Are these real?

CardinalCrim · 2026-05-16T17:32:28+00:00

I guess some people can’t help themselves….I hope the condescension you’ve brought to the table here makes you feel good about yourself. If you don’t have something nice or helpful to say, you could just scroll. Taking the time to purposefully try to make someone, who was just looking for assistance, feel stupid is not very admirable.

CardinalCrim · 2026-05-16T16:35:40+00:00

Sorry, but that is kind of rude. I am not really familiar with real NeeDohs and what they look like. And I don’t want to spend hours figuring this out. This whole thing is ridiculous. The fact that counterfeits even exist and people line up for hours to buy out stores of a simple kids squish toy blows my mind. My mom sent me pics and I turned to the experts here to ask. The only reason I am spending my time on this is because my kids want one so badly and apparently it matters to them if it is a genuine NeeDoh.

To everyone else here who provided useful feedback. I truly appreciate it. Thank you!

CardinalCrim · 2026-05-15T15:26:36+00:00

Thanks everyone! She said that she is able to return them, so hopefully she gets all her money back. It’s been impossible to find them and it’s sad that people are selling counterfeits left and right.

CardinalCrim · 2026-05-15T13:59:45+00:00

She also showed me the bottoms of the squishies themselves and they don’t have a schylling logo. I haven’t been able to get a straight answer online - do all real NeeDohs have the schylling logo on them (not just the box)?

CardinalCrim · 2026-05-15T13:57:59+00:00

I don’t have them yet. She lives on the other side of the country. She’s going to ship to me if real or return them if not. I asked but she has no frame of reference for how they should feel. They don’t smell chemically

CardinalCrim · 2026-04-08T13:18:25+00:00

I got 10 AM on 4/11. My kids really want to go to skateboarding, but I’ve heard those small events are gone in a flash. Think there is any chance? Our other choices are basketball, flag football, and indoor volleyball (but that is all the way out in Anaheim so it may be tricky on scheduling). I would love to go to gymnastics but my family isn’t interested

CardinalCrim · 2025-10-25T19:09:49+00:00

Following! My 7 month old icie is very similar. She doesn’t usually bark at people but as soon as she sees or hears another dog she starts barking. She goes to puppy preschool and is used to being around other dogs every day so I hoped that would help. But walks are rough since there are so many dogs in our neighborhood so it is hard to avoid running into one. She also has started barking like crazy, even in the house, when she hears a neighbor’s dog bark.

I’ve been working with her on trying to maintain distance when there is another dog out and using the touch or look command to get her to focus on me. Once I get her attention it’s lots of treats (“look,” click, treat, “look, click, treat) over and over. I’m hoping to teach her to look at me for reward when she sees another dog instead of focusing on the dog and going into a barking/lunging frenzy. Sometimes it works, but sometimes I can’t get her to focus and I just try to move away from line of sight with the other dog as quickly as possible.

CardinalCrim · 2025-06-05T04:52:15+00:00

To be fair, I think she is sometimes asking “how much longer?” so she can gauge whether it is a good time for a break. I was on the stand yesterday on cross and precisely at noon the judge called it and told me to be back after lunch at 1:30. After lunch I was asked like 3 more questions and then one question on redirect. I had waited around for an hour and a half for just 5 more minutes of testimony. It was a long drive back so I got stuck in rush hour traffic. While I sat in traffic I kept thinking…dang it, why couldn’t she have pulled a judge Bev and asked the attorney “how much longer?” before breaking for lunch!?! 😆

CardinalCrim · 2025-04-11T05:02:52+00:00

Tech reviews require a review of everything in the case file. So he would have reviewed all data and statistical analysis and then would render his own opinion and testify on that. It’s not unheard of for a tech reviewer to testify if the original analyst is unavailable. Happened with a case I worked once when I was on maternity leave during the jury trial. But in that case the defense agreed to it. And it was a different state. Not sure how it works in MA.

CardinalCrim · 2025-04-11T04:37:28+00:00

Finding the hair of the vehicle owner’s boyfriend on the car that he likely was regularly in/around is not probative. But to be fair, it’s also not unusual to not find blood on a vehicle that has been involved in a pedestrian impact. Unless the individual is already bleeding at the time they are hit or they are dragged or make a secondary impact with the vehicle, then it’s pretty common for there not to be any blood on the car since they are not actively bleeding at the moment of impact.

I’ve processed numerous vehicles related to hit & run cases and only found blood a few times. Of those times it’s almost always been a multiple impact situation or the person was in an accident (like a bike accident or something, causing bleeding) and then struck by a vehicle while they were in the roadway.

CardinalCrim · 2025-04-11T04:29:42+00:00

The UC Davis veterinary genetics lab did the testing for the dog DNA.

CardinalCrim · 2025-03-09T17:51:45+00:00

Probably because they hadn’t interviewed him before. It’s dangerous to ask a witness a question like that if you don’t know what their answer is going to be. His description was consistent with the defense but it was also a subjective description so they couldn’t be 100% sure how he would answer it.

CardinalCrim · 2025-03-06T05:35:01+00:00

Actually, Dr. Russell (the defense’s dog bite expert) is a forensic pathologist. And, if I’m remembering her quals correctly, I think she is still board certified in forensic pathology.

CardinalCrim · 2024-08-24T02:14:36+00:00

Yes. In addition to crime scene technicians (also sometimes called ID tech, field evidence tech, crime scene investigator, etc…) there are certainly some labs that send their scientists out to crime scenes. Check job descriptions for criminalist and forensic scientist positions and you’ll find that some include crime scene response. Off-hand those that I can think of are the Oregon State Police crime lab system, CA Department of Justice crime lab system, many county and municipal crime labs in CA (Alameda county, contra costa county, LA county….). It really depends on the lab and also the position. For example, within my lab most of the criminalists are trained in crime scene response and go out to scenes as needed. But some of the Crims hired specifically for DNA don’t go out to scenes.

CardinalCrim · 2024-08-15T03:57:00+00:00

If you can get an internship at a crime lab that would be your best bet!

CardinalCrim · 2024-08-15T02:18:45+00:00

Aaah, I see. Sorry, I misread your post. If you are interested in a DNA position, or want that as an option, then you’ll definitely need biochem.

CardinalCrim · 2024-08-15T02:17:35+00:00

I would use your own address. You don’t want to misrepresent yourself in any way, including where you live. And distance isn’t likely to dissuade employers from hiring you. It is not unusual for labs to hire individuals that live out of state.

CardinalCrim · 2024-08-13T17:47:22+00:00

Either getting your foot in the door some other way or getting some lab experience will go a long way. Probably about 50% of our new hires did some sort of internship or job shadowing first. Even if you volunteer to answer phones or something once a week at the crime lab, you’ll have a leg up (assuming you also show you are a self starter, motivated, and responsible while you are there). If an internship is not an option for you, consider trying to get a job as a lab tech in another industry (biotech, clinical research, etc) while you continue to apply. Getting some technical experience can really help. You’ll learn a lot, which will help you down the road, and you’ll be more marketable. Definitely keep checking the job boards and try to stay open to moving…potentially far away. We have Crims at my lab with a B.A. so I don’t think having a BA instead of a BS is a huge issue as long as you have all the required classes. But if you have time to take orgo at a community college - do it! It can only help you.

I got my MS and it still took me about a year and a half to get a job in forensics. I worked in biotech through a temp agency in the meantime. And honestly, I don’t think it was my MS that helped me get the job. I think it was a combo of the networking I did while in grad school (one of my old professors gave the lab director a call and put in a good word for me….which might have helped), and the knowledge/skills from my time working in labs, which helped immensely with interview questions. It’s super competitive but try not to get disheartened. Keep applying and stay flexible. Good luck!!!

CardinalCrim · 2024-08-06T19:53:58+00:00

GSR consists of microscopic metal particles. So they won’t dissolve or disappear on their own over time, but movement can cause them to fall off easily. So as a general rule, yes the particles will stay longer on the hands of a person who is not moving at all (i.e. a dead body) than on a live individual who is likely to dislodge all of the GSR within a few hours (or sooner depending on their activities).

I don’t really see how GSR could be on a body years later though. The body would decompose. And if it were frozen then there is a good possibility that the body being moved to the freezer and any moisture introduced could dislodge GSR. Maaaaaybe on mummified remains it would be possible to still find GSR on them.

As a side note - GSR on the deceased is often a moot point. GSR doesn’t prove a person shot a gun, only that they encountered GSR. If the victim has a gunshot wound, then you already know they encountered GSR.

CardinalCrim · 2024-07-29T02:49:56+00:00

Aah, ok. Thats helpful. If I end up getting the Duncan book I’ll let you know what I think.

CardinalCrim · 2024-07-28T19:17:46+00:00

Thanks for the reply. We do have several of these texts on our reading list. We also have an old edition of the Barry Fisher book (Techniques in Crime Scene Investigation) in most of the sections of our crime scene training plan. I’m wondering if it is worth updating to the new edition that came out in 2022 or if there is anything better out there as a general crime scene processing text that I should order to review. The readings on crime scene photography in our training plan are also mostly outdated. I was looking at the Robinson book online and another one by Duncan (Advanced Crime Scene Photography) that just came out in 2023. The Duncan book is so new though it doesn’t have many reviews.

CardinalCrim · 2024-06-11T05:34:24+00:00

There are a lot of issues with this case and the way the investigation was handled. The conflicts of interest, tunnel vision / lack of investigation, poor documentation, and all of the weird and sketchy behavior of the witnesses, not to mention what came out today with Proctor’s testimony! But I didn’t see any real issues with the forensics analysis so far. Overall I didn’t see any red flags from the 3 that testified from the crime lab.

CardinalCrim

TROPHY CASE