Gubbiotti and the knife he never should have handled
It appears that there is still confusion elsewhere about the problems surrounding Gubbiotti and his handling of the knife. Therefore, I would like to return to these problems one more time. First, I cannot think of any reason for anyone to unpackage and then repackage the knife. Once the forensic team has sealed it up, it should go straight to the laboratory.
Second, it is undisputed that Officer Gubbiotti was at the women’s cottage prior to his repackaging of the knife. I read one comment to the effect that he was there to catalog Meredith's belongings, but I don't have a citation for that. Reporting on the Patrick Waring case Estelle Blackburn
wrote, “In court, police conceded they had not followed best practice in the case. Various officers said that the Central Park scene was left unguarded from 1.25am on the night, it was a week before it was searched, and the same officers had visited the homes of the girl and the accused which allowed for contamination of evidence.” If anyone were going to handle the knife, it should not have been Gubbiotti. What is not best practice in Perth is not best practice in Perugia.
Third, I offered the following scenario as no more than one of at least several plausible routes of contamination: Airborne DNA perhaps from Meredith’s dried blood, to Officer Gubbiotti’s clothing, to his gloves, to the knife. Let us break this down step by step. There is an unpublished study that shows that dried blood is a bigger DNA contamination risk that wet blood.
Airborne DNA is a well-recognized problem in DNA forensics. DNA has been found on examination gloves handling a very soiled dress.
Clothing sometimes has DNA that is not from either the wearer or his/her immediate family. Some of it may come from the air. Arguments from personal incredulity about a particular route are not very convincing when it comes to something as easily transferred as DNA; they are even less convicing when that person is ill-informed.
Four many other routes are possible. Proving which route it was would be difficult under the best of circumstances. However, now that Amanda’s DNA was shown to be on the blade, it is even more likely that Meredith’s profile is the result of some form of contamination. How could anyone remove blood from the knife without removing starch in at least one place and DNA in two places? It is absurd.