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Cotton Swabs are the Prime Suspect In 8-Year Phantom Chase

matt4077 writes "For eight years, several hundred police officers across multiple European countries have been chasing a phantom woman whose DNA had been found in almost 20 crimes (including two murders) across central Europe. It now turns out that contaminated cotton swabs might be responsible for this highly unusual investigation. After being puzzled by the apparent randomness of the crimes, investigators noticed that all cotton swabs had been sourced from the same company. They also noted that the DNA was never found in crimes in Bavaria, a German state located at the center of the crimes' locations. It turns out that Bavaria buys its swabs from a different supplier."

36 of 344 comments (clear)

  1. Ewwwwwww... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    So they shredded a woman for swabs? I thought we were only good for barbecue, masks, book covers, lampshades and creepy garments.

    1. Re:Ewwwwwww... by c0p0n · · Score: 4, Funny

      Oh my, are you like, a woman?

      Oh my oh my oh my oh my

      --

      Your head a splode
    2. Re:Ewwwwwww... by vegiVamp · · Score: 2, Funny

      Neh, you're pretty good for doing the dishes, too.

      --
      What a depressingly stupid machine.
    3. Re:Ewwwwwww... by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 4, Funny

      "I thought we were only good for barbecue, masks, book covers, lampshades and creepy garments."

      "Neh, you're pretty good for doing the dishes, too."

      The thing women can be useful for that you notice is not on the list is really the dishes ? Wow. This really is Slashdot!

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    4. Re:Ewwwwwww... by Poltras · · Score: 5, Funny

      Oh man you totally talked to her.

    5. Re:Ewwwwwww... by T.E.D. · · Score: 2, Funny

      So they shredded a woman for swabs? I thought we were only good for barbecue, masks, book covers, lampshades and creepy garments.

      I'm pretty sure you missed one...

  2. Great way to hide by Onyma · · Score: 5, Funny

    Bet you'll find her at the end of the packing line completely unaware she's a highly adept and wanted criminal. Or what a brilliant cover if she was guilty ;)

    --
    Play me online? Well you know that I'll beat you. If I ever meet you I'll "/sbin/shutdown -h now" you. -Weird Al, kinda.
    1. Re:Great way to hide by vidnet · · Score: 5, Funny

      There are some jobs where you really shouldn't express dissatisfaction by spitting in the products.

    2. Re:Great way to hide by TempeTerra · · Score: 2, Funny

      Please sit down, I have some difficult news for you. The test results have come back and it seems the man you knew as your father was not your biological father. DNA testing shows that your true father was a middle aged german woman, possibly with a congenital heart condition. I know this must come as a shock to you.

      --
      .evom ton seod gis eht
  3. It's clear what this means by PapayaSF · · Score: 2, Funny

    Obviously there's a woman on the cotton swab assembly line who leads a secret life of crime!

    --
    Q: What does the "B." in Benoit B. Mandelbrot stand for? A: Benoit B. Mandelbrot
    1. Re:It's clear what this means by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      OJ didn't do it!

  4. Re:CSI to the rescue by MichaelSmith · · Score: 4, Funny

    Mega criminal mind

    The handler of swabs really is a serial killer.

  5. Re:CSI to the rescue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    It's a new spin off!

    CSI: You're Doing It Wrong

  6. Always state your assumptions by alextheseal · · Score: 5, Funny

    First thing I was taught in my high school class on problem solving. Always state your assumptions, right underneath stating your explicit goal. We were also taught that if you start running into dead ends, circle back to your assumptions and review them critically to see that they are 1) all inclusive, and 2) actually true. Oh, and never use contaminated cotton swabs. I think that was day two.

  7. Re:Sherlock Holmes by MrNaz · · Score: 4, Funny

    I suspect a highly secretive and powerful organization known only as the GNAA.

    Yours truly,
    Slashdot Troll.

    --
    I hate printers.
  8. What?? by EdIII · · Score: 5, Funny

    Wait... Are you bitching that you can't read the article? As in, you wanted to read the article before making a post?

    I feel... like I've seen a unicorn or something...

    1. Re:What?? by dunkelfalke · · Score: 2, Funny

      virgin, virgin :-b

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
  9. Bad Slice by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 2, Funny

    This guy is using Slicehost for his blog or whatever. Apparently, he didn't pay for a big enough slice.

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
  10. Re:Sherlock Holmes by NewbieProgrammerMan · · Score: 2, Funny

    Inconceivable!

    --
    [b.belong('us') for b in bases if b.owner() == 'you']
  11. Prawo Jazdy by lobiusmoop · · Score: 5, Funny

    This sounds similar to the case of Ireland's most reckless driver.

    --
    "I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
    1. Re:Prawo Jazdy by SEE · · Score: 2, Funny

      Well, that's only to be expected. The British never partitioned Poland.

  12. Real life is slow... by incognito84 · · Score: 3, Funny

    It took them eight years to find out what CSI could have found out in one episode! Reality is so unrealistic.

  13. Prawo Jazdy by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    This reminds me of the "Prawo Jazdy" story. The Irish police were looking for this dude "Prawo Jazdy" who accumulated a very large number of speeding tickets. He kept committing infractions all across Ireland but always got away whenever he was stopped by giving a different address each time. They thought they had a supercriminal fugitive speeder on their hands until someone noticed that his name was Polish for "driver's license".

  14. I knew biotech would lead to this! by seebs · · Score: 5, Funny

    We should NEVER have developed human-cotton hybrids.

    --
    My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/
  15. Re:CSI to the rescue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'm pretty sure that there'd be about 96 billion ways to disprove each individual charge.

  16. APB by bobbuck · · Score: 5, Funny

    All points bulletin: be on the lookout for woman with extremely clean ears!

  17. Re:CSI to the rescue by dontmakemethink · · Score: 2, Funny

    The Coen brothers are set to do a CSI spin-off, Crime Scene Incompetence, sort of like Fargo meets Scary Movie.

    I wish I wasn't kidding, that would be a riot!

    "Officer Grissom, are you concerned about the security of... your shit?"

    --

    War as we knew it was obsolete
    Nothing could beat complete denial
    - Emily Haines
  18. What about her accomplice? by RDW · · Score: 5, Funny

    In other news, Irish police, working on the theory that such a well-travelled criminal may have been been provided with transport by an accomplice, have apparently identified her driver:

    http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2009/0219/1224241418104.html

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7899171.stm

  19. Re:This is actually pretty scary by jabithew · · Score: 4, Funny

    It took a lot of conversation to reach this insight.

    --
    All intents and purposes. Not intensive purposes.
  20. Re:CSI to the rescue by mrboyd · · Score: 5, Funny

    The truth is she's a very smart serial killer who managed to get herself hired at the coton swab factory with the sole intention of contaminating them with her DNA so that if caught she could use it to get any trial against her dismissed... brilliant!

  21. I always thought... by kcdoodle · · Score: 4, Funny

    Doesn't cotton have DNA?

    I always think that when they take a swab on CSI.

    CSI_Stokes - "Sir, I am afraid to tell you this, but, ... YOU are a COTTON plant."

    --

    - I live the greatest adventure anyone could possibly desire. - Tosk the Hunted
  22. Re:CSI to the rescue by aliquis · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah, that's why I leave my semen in every room I every visit, and on every person I meet.

  23. Re:CSI to the rescue by Poltras · · Score: 3, Funny

    CSI rule #3: do some pretty VB interface to reverse lookup the IP address 273.54.163.341

  24. Re:This is actually pretty scary by msouth · · Score: 2, Funny

    Maybe the judge was just unable to get past this question:

    "If you're so smart, Mr. Jordan, why weren't you smart enough to intentionally score low enough to get the job?"

    --
    Liberty uber alles.
  25. Re:CSI to the rescue by JCSoRocks · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Officer Grissom, are you concerned about the security of... your shit?"

    Oh, you're talking about Crime Scene Incontinence?

    --
    You are using English. Please learn the difference between loose and lose; they're, there, and their; your and you're.
  26. Re:CSI to the rescue by JCSoRocks · · Score: 2, Funny

    There's a song about you and what you did to some poor captain's wife - http://www.paulandstorm.com/lyrics/the-captains-wifes-lament/

    --
    You are using English. Please learn the difference between loose and lose; they're, there, and their; your and you're.