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Detective Lieutenant John Grassel

Detective Lieutenant John Grassel

He is senior management at Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina He is a retired detective Lieutenant from the Rhode Island State Police.

  • In January 2020 he worked with Rhode Island State Police. He analyzed a Budget rental truck on March 26th of 2020.
  • This was a Ford van which ended up in Rhode Island.
  • They document the vehicle with photos, examine it for evidence such as touch DNA, blood, bodily fluid, as well as anything still contained within the vehicle.
  • Exhibit 294 - 309 are photos of the interior and exterior of the van as well as evidence that was seized from the van, a cutting from a floor mat from the van, and a chemical reaction.
  • With the swabs they were looking for touch DNA.
  • They swabbed of each of the doors - both exterior and interior of the handles, steering wheel, turn signal, and glovebox.
  • E294 is a photo of the front of the van at Rhode Island State Police headquarters.
  • E295 is a photo of the front seats with the doors open.
  • E296 is a divider that separates the cargo area from the passenger area of the van.
    • You can access the back of the van from the passenger area.
  • E297 is the interior rear of the van from the sliding side door.
  • E298 is a photo from inside the back of the van showing the rear doors which are closed.
  • The van has no windows in the cargo area.
  • E299 is a photo from the back of the van showing the divider in between the cargo and passenger area.
  • E300 is a photo that shows the majority of the floor in the rear of the van.
  • E301 is a photo from inside of the van showing the cargo door.
  • E302 is a photo of an evidence marker showing an animal toy underneath the front seat.
  • E303 is a closeup photo of the dog toy that was collected as evidence.
  • E304 is the inside of the glovebox which is in front of the passenger’s seat.
    • A Verizon calling card was found in the glovebox.
  • E305 is the front side of the prepaid Verizon phone card.
  • E306 is the other side.
  • There is information on the card that can be used to trace it back to the purchaser or see the calls but he did not do this.
  • BlueStar is a presumptive test for blood; it causes a color change. It indicates places that should be swabbed for further testing.
  • It reacts with the iron portion of the hemoglobin in blood; when used, if it may be blood it changes to a blue color.
  • E307 is a cutting of the rear floor mat.
    • Areas of the mat had a positive reaction with Blue Star. It is the area directly behind where the driver is extending halfway to where the passenger would sit and toward the back of the vehicle.
  • E308 is the cutting.
  • It is discolored because it is still wet from BlueStar.
  • The cutting was sent to Colorado for further analysis; the Verizon card and rubber dog bone were sent as well.
  • E309 is a photo of the color change.

Cross Examination

  • He is not sure how the van got from South Carolina to Rhode Island or how many people rented the van in between then.
  • It was not his job to see whether is was blood and who it belonged to, that was for Colorado.

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