@crimetokshorts: Part 1/4 He left his palm print on her body. Investigators had never seen anything quite like it—and an unusual forensic technique would help expose the person responsible. On August 8, 1996, an electrician discovered the body of 48-year-old Martha Californsky Hansen near a downtown office building in Anchorage, Alaska. Investigators faced a difficult challenge: they had very little information about who had been with Martha during her final hours. But the crime scene contained something extraordinary. Detectives discovered a partial palm print on Martha’s skin. Normally, fingerprints and palm prints are collected from smooth surfaces, but recovering a usable impression from human skin presented a completely different challenge. Investigators turned to an unusual technique called cyanoacrylate fuming. By heating superglue in a controlled environment, forensic specialists created vapors that could adhere to the residue left behind by a person’s hand. The process revealed a palm print that investigators could photograph and preserve. There was just one problem: they needed a suspect’s print to compare it against. Investigators began canvassing downtown Anchorage and obtained surveillance footage from a local bar. The video showed Martha leaving with a young man whose distinctive, long, multicolored hair caught investigators’ attention. Eventually, police identified him as 22-year-old Evans Lee Curtis. The investigation gained momentum when a teenage witness told police that Curtis had recently appeared at a residence with blood on his clothing. She helped investigators recover the garments, and laboratory testing determined that the blood belonged to Martha. Curtis had also given the teenager a wristwatch that matched the description of a watch missing from Martha’s belongings. Investigators eventually obtained Curtis’s palm prints. The comparison revealed a match with the impression recovered from Martha’s skin. The evidence was overwhelming: surveillance footage placed him with Martha, blood evidence connected him to her, and the palm print provided an extraordinary physical link to the crime. Curtis pleaded no contest to first-degree murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. His sentence was upheld on appeal in 1998. What makes this investigation remarkable is that detectives recovered an identifying impression from a surface where traditional fingerprint techniques would have been extremely difficult to use. A tiny forensic detail helped turn an unidentified suspect into a convicted murderer. If investigators had never discovered that palm print, do you think the other evidence would have been enough to identify the killer? #truecrime #crimetok #truecrimetiktok #crimejunkie #truecrimestories

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Thursday 05 November 2026 13:30:00 GMT