Forensic technician testifies items found in wooded area were photographed, dried and individually bagged

A Macomb County forensic technician told the 36th District Court that investigators recovered multiple clothing items and shoes from a wooded area near 7 Mile and Byrd and processed them for evidence.

Margaret Laval, identified in court as a forensic technician with the Macomb County Medical Examiner’s Office, testified that investigators photographed the scene and collected a pink bodysuit-style jumpsuit, a black hooded jacket, a pair of red/black/white gym shoes, gloves, a towel and a rubber bracelet. “We collected a pink jumpsuit, bodysuit style, and then a black hoodie that had a pair of, like, headphones in pockets, some gloves, a towel, and a pair of red, black, and white kojis,” Laval said.

Laval said she documented the scene with 129 photographs admitted as an exhibit and described several images to the court, including shots showing the pink jumpsuit stuck in tree branches and a recovered shoe. She described processing steps for wet items: after photographing, the team transported wet items to a department drying chamber, hung the items so they did not touch and secured the room and chamber keys with her supervisor. “The items that were wet, we then brought to the department, Evans Garage, where we had a dry chamber so that that evidence could be dried in a safe, secure, and way so that DNA effects could be preserved,” she said.

On direct examination Laval described packaging and tagging: each recovered item received a separate evidence tag and bag, and she said she handled the items using disposable gloves and changed gloves between items. She testified to specific tag numbers mentioned in court: the black hooded jacket was described as item 85 and the pink jumpsuit as item 86; a towel and gloves were identified as items 82 and 83; a rubber bracelet was identified as item 87. Laval also said the headphones and paper recovered in a jacket pocket were packaged together under a single item number.

Laval said she could not be certain who originally handled the items before her arrival at the scene. Asked whether anyone else had touched the evidence prior to her, she said officers on scene directed her to the location where items were found but she “couldn't say for sure that nobody did” handle the items before she arrived.

Laval’s testimony focused on the observable condition of the items (wet and dirty), the photographic record, and the department’s procedures to preserve potential DNA: photographing, drying in a secured drying chamber, packaging individually and tagging each item before release to property or investigative units.

The court admitted the photographs and the evidence tag numbers into the record as part of the ongoing criminal matter.