• Notes officers should be able to read crime scene, recognise signatures, and prove link via DNA testing
• Urges expansion of DNA database to include DNA profiles of those arrested for serious crimes

BY Ruwan Laknath Jayakody The ability to read a crime scene, recognise the signature of an offender, and link such offences through deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) tests will prove useful in the identification of serial killers, academics noted, analysing the case of a string of killings that occurred in Kahawatte, Ratnapura.  These observations were made in an original article on the “Medico-legal investigation of a series of female murders in the Sabaragamuwa Province” authored by M. Vidanapathirana (attached to the Sri Jayewardenepura University’s Medical Sciences Faculty’s Forensic Medicine Department), R.P. Ruwanpura (attached to the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital’s Judicial Medical Officer’s [JMO] Office), R.J. Illeperuma (attached to the Genetech Molecular Diagnostics), and U. Attygalle, P.B. Dasanayake, H. Wijewardene, T.K.M.B. Gunathilake, K.W.M.B. Wijetunga and I. Rathnayake (all six are Consultant JMOs attached to the Provincial General Hospital in Ratnapura), and published in the Medico-Legal Journal of Sri Lanka 6 (2) in December, 2018. Kahawatta is a town in the Ratnapura District of the Sabaragamuwa Province. From 2008-2015, a number of females were found to have been killed in Kahawatta. These were unexpected and unknown attacks. According to Vidanapathirana et al., it is necessary to ascertain whether these cases were serial killings, mimic serial killings, or copycat murders. In R.J. Morton and J.J. McNamara’s “Serial murder”, serial killing is defined as “three or more”, “independent”, “planned” murders committed by the “same individual/s” and separated by a “cooling off” period, the latter period being the one that separates serial killers from other types of multiple murderers. S. Adjorlolo and C.H. Choon’s “The controversy of defining serial murder: Revisited” proposed a definition of serial murder with three key elements: (i) Two or more forensically linked murders, (ii) Committed as discrete events by the same person/s over a period of time, and (iii) Where the primary motive and objective is personal gratification. “Further, it is difficult to link the suspect to the crime because there is no prior relationship existing between the serial killer and the victim, and therefore, the suspects arrested at the initial stage may be completely exonerated later. That is why it is essential to have a higher degree of suspicion and attempt made to identify the serial killer/s in such a series of murders,” Vidanapathirana et al. explained. Vidanapathirana et al.’s study analyses the medico-legal aspects of this series of killings in Kahawatta in order to determine the nature and characteristics of the circumstances and the killers. Data of all the females who were killed in the Sabaragamuwa Province under similar circumstances; unexpected murders by unknown attacks, were collected from July, 2008, to December, 2015. The data were collected from all the forensic practitioners (JMOs) who conducted and performed those autopsies (postmortems). Further, media reports, data from Scene of Crime Officers, Police records and Court records were also used.  For the purpose of this study, “serial murder” was re-defined as “two or more”, “independent”, “planned” murders committed at “separate locations” for “personal gratification” by the “same individual/s” “over a period of time”, and separated by a “cooling off” period.  First murder  Female. 56-year-old. Sabaragamuwa Province. Married. Living alone. White smoked Beedi found at the crime scene. Her skirt was found raised above the thighs. The autopsy was done a day after the death on 23 July, 2008. There were abrasions and contusions in the neck. The cause of death (COD) was manual strangulation. There was no exogenous DNA in the vaginal swabs.  Second murder  Female. 48-year-old. Sabaragamuwa Province. Married. Living alone. White smoked Beedi found at the crime scene. The body was recovered from the Kotakethana Canal in a partially skeletonised state 10 days after the victim went missing. The autopsy was conducted on 23 November, 2008. There were long, deep cuts. The COD was cut injuries to the head.  Third murder  Female. 88-year-old. Sabaragamuwa Province. Married. living alone. White smoked Beedi found at the crime scene. The injured head had been washed and wrapped with a bed sheet. The autopsy was performed a day after the death on 14 June, 2010. It revealed genital tears. The body had both blunt and sharp force injuries. The COD was blunt force trauma to the head. There was no exogenous DNA in the vaginal swabs. Fourth murder  Female. 52-year-old. Sabaragamuwa Province. Married. The victim had gone missing and the dead body was found buried on the following day with a ligature around the neck. The autopsy was done on 23 December, 2010. The COD was ligature strangulation. There was exogenous DNA in the vaginal swabs. The presence of male DNA in the vaginal swabs, identical to that found in the seventh murder was confirmed.  Fifth murder  Female. 66-year-old. Sabaragamuwa Province. Unmarried. Living alone. Victim was found dead inside her burnt down house at Dimulwala, Kahawatta. The autopsy was performed a day after the death on 5 April, 2011. There were defence injuries and long cut injuries. The COD was cut injuries to the head. There was no exogenous DNA in the vaginal swabs. Sixth murder  Female. 44-year-old. Sabaragamuwa Province. Unmarried. Living with her father in Niladuramahayaya, Kahawatta. The victim went missing. Her clothes, undergarments and blood, were found at another site, a day after her disappearance. The putrefied body was found after 10 days in the jungle. The autopsy was done on 1 July, 2011. There were long, slash cuts. The COD was cut injuries to the head.  Seventh murder  Female. 69-year-old. Sabaragamuwa Province. The victim was found killed in the backyard of her house. The autopsy was performed one day after the death on 16 December, 2011. There were multiple cut injuries including short and deep cut injuries. The COD was cut injuries to the head. There was exogenous DNA in the vaginal swabs. The presence of male DNA in the vaginal swabs, identical to that found in the fourth murder, was confirmed.  Eighth and ninth murders (first double-murder) Females. Sabaragamuwa Province. A 19-years-old unmarried female was found killed in a tea estate, three days after she went missing. Her 60-years-old mother was found dead in her bedroom, four days after she went missing.  The autopsy was performed on the daughter on 4 February, 2012. There were defence injuries on the daughter. There were multiple, long, slash cuts on the daughter. The COD of the daughter was cut injuries to the head. The vaginal swabs of the daughter were negative for male DNA.  The autopsy was performed on the mother on 5 February, 2012. There were 13 injuries on the mother. There were multiple, long, slash cuts on the mother. The COD of the mother was cut injuries to the head. The vaginal swabs of the mother were negative for male DNA. Tenth and 11th murders (second double murder) Females. Sabaragamuwa Province. A 51-year-old unmarried female (10th murder) and her 61-year-old sister (11th murder) who was living in the same house, were found dead in their burnt down house. A curved knife was found at the scene. Autopsies were performed a day after on 01 June, 2012. There were burns but soot was absent in the respiratory tracts.  The 10th murder victim had a ligature and a mark around the neck. The COD was ligature strangulation.  The 11th murder victim had more than 10 injuries including defence cuts on the upper limbs and multiple, long, slash cuts on the head. The COD was cut injuries to the head.  The vaginal swabs were negative for exogenous DNA. However, crime scene stains had the DNA of a male individual. Twelfth and 13th murders (third double-murder)  Females. Sabaragamuwa Province. A 63-year-old mother (12th murder) and her 35-year-old unmarried daughter (13th murder) were found dead in their burnt down house. Autopsies were performed a day after on 20 July, 2012. In the 13th murder, there were 11 injuries. There were burns but soot was absent in the respiratory tracts. There were defence injuries and multiple, long, slash cuts. The CODs were cut injuries to the head. The mother’s vagina had a contusion but was negative for exogenous DNA. The vaginal swab of the daughter confirmed the presence of male DNA. Fourteenth murder  Female. Sabaragamuwa Province. A 66-year-old married female was killed in her house in Dimulwala and the body was found in the rear garden which was evident by blood tracking. The autopsy was performed a day after on 1 November, 2012. There was only one cut and it was short and deep. The COD was a cut injury to the head. Fifteenth murder  Female. Sabaragamuwa Province. A dead and naked body of a 31-year-old female, who was living with a cohabiting male partner, was recovered from the Kotakethana Canal. Clothes were recovered from a nearby place. The autopsy was performed a day after on 23 October, 2014. There were multiple, blunt force injuries including compound depressed comminuted fractures (a type of depressed fracture with a laceration in the overlying scalp and galea [anatomical structure shaped like a helmet] in continuity with the fracture site) with cerebral injuries. The COD was blunt force injuries to the head. The vaginal swabs were negative for exogenous DNA. Sixteenth murder  Female. Sabaragamuwa Province. A 39-year-old mother, who was a small scale business woman, was killed and the body was recovered from the Kotakethana Canal. The autopsy was held a day after on 27 December, 2014. There were defence cuts on the upper limbs and long, slash cuts on the head. The COD was cut injuries to the head. The vaginal swab was negative for exogenous DNA. Seventeenth murder  Female. Sabaragamuwa Province. A 49-year-old mother of two children who was living alone, was found killed. Her undergarments had been cut and removed. The autopsy was done a day after on 28 September, 2015. There were 12 injuries including defence injuries in the left hand and long, slash cuts on the head. The COD was cut injuries to the head. The vaginal swab was negative for exogenous DNA.  To be continued. (Parts two and three of this article will be published the following week)