), they have a hard time turning it "off," even amongst family and friends.

Do not try to 'sneak up' on an army ranger; their phasers, I mean reflexes, are set to kill.

Re:I can see it now:

[mollymoo]

Are cops also trained to insert a needless dramatic pause and moody look every five seconds? Thanks to David Caruso's constant posing, for a long time I thought CSI:Miami was a parody of Zoolander.

Re:I can see it now:

[10bellies]

Who buys that ultra-nationalist, self-righteous, moralist crap?

Americans?

Re:I can see it now:

[Tanktalus]

Oh, he's good. He's really good...

Of course, he's no Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris can stand at a 45 degree angle to everyone at the same time.

Those Finns are dedicated

[religious freak]

My girlfriend's car was stolen a number of years ago, and when it was recovered, the police weren't even interested in taking fingerprints, despite the fact that there was damage inside the car and property was stolen out of it.

Good for you, Finland.

Re:Those Finns are dedicated

[Anonymous Coward]

My girlfriend

[citation needed]

Re:Those Finns are dedicated

[CorporateSuit]

My girlfriend's car was stolen a number of years ago, and when it was recovered, the police weren't even interested in taking fingerprints, despite the fact that there was damage inside the car and property was stolen out of it.

Good for you, Finland.

Not like Finnish police have anything better to do. There are no good donut shops in Finland.

Re:Those Finns are dedicated

[religious freak]

Seriously. She's my wife now. I was very young when I met her... This is our first date

(DISCLAIMER: I don't actually know this site, but pulling up the jpg seemed safe enough for me)

Re:Those Finns are dedicated

[Finallyjoined!!!]

Agree, my car was stolen, whilst parked next to an occupied Police car, I was only away from it for about 10 minutes. Did I get any assistance? Nope. They "Didn't see anything". Good old Hampshire Constabulary.

I got it back about 3 weeks later, well "got it back" isn't quite accurate, it was a burnt out wreck. Guess who had to pay for it to be removed.

Re:Those Finns are dedicated

[rolfwind]

Hire your own investigator. Don't make me pay for it in taxes.

Yes, you tell that to murder victims as well? Extreme people like you give libertarianism a bad rap. One of the tenets of libertarianism is that the government protects individual and property rights - in this case a stolen car is definitely a violation of property rights and a rightful duty of the government.

The other aspects of this idea aren't even worth to try discussing, a complete nonstarter.

Re:Those Finns are dedicated

[daem0n1x]

Cool, let's just drop police altogether and hire a bunch of thugs to protect us. Then we can happily go back to the Middle Ages.

Re:Those Finns are dedicated

[Miseph]

Although it gives me an interesting idea... see, I live just south of a large Libertarian enclave (let's just call it "New Hampshire") with vastly inferior numbers and resources than my own place of residence (we'll pretend it's Massachusetts), as well as holding a close political and ideological alliance with our common neighbor (that would be Vermont). My proposal is that we test their dedication to the abolition of federal government by raising a large militia, possibly including high priced Carolinian mercenaries, and looting the shit out of them. It will be the ultimate test: their lax gun regulations versus our actual ability to purchase weapons and possession of at least two active military bases... I expect the conflict to be almost as epic and drawn out as the invasion of Iraq.

Re:Those Finns are dedicated

[Grimbleton]

Not quite on the same thread, my car died on me on the way to work Saturday, right in front of a State Trooper.

Instead of finding out if I was okay when I didn't immediately move from the stop light when it turned green, he laid on his horn and pulled around me angrily and nearly spun his tires going around me glaring at me.

Then when I pushed it off the road into a parking spot (Watched by another trooper) and went home for our other car to jump start it (Alternator died on me, didn't take long to diagnose on the side of the road.) and drove it home, I came back to a parking ticket on the car I used to jump it when I came back for it ten minutes later (Walking, in 3* weather both to get the other car, and to get back to the first car, mind you.)

To Protect and Serve... who, exactly?

Re:Those Finns are dedicated

[Grimbleton]

I don't think you quite understand what would happen when you attack a free state where many people are armed on a daily basis.

Re:Those Finns are dedicated

[Duradin]

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance and all that but damn is being eternally vigilant impossible.

Sleeping with a pistol on the nightstand with one in the chamber and the safety off gets old quick.

I'm all for the second amendment, don't get me wrong. But going the gunslinger route leaves you open to the inevitable demise of that lifestyle, eventually you let your guard down and you get dealt the deadman's hand. One of the basic foundations of civilization is mutual defense. If you had everyone in a city always in hyper-vigilance mode because they had to be you wouldn't have a city for very long.

Re:Those Finns are dedicated

[c6gunner]

Oh, don't get me wrong - I'm not some lonely survivalist nut living off the land in the forests of Montana. I know that cooperative behaviour is a necessity for our species. Without it, not only would we not enjoy our current standard of living, but we'd have a tough time just surviving. The majority of complex species exhibit cooperative behaviour to one extent or another, so it's clearly a major factor for survivability.

All I'm saying is that the primary purpose of the government is NOT to look after you, the individual. The first duty of the government is always to protect the group as a whole. If that means they have to declare martial law and oppress the innocent along with the guilty, well sucks to be you. If it means they have to nuke your city to stop a deadly contagion from spreading, sorry, better luck in your next life. And if it means they can't send police to save you from some axe-weilding maniac because they're busy trying to control a riot on the other side of the city, you'll be wishing you'd taken advantage of your second amendment rights.

So no, I'm not advocating a tooth-and-nail kill-or-be-killed approach to life, but I do believe in being prepared. Owning firearms might not protect me in all situations, but it will raise my overall odds of survival. Having a small vegetable garden and a well-stocked cellar might not let me survive indefinitely, but it'll provide resources to help me in case of emergencies. Being self-sufficient to whatever extent is practical means I probably won't need to depend on the benevolence of strangers in emergencies, and may even be able to help others. It's something that every adult should strive for, yet the majority of people seem content to just live their lives and hope that someone will be there to protect them when things go wrong. It really saddens me to see grown human beings willingly turning themselves into wards of the nanny-state.

Re:Those Finns are dedicated

[frenchbedroom]

nope, they're called "munkit" (plural, singular is munkki). It also means "monk" in finnish, as you can see from the link.

Re:Those Finns are dedicated

[neomunk]

Incidental Redundancy?

Re:Those Finns are dedicated

[Silentknyght]

My girlfriend's car was stolen a number of years ago, and when it was recovered, the police weren't even interested in taking fingerprints, despite the fact that there was damage inside the car and property was stolen out of it.

Good for you, Finland.

No shit. My car was--"hotwired" and stolen--used as a getaway car for the criminal or criminals, who had stolen several thousand dollars worth of stereos & merchandise (not even counting the damage caused) from cars in a locked garage at my apartment complex.

There were used cigarettes (I don't smoke), a grimy bandanna, and other periphenalia in the car, and the cops didn't do jack shit. I want to move to Finland.

Re:Those Finns are dedicated

[foniksonik]

Hmm I think really that the rest of us just simply have better things to do with our time.

Sure we could grow a vegetable garden just in case everything goes to shit someday and we need veggies to survive - but the opportunity cost is quite high for most as it would mean purchasing more land in an area more remote from where we work.

Owning a gun likewise means a lot of responsibility - if you intend to actually know how to use it, and to ensure that it is in condition to be used.

Life is full of choices which come down to opportunity costs... time, money, commitment, reputation and quality of life are all considered.

Re:Those Finns are dedicated

[BarefootClown]

To Protect and Serve... who, exactly?

A revenue stream.

Too many factors

[ZephyrXero]

I could see the mosquito based evidence as enough to consider him a suspect, maybe even to get a search warrant perhaps (although that's already a stretch), but by no means should this even remotely count towards conviction as that mosquito could have come from almost anywhere. Still if finding the DNA in the mosquito leads them to find actual evidence, I suppose it's okay.

Re:Too many factors

[Nefarious Wheel]

...that mosquito could have come from almost anywhere...

Considering the medium, it could have come from a tax official.

Re:Too many factors

[_Sprocket_]

Did you just insult mosquitoes?

Re:Too many factors

[Restil]

It was enough to question the guy, who admitted having been in the car, so the mosquito has proven to be a positive lead. Of course, the mosquito does not explain WHY the guy was in the car, but he could have left behind his wallet with ID and still used the same story.

-Restil

Re:Too many factors

[MikeUW]

I doubt the investigators who questioned the guy said to him 'we found a mosquito with your blood in it...care to explain?'.

More likely they would have said 'we have DNA evidence that places you in the car...care to explain?'.

At which point, the guy probably is thinking they've got something indisputable...so he tells/makes up his story.

Re:Too many factors

[jadavis]

by no means should this even remotely count towards conviction as that mosquito could have come from almost anywhere

Huh? It's called "circumstantial evidence".

1. Car was stolen.
2. They identified someone who was not the owner, and associated him with the car.

There could be a million completely reasonable stories about how it arrived there, so it's not "proof beyond a reasonable doubt". However, it is real evidence, and the jury can weigh it along with everything else.

Similarly, if you find a murder weapon in someone's car, they might not have done it. Maybe they are being framed. Maybe it was stolen, used, and put back. However, that's for the jury to sort out.

Re:Too many factors

[VJ42]

Yes you do except (under certain circumstances) a jury can adversely infer things if you use it. However, no conviction can be wholly based on silence.

In other words, the jury is allowed to think "he's not telling us why he was at the murder scene, he's got something to hide". I expect juries in the USA do this subconsciously (even if they're not meant to). I see no problem with officially codifying the areas where inferences such as these are acceptible.

Libelous story title?

[HTH NE1]

Shouldn't the story title contain the word "alleged"? As of this posting it does not.

Re:Libelous story title?

[Daimanta]

Someone who disapproves of a witch hunt?! He must be one of them! Tie him to an anker and see if this wickedness floats or not!

Re:Libelous story title?

[retech]

No, it was an actual mosquito.

Don't you pay attention to Grisom?

[Anachragnome]

Its not just the fact that the persons DNA was extracted from the mosquito, but that it had not yet expelled it as waste. It wasn't digested if it still contained DNA usable for testing.

This means that they had a timeframe from which to work. Where was dude while buggy critter was digesting his blood? No alibi? Hah!

anker?

[commodoresloat]

how do you tie someone to 8-1/2 gallons of liquid??

Re:anker?

[Daimanta]

Step 1. Write a comment with a spelling mistake
Step 2. Attempt to correct said spelling mistake
Step 3. Fail to correct said spelling mistake
Step 4. ????
Step 5. Profit

Now if only I figure out step 4, I could make millions of spelling mistakes and then retire comfortably.

Re:Just one observation

[commodoresloat]

True, there were plenty of bloodsuckers on the OJ Simpson legal staff, but I'm not sure how testing their DNA would have helped much.

Blabbing Mosquito Bastards!

[curmudgeon99]

I knew I couldn't trust those Skeeters! They swore they just wanted a taste of the red stuff. A now look, turning states evidence! Little blood-thieving bastards!

Jurrasic Park

[deft]

Seems like a simple case...

extract blood
grow clone
compare characteristics
???
justice!

can i add one more bullet?
make raptors!

Why didn't they waterboard the mosquito?

[PolygamousRanchKid]

Maybe he would have talked?

Or maybe the poor critter is enjoying a vacation at a resort in Cuba now.

Re:Just one observation

[Fluffeh]

Everyone is missing the VITAL question here!

Did the mosquito live?!

mozzies in Finland?

[memnock]

damn, global warning is worse than i thought.

Re:Why does /. always side with the crook?

[theaveng]

>>>Yes he fucking did it - presumption of innocence is for juries, not Slashdot denizens.

We presume innocence because many of us have been screwed by the government "knowing you fucking did it" even though we were completely innocent of the crime. There are lots of holes in the case. Here's one:

- Was the mosquito flying around & sucking blood from pedestrians BEFORE it entered the car?

If so the mosquito contains blood from completely innocent people. Another hole is whether the police are honest or not. It's been known that police will lie in order to convict a subject. I worked with one who often went to jury trials and claimed, "I saw him shoplift the clothing," even though my police friend admitted he saw nothing.

Question everything, especially governments, which have a multi-thousand year history of suppressing individual liberty.

Why was his DNA in the system?

[pembo13]

I'm more concerned as to why his DNA was in the system at all. The article didn't seem to say.

Re:Why was his DNA in the system?

[da_matta]

Currently the system consist of "known associates" of the police. In practice you can get included if you are accused of a crime with potential punishment over six months in jail. And in Finland you can't get that from minor stuff like stealing a tv or downloading mp3's.

In the land of Texas

[JavaManJim]

If that mosquito with its DNA and that miscreant were here in TX, this person would never get indicted for car theft. Here if they find fingerprints its probably much like the mosquito DNA. Those only mean the person was IN the car. The DA will happily file "possession" of a stolen vehicle. Its rarely "theft" because its difficult to prove someone stole the car.

So "possession" is really what we should be discussing here. That's way down on the proof scale.

The only regular automobile thefts that are indicted here are those bait cars that the police leave parked here and there. They have video and remote turn off.

Jim

Re:In the land of Texas

[Ma8thew]

Firstly, as people have said previously in the thread, the mosquito digests the DNA in the blood within hours of eating it. That implies that the suspect was in the car recently. Secondly, the DNA provides a lead, even if it cannot later be used as actual evidence.

Re:Advocating lying?

[corsec67]

No, the suspect shouldn't have talked to the police at all. Never talk to police, consent to any kind of search, or offer anything that you aren't legally required to.

It can't help you.

Don't just take my word, how about a law professor and a cop?

Nonsense,

[unassimilatible]

Wow. You are one fucked up asshole

Yeah, and my daddy can beat up your daddy. Grow up, dude. Don't say things anonymously on the Internet wouldn't say to someone's face if you want to be taken seriously.

I make a general policy not to reply to people without the juevos to post using their Slashdot names, but your self-righteous, inaccurate flame deserves a smackdown.

Innocent until proven guilty is a foundational tenet of a free society. It is not just some technical consideration for juries -- it is the safety net whereby individuals are protected from wrongful punishment due to the wrath of society.

Nonsense. Where are these "foundational tenets" listed so I can learn them? Certainly not in the Constitution. I am a free-thinking person, and I do not have to pretend reality didn't happen. The media and the defense bar in America might have fooled you, but innocent until proven guilty does not apply to me so long as I am not on jury service.

If a guy looks weird or scary when I am walking at night, I cross the street to the other side. If I get a bad vibe about a person, I don't do business with him. I wouldn't want my 11-year-old boy going over to Michael Jackson's house to play on his rides, because he is a fucking pedophile, regardless of what any jury says. I wouldn't want my daughter dating OJ Simpson, because he is a fucking murderer, regardless of what a jury says - and I strongly suspect you wouldn't either.

The innocent-until proven guilty system, as well as other aspects of American criminal procedure, are just that - procedures, not substantive law - to protect the innocent. The US criminal justice system would rather let 10 guilty people go free than 1 innocent be convicted, since putting someone in a cage (or killing them, in rare cases) is a very serious thing. But innocent until proven guilty was never intended to prevent societal ostracization. That's what free thinking people do when they think someone is a bad person - just like your juvenile post tried to do with me.

BTW, IAAL; in fact I teach law, and I make this exact point in my classes. The police, the prosecutors, people watching TV, all do not have to presume anyone innocent. In fact, police and prosecutors must presume you guilty (i.e., believe they have probable cause you committed a crime) if they arrest you, otherwise it would be a felony for them to do so! Only the jury and trial judge must presume a defendant innocent.

And why can't I, free-thinking guy, use the same probable cause the police did to arrest and the prosecutor did to charge, and think the guy is guilty, so long as I am not a juror? Do I really need to sit in the courtroom as a jury to understand reality? Most times, jurors hear less about a case than the general public (e.g., the low speed chase in the OJ case). I can draw my own conclusions about people. Employers, potential dates, school admissions officers, customers all make these evaluations of people every day. But I can't about some guy who has his blood inside a mosquito locked inside a stolen car?

Stop feeling and start thinking.

Re:So all I need to do to implicate someone ...

[Myrddin Wyllt]

That is something I have often wondered about regarding DNA evidence - given how easy it is to obtain just about anyone's DNA without their knowledge or consent, and then grow as much of it as you want, should it ever be used as evidence in court?

What is to stop criminals lacing a crime scene with an innocent person's DNA, or that of hundreds of innocent people? How about if police and judiciary were implicated in all major crimes?

I'm sure there is a good reason why this wouldn't be feasible, but the presumption that DNA implies physical presence has always seemed a bit weak to me.

Re:Yet more profiles in courage

[Zurk]

Come now... as a fellow attorney you know better than to mislead the proles.
That particular legal proposition dates back to the reign of King Canute in 994-1035.
In more modern times i refer you to the 1762 treatise by Sir Michael Foster, Fosters Crown Law.
As your legal training has no doubt informed you, British Common Law is where most of our law
evolved from.

Rrriight...

[Tug3]

It's interesting to see that Yahoo News says it's quoting AFP on this one. What would be more interesting to hear if this is actually a AFP "news" or not. - And if so, it would be very interesting to hear who on AFP was drunk enough to come up with this... =)

Unfortunately stealing a car for joyriding in Finland is not a very big offence. Actually it's not even called stealing, but "unlawful use of motor vehicle". And I dare say the police would even have time to check a car's interior, let alone hunt for a mosquito. I've had my car stolen once, and luckily recovered. I called up the police after it was recovered, and they didn't have time to come by to have a look at it, let alone dust the car for prints. - So, no cool CSI...

And BTW. It's December here in Finland (like I guess it's in most parts of the world), and the mosquitoes died by September...