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What did they find? The house was in chaos. Drawers and cupboards had been turned out, possessions were strewn everywhere. Furniture in the kitchen had been moved, and the window covered with a cushion. The attackers had located a safe in the basement and opened it. Also in the basement were several stains on the walls and a pool of blood on the floor. The investigators searched the grounds and on the gravel drive discovered a fragment of human remains of unknown weight or size. This was described as "a grey dough-like substance, thought to be brain tissue". This item, which was found during a repeat search, was placed with an attached piece of gravel into a black plastic bag. The bag was then closed with a procuracy seal against the signatures of two witnesses. In the garage were found three bullets and two spent cases. Samples were taken from all blood stains with muslin swabs.
We describe this process in detail because it's a key element in the prosecution's evidence. Even at this stage, the investigators were committing their first procedural violations. In particular, the witnesses during the search were Dedov (Olga Gorina's father) and Peshkun (a future accused) - the people with the greatest interest in the case.
So-called check samples weren't taken. These are required if the experts doubt the integrity of the primary samples. The defence and prosecution can also question the expert findings, which also calls for check samples.
This is such a routine and obligatory procedure that it should be second nature, like washing your hands before a meal or brushing your teeth in the morning. But it was not done. Why? We put this question direct to Demidov. He had no answer. Maybe the Tambov procuracy always works in such a slipshod manner.
Be it negligence or simple omission, this was later to play a fateful role. The reason why check samples are taken came to pass: the experts had some doubts, even in the initial stages. The findings of two expert examinations differed so fundamentally that, of course, a third one was called for. But there were no check samples.
The sealed samples were sent for examination to a laboratory at the regional Interior Ministry, when they lay in the queue for over a month.
The garage was the only place at the scene where there was a proper pool of blood, so the swabs were taken from here. There wasn't anywhere else. The dried splatters on the wall were removed in a different way, using scrapers. From the pool, the following samples were taken: 1) by Interior Ministry investigators during the initial search - three muslin swabs, two with a brown substance and one with a pink substance (the exact position from which they were taken wasn't detailed); 2) by procuracy investigators during a repeat search - another swab with a pink-coloured substance. We shall track these samples carefully.
The samples' amazing and unlikely adventures
The task before technician Semibratova at the Health Ministry's forensic medicine laboratory in Tambov was to determine the blood group of the samples recovered at the scene of the crime. Not to establish whose blood it was but to identify the group, nothing more. She scrupulously describes unpacking three samples - the swabs from the first and repeat searches, and the sealed black plastic package. On opening the package "a substance resembling dough was found - brain tissue of blood group AB. The substance could have been contaminated by its carrier" (meaning the gravel on which it lay - author). What does this mean? Well, nothing - both Gorins were blood group A! Semibratova carried out two tests, on 20 and 24 December 2002. She then put the substance back into its black plastic package and closed it with the forensic laboratory's seal.
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