Electrotechnical engineer Ricardo Salada chose a distinct path from electrical networks, preferring the busy routine of criminal investigations in the city of São Paulo. Salad entered the Department of Homicide and Person Protection (DHPP) in 1993, as a criminal expert.
After the recent retirement, Salad decided to be behind the scenes of the more than 30 years he spent at the São Paulo Civil Police. The expert acted in cases of national repercussion, such as “Park Maniac” and “Suzane von Richthofen”.
Salad also made the expertise of a crime that shocked the country, The murder of Yoki businessman, Marcos Kitano Matsunaga, who was executed and quartered by then -mate Elize Matsunaga in 2012.
As in movies, details almost unnoticed in the less experienced eyes, they are crucial in. When pieces of the entrepreneur’s body were spread throughout São Paulo, a piece of clothing drew attention about the profile of the victim who was supposedly travelingsince Elize sent false messages, passing through the entrepreneur.
“The underwear that was dressed in the body part found was a luxury article, of a famous brand. More than 90% of men will not buy such an expensive item. By this garment we noticed that this victim seemed to have a larger purchasing power and thus start identifying that it was the Yoki entrepreneur,” says Ricardo Salad in interview with CNN.
Investigation Difficulties
For the forensic investigator, each crime scene is rich in detail, But the environment faces different difficulties so that the case can be solved.
“In the vast majority of places on public roads, you have fewer traces. What is the least trace? You gain a shot, if you are on the public road, the projectile can get lost, disappear. We don’t know where it will stop, disappears, there is no way to find it,” says salad.
The curious on duty can also disrupt the scene of a homicide, especially in the collection of evidence and projectiles. “You still have the situation when it brings together the population: ‘Look how beautiful, I will take me a memory.’ Sometimes you have a bloodstain, but until you get to the investigation team and the Military Police isolates the place, the people have already stepped on top.”
The professional also tells how the daily life of the criminal expert works by joining DHPP.
“There was a crime, it calls 190, here’s the Military Police. If you have a victim, the police trigger Samu to help or attest to if it is dead. Then he warns the delegate, who goes to the scene to do a prior investigation. You know who killed? Expert, “concludes salad.
The expert still details the work, such as situations similar to. “The criminal expert takes the examination of the place analyzing the vehicles, raising fingerprints and, if possible, material for DNA examination. Analysis of the position of banks, which can estimate the height of the driver or passengers, as well as verifying some damage to the vehicle that can be analyzed,” he says.
Evolution of work
When salad started in the police, still in the 1990s, other technologies were applied, DNA collection was only implemented for the first time only in 1994 by the Federal District, starting the unprecedented Forensic Laboratory of this type in Brazil. In the past, when the blood was analyzed in the crimes, the only thing you could attest was the typing, without much useless, without definition.
The arrival of ‘Luminol’, a substance that did not exist in the country at the beginning of the salad career, helped improve Brazilian police investigations. “O Luminol identifies a likely blood stain, So I have a monochrome test that gives me the result on time, if it is blood and if it is human. Then, depending on the investigation, Just knowing that it is blood, It gives me a monstrous gain in the crime scene “, analyzes the expert.
For the price for crime
The book “In the Crime Scene: Behind the Yellow Ribbon”, written by Ricardo Salada, which tells the backstage of the expert’s work, is scheduled to launch for October 13, by Editora Principis.
After retiring, the author works as a private expert, as well as performing mentoring for new professionals who want to join expert careers and participate in the LAB Skills Television program.
