Do vampires leave fingerprints on the corpses overnight? - Science Fiction Fantasy Chronicles: forums

Highlander II · 8th July 2002, 07:38 PM

Morbid? Maybe, but a relevant question. I’m working on a fic and was wondering if there’s been a precedent set on either BTVS or Angel for vampires and fingerprints?

There are a number of things to consider in a situation such as this.

Situation: Harmony, pre-vamp days, lifts a lipstick from the mall and is caught. She’s charged and booked (it was expensive lipstick) and fingerprinted at the local precinct. After she’s turned, she kills a local student, the cops investigate and find fingerprints on the body (that is, if the cops are smarter than they were back in “School Hard”). The cops run the prints through the system.

Question: Does the system spit out a match and it’s Harmony Kendall from Sunnydale High School, or, have Harmony’s fingerprints been altered by the demon that now resides in her body and they no longer match, so the system gets a big goose egg?

Then – if there’s a match, do they dig up records only to discover that Harmony died at graduation, or are there no records of her death, they assume she’d gone missing and now they’re looking for her?

**OR**

Does the above happen, but the cops find NO fingerprints, b/c vampires don’t leave any? (This would explain why all the deaths in Sunnydale seem to be mysteries and never get solved.)

Ideas? Thoughts? Etc…

obcooke · 8th July 2002, 11:29 PM

Well, there can only be two things that affect fingerprints, to my knowledge.

One - the ridges on the fingers themselves. I don't see any reason that they would change. Most of a person's human appearance doesn't change when they are turned. Even dead bodies have fingerprints, so I would assume that these stay as they are. Although it may be possilbe for the fingers to change when the face and teeth becomes "vampirized".

Two - the body oils that are actually left behind that form the impressions of the ridges. Now that's something that might be debatable. There are lots of physiological changes that occur when a person dies. Hair and nails continue to grow, but other chemical processes stop. The process of creating more oils should probably stop, but that would leave some behind, until it wore off or the first time the vampire cleaned up.

But, Joss' vampires seem to have a hard time figuring out what dead people can and can't do.

They don't breath, but they can smoke. They don't have reflections in a mirror, but they cause distorted reflections in glasses and the shiny finishes of cars (obviously a mistake, but one that is too tough to catch every time). Males can have sex, although they are sterile and don't have any blood flow (think about it).

So do they have body oils or even sweat? Hard to be sure. Buffy has remarked about the bad smell of several vampires, but since they don't decay, could the body odor come from new oils. Or not washing off body oils and bacteria left behind after they died? Or do they just wear dirty clothes?

Who knows? Good question, though - a real thinking one.

As for the Police, I would assume that if they did get a fingerprint and the system came back with the name of a dead person, that the cops would just curse the stupid computer system and assume that it was not working right.

And imagine if the cops in Sunnydale are "deeply stupid", what must the Crime Lab and Medical Examiner be like? It made sense when we found out that the Mayor was allied with evil, that the cops and such would be picked for their thickheadness, but what explains their poor performance since then?

Sidhe · 9th July 2002, 02:37 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Highlander II

Does the above happen, but the cops find NO fingerprints, b/c vampires don’t leave any? (This would explain why all the deaths in Sunnydale seem to be mysteries and never get solved.)

he he he...I'd go with the whole not being able to leave anything behind...

But you could say what you liked, really, to make it fit into whatever you're doing.

Highlander II · 9th July 2002, 03:23 AM

Well - see - that's kind of the plan -- if there is no current canon for what I need - I'll just make something up --- and I'll pick whichever depending on a couple things -- how much work I wanna put into explaining one way or the other, and how long I want the story to be -- complicated stuff, I know.

Since I can't always remember stuff, and I like to make ppl think a little bit (:evil

I dropped my question here --

That, and I got to a point in my story where I kinda hit a wall until I answer this question - or, it's a wall depending on which way the answer falls ---

and it seems to have fallen in the 'there is no current canon to support one over the other so take your pick' - so, not really stuck anymore ---

thanx for helping!

8th July 2002, 07:38 PM	#1 (permalink)
Highlander II There can be only one!! Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Virginia Posts: 9,446	Do vampires leave fingerprints on the corpses overnight? Morbid? Maybe, but a relevant question. I’m working on a fic and was wondering if there’s been a precedent set on either BTVS or Angel for vampires and fingerprints? There are a number of things to consider in a situation such as this. Situation: Harmony, pre-vamp days, lifts a lipstick from the mall and is caught. She’s charged and booked (it was expensive lipstick) and fingerprinted at the local precinct. After she’s turned, she kills a local student, the cops investigate and find fingerprints on the body (that is, if the cops are smarter than they were back in “School Hard”). The cops run the prints through the system. Question: Does the system spit out a match and it’s Harmony Kendall from Sunnydale High School, or, have Harmony’s fingerprints been altered by the demon that now resides in her body and they no longer match, so the system gets a big goose egg? Then – if there’s a match, do they dig up records only to discover that Harmony died at graduation, or are there no records of her death, they assume she’d gone missing and now they’re looking for her? OR Does the above happen, but the cops find NO fingerprints, b/c vampires don’t leave any? (This would explain why all the deaths in Sunnydale seem to be mysteries and never get solved.) Ideas? Thoughts? Etc…

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8th July 2002, 11:29 PM	#2 (permalink)
obcooke OB-Wan Join Date: Jul 2001 Posts: 1,357	Well, there can only be two things that affect fingerprints, to my knowledge. One - the ridges on the fingers themselves. I don't see any reason that they would change. Most of a person's human appearance doesn't change when they are turned. Even dead bodies have fingerprints, so I would assume that these stay as they are. Although it may be possilbe for the fingers to change when the face and teeth becomes "vampirized". Two - the body oils that are actually left behind that form the impressions of the ridges. Now that's something that might be debatable. There are lots of physiological changes that occur when a person dies. Hair and nails continue to grow, but other chemical processes stop. The process of creating more oils should probably stop, but that would leave some behind, until it wore off or the first time the vampire cleaned up. But, Joss' vampires seem to have a hard time figuring out what dead people can and can't do. They don't breath, but they can smoke. They don't have reflections in a mirror, but they cause distorted reflections in glasses and the shiny finishes of cars (obviously a mistake, but one that is too tough to catch every time). Males can have sex, although they are sterile and don't have any blood flow (think about it). So do they have body oils or even sweat? Hard to be sure. Buffy has remarked about the bad smell of several vampires, but since they don't decay, could the body odor come from new oils. Or not washing off body oils and bacteria left behind after they died? Or do they just wear dirty clothes? Who knows? Good question, though - a real thinking one. As for the Police, I would assume that if they did get a fingerprint and the system came back with the name of a dead person, that the cops would just curse the stupid computer system and assume that it was not working right. And imagine if the cops in Sunnydale are "deeply stupid", what must the Crime Lab and Medical Examiner be like? It made sense when we found out that the Mayor was allied with evil, that the cops and such would be picked for their thickheadness, but what explains their poor performance since then?

9th July 2002, 03:23 AM	#4 (permalink)
Highlander II There can be only one!! Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Virginia Posts: 9,446	Well - see - that's kind of the plan -- if there is no current canon for what I need - I'll just make something up --- and I'll pick whichever depending on a couple things -- how much work I wanna put into explaining one way or the other, and how long I want the story to be -- complicated stuff, I know. Since I can't always remember stuff, and I like to make ppl think a little bit (:evil I dropped my question here -- That, and I got to a point in my story where I kinda hit a wall until I answer this question - or, it's a wall depending on which way the answer falls --- and it seems to have fallen in the 'there is no current canon to support one over the other so take your pick' - so, not really stuck anymore --- thanx for helping!