NationStates Jolt Archive


Ma'am, Put Down the Cotton Balls and Step Away

Galloism
26-03-2009, 21:57
http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/bild-english/world-news/2009/03/26/phantom-killer-a-myth/police-track-DNA-of-cotton-bud-maker-for-two-years.html

Police in Germany hunted a sinister phantom killer for two years after finding the same DNA at 39 different crime scenes - only to discover that the source was a woman who made the cotton buds used to collect the sample!

The case was one of the most puzzling in recent times. Hundreds of detectives in six specialist committees were set to work hunting the ominous female serial killer.

But there was no progress, despite investigators finding her DNA at so many crime scenes.

The police were stumped. They eventually offered a 300,000 euro reward to find the killer.

It's no surprise the money was never claimed, however, because the so-called ‘phantom killer’ was a complete myth!

Detectives had apparently been tracking the DNA of a factory worker who packaged cotton buds used by the police to collect samples, according to ‘Stern.de’.

Police linked the 'killer' to seven murders.

The most notorious case was in April 2007 in Heilbronn where a 22-year-old policewoman was shot dead and her colleague (25) seriously injured. On the back seat of the police car, detectives found what they thought was DNA from the mysterious killer.

As part of the investigation, 800 previously convicted women were questioned - but there was no match to the sample.

Her DNA was found over and over again: in bottles, tank lids, on bullets – and once even on a biscuit!

Traces were found in southern Germany, Austria and France. Thousands of saliva tests were taken but there was still no answer.

In April 2008, detectives ran out of ideas, so an internal inquiry was launched.

And yesterday Bernd Meiners, a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in Saarbrucken, revealed: “There are considerable doubts about the existence of the ‘phantom killer’. The DNA has instead been linked to investigation materials.”

An employee at the cotton bud manufacturer has apparently been pretty careless!

According to reports, the maker of the buds is a company in Hamburg, with branches in Baden-Wurttemberg and the Saarland as well as Austria and France.

The company has been supplying the police investigators with cotton buds since 2001.

I loled.

I bet these guys feel like idiots right now. What a clusterfuck. I just thought NSG should know. :D
No Names Left Damn It
26-03-2009, 21:58
Epic fail.
greed and death
26-03-2009, 21:59
German police 0, Cotton balls 39
Vetalia
26-03-2009, 21:59
You know, aren't you supposed to test the things before you use them? Make sure there's no contamination that could affect evidence...

At least she didn't get arrested and convicted on that "evidence".
greed and death
26-03-2009, 22:01
You know, aren't you supposed to test the things before you use them? Make sure there's no contamination that could affect evidence...

At least she didn't get arrested and convicted on that "evidence".

might be easier then admitting their mistake.
Vetalia
26-03-2009, 22:03
might be easier then admitting their mistake.

It sounds like the plot for a great dark comedy.
greed and death
26-03-2009, 22:04
It sounds like the plot for a great dark comedy.

Sounds like real life.
Vetalia
26-03-2009, 22:05
Sounds like real life.

And that's why it would be such a good production.
Call to power
26-03-2009, 22:05
and how do we know the factory worker didn't do all these murders? seems awfully convenient doesn't it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDHfRIb_cWU
JuNii
26-03-2009, 22:31
I loled.

I bet these guys feel like idiots right now. What a clusterfuck. I just thought NSG should know. :D

I would LoL... but I'm now wondering about all the other DNA evidence gathered... would they now be in question since there is a chance that the sample would be 'contaminated'?
greed and death
26-03-2009, 22:33
and how do we know the factory worker didn't do all these murders? seems awfully convenient doesn't it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDHfRIb_cWU

better lock he away for life just to make sure. see the DNA samples stopped. must have meant she was the killer.
H N Fiddlebottoms VIII
26-03-2009, 23:40
and how do we know the factory worker didn't do all these murders? seems awfully convenient doesn't it!
I gotta agree. Awfully convenient.
Iniika
26-03-2009, 23:45
Sounds like pass for a murder spree to me.
Indri
27-03-2009, 03:15
Funny thing, Cottonballs is my nickname. I used to go by Cinnamon Buns but I couldn't take the "sweet ass" jokes.
Nobel Hobos
27-03-2009, 08:10
Funny thing, Cottonballs is my nickname. I used to go by Cinnamon Buns but I couldn't take the "sweet ass" jokes.

I'm keeping my cotton-pickin' fingers well away from that.
Nobel Hobos
27-03-2009, 08:13
I'd be interested to know what the police were paying for those "forensic" cotton-buds.

Ten times? A hundred times? A thousand times as much as bog-ordinary supermarket cotton buds? Which being almost certainly picked by machine and wound onto plastic sticks by machine, never had human DNA anywhere near them.