Challenge to forensic podiatry crime scene report: Footprint-based gait analysis in homicide case revealed the perpetrator as the deceased victim's wife who was also the complainant

Abstract

To identify the offender and unravel the mystery, physical evidence must be found at the crime scenes. When it is first taken from crime scenes, the relevance of some pieces of evidence is unclear or seems inconsequential, but as the investigation goes on, it seems to gain significance. Although footprints are a common physical indicator of a crime, including homicide, burglary, and sexual assault, they are frequently overlooked or dismissed as inconsequential during the early stages of an investigation. Currently, individual identification is done through gait pattern analysis based on footprints. A branch of forensic science known as forensic podiatry examines foot-related evidence in the course of a criminal investigation using specific podiatric knowledge, including the foot and lower limb. Analysis of footprints and gait is most consistent with other pattern-based forms of evidence, such as blood pattern analysis. Most cases of homicide and burglary involve the gait pattern evidence. Additionally, detectives frequently disregard crime scenes due to their familiarity. Science in podiatry is lacking. The current crime scene report, which was researched by the corresponding author (Prof. T. Nataraja Moorthy, henceforth referred to as "TN") in India, highlighted the importance of footprint and gait pattern evidence in a distinctive homicide crime scene. In India, a woman reported her husband's murder to the police, but a footprint-based gait pattern analysis proved she was the murderer, not the unidentified assailant. She committed murder while hiding the crime, which is known as "crime concealment".