Could artificial intelligence and mixed reality technology help crack cold criminal cases?

In 2018, DNA evidence provided by a well-known genealogical database allowed charges to be brought agains the Golden State Killer, who had been living "under the radar" for decades. Could currently emerging technologies help solve cold cases in the future?

AI could help by reducing detectives' workload in old cold cases by searching files for faint clues based on traces of evidence, chemical analysis, global positioning and other information.

Research led by Northumbria University in Newcastle, UK, has already demonstrated one specific way AI can be used for forensics. Working with associates at King's College London, the Universities of Lausanne, Santiago de Compostela, and Rome (La Sapienza), Dr. Matteo Gallidabino, Senior Lecturer in Forensic Science at Northumbria University has revealed that machine learning could be used to determine which ammunition, and ultimately which firearm, was responsible for a specific gunshot from the residue it left behind.

Dr. Gallidabino explains, "Through careful fine-tuning, [machine learning algorithms] can be applied to predict important characteristics of the ammunition used in a particular shooting event from those of the respective gunshot residue (GSR) deposited on surrounding surfaces or items, such as spent cases, wounds and, potentially, also the shooter's hands."

Compared to the techniques now used for GSR analysis, this is a revolutionary advancement. The research team's use of complex computer statistics makes it possible to identify the ammunition that caused the different gunshot traces at a crime scene, and link these traces with unprecedented accuracy. Currently, both results are difficult to achieve with conventional forensic techniques.

Further advancements could allow police to quickly pursue many investigative leads, avoiding the errors that once resulted in unsolved crimes. In the late 1960s, the Zodiac Killer terrorized San Francisco. In 1996, Tupac Shakur was shot dead in Las Vegas, and JonBenét Ramsey was found dead in Boulder, Colorado. To this day, nobody knows who committed these crimes. Could artificial intelligence help solve these cases?

Digitized evidence, witness statements and suspect data combined with machine learning could divulge patterns that could "crack" cases such as these.

What cases would you like to see solved by artificial intelligence?


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