Original subtitles

CHARLIE: Hey guys! Charlie here! Lot's going on today.

We got a classic 3-45 on our hands.

Petty theft occurred this morning.

Suspects, few. Motive, uncertain.

Donut uhhh... chocolate.

But don't worry about it because we got our investigators on the scene.

KIRBY: Found a thumb print!

CHARLIE: Throw it in with the rest of 'em.

It's time for Weird but True!

(theme music plays).

Dark mysteries.

Weird facts.

One woman hopes to unravel them all.

KIRBY: It was a chilly day. Too chilly.

The kind of chill that would make a popsicle shiver.

When that very un-chill man barged into my office.

CHARLIE: Detective Kirby?!?!

KIRBY: That's the name. Who's askin'?

CHARLIE: Kirb, it's Charlie.

KIRBY: What seems to be the problem, Charles?

CHARLIE: Kirbs, it's horrible!

Ahh I'd just gotten back from a bike ride with my friend Patrick.

Ahh...

I'm gonna go get some ice cream.

PATRICK: Cool. I'm gonna circle the block.

CHARLIE: Alright.

I ran inside for one minute and by the time I came back,

my bike was gone!

Nooo!!

It was stolen! You gotta help me out!

KIRBY: Who's this Patrick kid? One of Charlie's goons?

Why ice cream? It's like ten degrees outside.

Like a broken calculator, this story just didn't add up.

And that's when I realized...

Charles, I don't know anything about solving crime.

CHARLIE: Really? Me neither.

KIRBY: Huh.

CHARLIE: I guess that's what we're doing today, unraveling the world of...

KIRBY: Forensic Science! CHARLIE: Forensic Science!

Hey guys, we're just waiting for...

BOB: Package! CHARLIE: Perfect.

BOB: Sign here. KIRBY: Thanks Bob!

CHARLIE: We got a great mailman.

KIRBY: So, forensics science.

CHARLIE: Forensic science.

Alright real talk guys, my bike was stolen and I have absolutely no idea

what happened to it.

KIRBY: Bummer.

CHARLIE: So, we ordered this book to help us learn how crimes like this are handled.

Let's check it out.

Sooo...

Let's say your favorite plant is stolen.

KIRBY: It's gone!

CHARLIE: The first thing you do is call the police.

(phone rings).

CHARLIE: What's up?

KIRBY: My favorite plant was stolen.

CHARLIE: We'll be there in two seconds!

The first person to arrive at the crime scene is a police officer.

The officer establishes a border and makes sure the area is preserved for evidence.

The next person on location is a CSI aka crime scene investigator.

They're the ones that carefully find and collect evidence that can be

analyzed for forensic clues: an artichoke, a small wedge of cheese,

a large wedge of cheese, anything that might help solve the case.

Once they finish examining the scene they take their findings to...

our third expert, the forensic scientist.

They're basically smart scientists that

use their scientific knowledge to solve crimes.

Such as analyzing DNA or testing fingerprints.

He did it! PATRICK: What!?!?

CHARLIE: Cool, cool.

So forensic scientists are the ones that are actually working with the evidence to find clues.

KIRBY: And they can find clues in the weirdest ways.

CHARLIE: Check it out, these are all true stories...

KIRBY: What a life, being a Forensic Scientist.

CHARLIE: Oh it's, it's crazy. KIRBY: Crazy.

CHARLIE: I tell you about the guys we uh nabbed last week?

KIRBY: Who?

CHARLIE: The Fried Chicken Burglar?

So this guy he's robbing a house, right?

PATRICK: Ohh!

CHARLIE: Gets hungry, eats some fried chicken, sips some OJ, and books it.

This guy's hand was so greasy from the chicken,

he left fingerprints all over the bottle of OJ.

So we ID'd this guy based off his greasy fried chicken fingerprints.

KIRBY: Crazy!

Did I tell you about the guy we locked up on Tuesday?

The Sticky Fingered Selfie Snatcher.

So this guy, he steals a lady's phone, right?

(evil laughter).

Starts taking selfies with it, like a model or something.

Our boys hack into the phone's cloud storage and get one of these selfies.

Posted it around the area...

CHARLIE: Excuse me.

KIRBY: And boom the guy's turned-in.

CHARLIE: You're under arrest! PATRICK: No!

KIRBY: His selfies helped us catch him.

CHARLIE: Did I tell you about the group we nabbed on Friday, though?

The Litter Bug Bandit?

So these kids, right?

They're stealing some snacks from a gas station, like some hot shot felons.

Ditch the scene in a getaway car.

Munching on the snacks, and tossing the wrappers out the window.

So I got one of our police dogs, followed the trail of litter,

and found the crooks.

HEY!

So these guys, their litter helped us catch 'em.

KIRBY: It's a crazy job.

CHARLIE: Crazy. PATRICK: More coffee?

CHARLIE: We're good, thanks.

KIRBY: Alright, so we got a crime scene right now.

Who do we need to call?

CHARLIE: We need a crime scene investigator.

KIRBY: Exactly, and guys, we found the perfect lady to call CHARLIE: Rebecca Hooks,

she's a Crime Scene Investigator with the Illinois State Police department.

Giving her a call right now.

(phone rings).

REBECCA: Crime Scene Services.

CHARLIE: My bike just got stolen!

REBECCA: That's terrible!

CHARLIE: Can you help us out?

REBECCA: I'll be there in five seconds.

(doorbell rings).

CHARLIE: She's here! KIRBY: I'll get it!

Sargent Rebecca Hooks, she's an expert on evidence gathering and processing.

Rebecca's favorite Weird but True fact is, that fingerprints can last up to

40 years on paper!

CHARLIE: Hey Rebecca, how's it going?

REBECCA: Fine how are you Charlie?

CHARLIE: I'm really glad you're here 'cause this is what you do right?

REBECCA: This is what I do everyday.

CHARLIE: Awesome so where do we start?

REBECCA: So we got a camera kit.

KIRBY: Awesome.

REBECCA: Crime scene tape... KIRBY: Very cool.

CHARLIE: Ok REBECCA: These are gel lifts.

We're gonna use these to collect any footwear we might find.

Fingerprint kit, and a fancy footwear light.

CHARLIE: Ready to go? REBECCA: We're ready.

CHARLIE: Alright this is where it all happened.

We started biking up here, I went inside that door, came out with some ice cream,

I left my bike right here, and when we came out, gone.

REBECCA: Ok. Stop right there.

I'm gonna have you back up because you're walking in the crime scene and we're going to

put up some crime scene tape to prevent any further contamination.

CHARLIE: Let's do it!

Alright guys, first step, you gotta rope off the crime scene.

You gotta make it a little bigger than the spot where it just happened 'cause you never

know where you're gonna find evidence.

You gotta make sure that nobody comes in and contaminates your area.

REBECCA: Ok next step, we're going inside to look for evidence,

but we're gonna wanna make sure that we don't contaminate the scene.

We wanna wear gloves and we wanna wear booties.

We don't wanna leave extra footprints and we don't wanna leave extra fingerprints.

KIRBY: Ok.

CHARLIE: You guys ready to go?

REBECCA: You're a little over dressed Charlie.

CHARLIE: What are you talking about?

This is contamination management right here.

Nothing on me's getting in that scene.

REBECCA: It's just a bike CHARLIE: Take the suit off?

REBECCA: Suit can come off. CHARLIE: Better?

REBECCA: Much better. CHARLIE: What's next?

REBECCA: OK we're going to walk through the crime scene, we're gonna take notes about

what we see, and we're gonna look and see if there's anything that was left behind

that does not belong here.

Well I'm gonna give Kirby the clipboard and she can start documenting any observation

that she sees.

While Kirby is recording some observations we're gonna take pictures.

KIRBY: Check it out!

Guys I found something!

CHARLIE: Sweet!

REBECCA: Whoa Charlie stop!

Remember what we said about contamination.

CHARLIE: Yeah.

REBECCA: We gotta think about the path that the suspect took to

whatever evidence she found.

She would have taken the path of least resistance, straight towards the evidence.

So when we go in we're gonna wanna stay on the outside edge of the sidewalk.

Follow me.

KIRBY: So I was walking around the perimeter of the crime and I came upon this can.

REBECCA: I think it's evidence.

We're gonna get some photographs of it.

KIRBY: Excellent.

(camera shutter).

CHARLIE: Got it.

REBECCA: We're gonna fingerprint the can now.

We're gonna use plain black fingerprint powder.

And we're just gently going to dust it.

And we're starting to see... CHARLIE: Whoa!

REBECCA: Some fingerprints develop.

CHARLIE: It just appeared!

KIRBY: Weird but True, fingerprints are made out of three things:

sweat, oil, and protein.

KIRBY: What's up next?

REBECCA: Let's look for some footwear.

CHARLIE: Footwear, that's CSI talk for footprints.

REBECCA: We're gonna use this footwear light to look for

some footprints on the sidewalk.

I think I see something right over here.

And we're gonna use a gel lift to collect the footwear.

KIRBY: So what is a gel lift and what does it do?

REBECCA: A gel lift is a rectangular piece of material that is really sticky.

And we're going to peel off this plastic cover that's on it.

KIRBY: This will help us collect the footprint.

REBECCA: Exactly KIRBY: Awesome.

REBECCA: So we're gonna lay the gel lift down over the footprint and smooth it out.

And we're gonna slowly peel it back and see if we have a footwear print.

CHARLIE: Ooooo. KIRBY: Nice.

CHARLIE: Very nice. REBECCA: And you can see our footprint

KIRBY: Totally!

REBECCA: So we're gonna take this footwear print, and we're gonna seal it in a bag,

and we're gonna take it to the crime lab, but you guys need to start thinking about

suspects and why someone would possibly steal your bike, what their motive is.

And when you think about that we'll see if they have an alibi.

CHARLIE: OK suspects, suspects...

KIRBY: Do you have any enemies?

Do you owe anyone money?

CHARLIE: I owe Winnie like five dollars, but I don't think she can ride a bike.

KIRBY: I think we have to think about this a bit more.

CHARLIE: I think you're right.

Alright guys we're gonna take a quick break, but when we get back we're gonna be ready to

go over some suspects.

We'll see you soon.

KIRBY: Weird but True, like fingerprints, it's virtually impossible for two people to

have the same exact handwriting!

CHARLIE: Hey guys! KIRBY: Welcome back!

CHARLIE: We've been doing some thinking.

And we have two major suspects who might have stolen my bike.

KIRBY: Suspect number one. Our sister Casey.

CHARLIE: Casey was at the house while I made myself an ice cream cone.

She had just come from outside with the packages.

That puts her near the scene of the crime!!

KIRBY: Suspect number two, Charlie's friend Patrick.

CHARLIE: The bike ride was Patrick's idea.

When we stopped at our house for ice cream he said he'd do a loop around the block.

When I got back, Patrick was gone...

and so was my bike!!

Noooo!!!

KIRBY: We talked to each of the suspects to see if they confess.

CHARLIE: I talked to Casey.

Hey Case, did you take my bike?

CASEY: No. CHARLIE: Ok thanks. Sorry.

KIRBY: And I talked to Patrick.

Where's Charlie's bike?

PATRICK: I don't know!

KIRBY: Don't you play dumb with me!!

PATRICK: I'm not lying!

KIRBY: What are you hiding?!

Yeah, he's not talking.

CHARLIE: Awwww, nuts.

KIRBY: But that's exactly what a thief would do Charles!

CHARLIE: I guess you're right Kirb.

We gotta let the evidence do the talking here.

So what did Rebecca take from the crime scene?

KIRBY: We got a finger print and a footprint.

CHARLIE: Cool cool, let's look into fingerprints a bit more closely.

Our fingerprints form 3 months before we're even born.

And so many tiny factors affect fingerprint formation; like oxygen levels,

blood pressure, and even the baby's nutrition levels.

According to scientists...

KIRBY: Over the entire course of human existence, there's virtually no chance that two

humans have ever had the same fingerprint pattern!

Ever!!

Check out your hands.

You've got different prints on all your fingers.

Weird but True, even identical twins don't have the same prints.

CHARLIE: What makes them so unique are those patterns of swirls and ridges,

there are three different kinds that everybody has on their fingers, even you.

Let's check 'em out.

The first type of fingerprint is the loop.

They're fingerprints that recurve back on themselves, kind of like this.

65% of all fingerprints are loops.

The next fingerprint we have is the whorl.

Whorls are kinda like tiny little whirlpools.

30% of all fingerprints are whorls.

The final fingerprint type is the arch.

Arches are kind of like tiny little hills and they're super rare.

Only 5% of all fingerprints are arches.

So there you go, those are your three different kinds of fingerprints.

What do you have Kirb?

KIRBY: I've got two whorls, a loop, and two more whorls, what about you Charles?

CHARLIE: I've got a loop, a whorl, another loop, another whorl, and another loop.

So it's common knowledge that everyone has unique fingerprints.

But did you know that our palms, toes, and feet are also unique too?

Weird.

Cool, cool, so fingerprints are one of the things that forensic scientists can use to

solve crimes, but they're not the only thing.

KIRBY: Remember, forensic scientists are scientists

that use their knowledge to solve crimes.

What if they're really knowledgeable about teeth?

Or bugs?

All these people can still be forensic scientists!

CHARLIE: Here are some examples.

Forensic Superstar number 1 Dr. Kemp, Dentist.

In 1954 a man robbed a grocery store and paused

for a bite of cheese on the way out.

The police asked the primary suspect to bite into a piece of cheese for comparison.

CHARLIE: Bite this cheese. PATRICK: Okay.

CHARLIE: They took both cheeses to Dr. Kemp.

Who measured the bites, and determined that...

KIRBY: Both of these cheeses were bit...

by the same person!

You're under arrest!

CHARLIE: Proving the suspect was at the scene of the crime!

Forensic Superstar number 2 Lynn Kimsey, entomologist.

In 2004 Vincent Brothers was accused of a serious crime in California.

But he claimed he never left the state of Ohio!

PATRICK: I haven't even heard of California!

CHARLIE: Crime Scene investigators didn't believe him,

so they took the filter and radiator from his car to Lynn Kimsey.

Stuck in the radiator and filter, she found a grasshopper,

and a paper wasp, and two bugs, and determined that...

KIRBY: These bugs are from the west.

They're not from Ohio!

CHARLIE: Proving that Vincent was lying!

So he was convicted.

Forensic superstar number 3 Patricia Wiltshire, Botanist.

Police were having a tough time tying a suspect to a crime scene.

So they called on Patricia for help.

Can you help us out? KIRBY: Sure.

CHARLIE: After looking extremely close at every detail of the evidence

she determined that...

KIRBY: The pollen located on the suspect's shoe only comes from a special plant located

at the scene of the crime!

CHARLIE: Proving he was there.

These people are incredible!

KIRBY: It's like anything can be a clue.

CHARLIE: I wonder how Rebecca's doing with the clues she got from our crime scene.

(phone rings).

KIRBY: That's gotta be her!

CHARLIE: Rebecca? REBECCA: Hey Charlie!

We're starting to process your evidence.

CHARLIE: No way!

REBECCA: You're gonna wanna come see this.

CHARLIE: Oh my gosh, we'll be there in like three minutes!

REBECCA: OK, see you soon. Bye.

CHARLIE: Our evidence is ready!

KIRBY: We gotta go to the lab!

CHARLIE: Ok guys, we're gonna go meet Rebecca at the forensics lab.

But, we'll see you there after the break.

Sounds good? Awesome. We'll see you soon.

KIRBY: Weird but True, children's fingerprints disappear from surfaces

faster than adults' do!

CHARLIE: Hey guys welcome back!

We just got here, we're at the Illinois State Police Forensic Science Center.

KIRBY: Rebecca asked us here 'cause she said she's ready to process our evidence.

CHARLIE: Let's go find her!

Hey Rebecca!

REBECCA: Hey guys come on in. CHARLIE: Whoa.

REBECCA: I'm gonna introduce you to Mike. CHARLIE: Hey Mike.

REBECCA: He is our latent fingerprint examiner and

he's gonna be taking a look at the can for us.

CHARLIE: Awesome. KIRBY: Excellent.

MIKE: Hey guys nice to meet you.

CHARLIE: Mike Cox, he's an expert at examining evidence for signs of prints

from feet and hands.

His favorite Weird but True fact is, the first palm print identification was made in

1917 at the scene of a stagecoach robbery in Nevada!

MIKE: We're sorry to hear about your bike.

We'll do what we can to help.

CHARLIE: Thanks.

MIKE: But first let's get some lab coats on.

CHARLIE: OK. MIKE: So what do we have?

Looks like we've got a can and it looks like someone powdered

it for us already and we can see.

KIRBY: Yeah we found a big old fingerprint there.

MIKE: There's a couple extra things that we can do to the print to

help us visualize a little bit better.

CHARLIE: That's awesome yeah.

MIKE: So the first thing we're gonna do is called Cyanoacrylate Fuming.

CHARLIE: Cyanoacrylate Fuming.

KIRBY: Got it. CHARLIE: Oh got it.

KIRBY: Boom.

MIKE: That's just a fancy word for super glue actually.

KIRBY: So what does the superglue do to the fingerprint?

MIKE: When it heats up, Cyanoacrylate releases a gas that adheres to the

fingerprint residue.

KIRBY: Whoa so it helps us see it better?

MIKE: It will.

What we do to start the process is we're gonna put it into the tank.

Kirby if you wanna put about ten drops into the plate for me.

KIRBY: Yup. 1, 2... good?

MIKE: Put it onto the hotplate.

So we're gonna put it on about 10, 15 minutes, put the lid on,

and we'll wait and see what results we get.

CHARLIE: Weird but True, forensic scientists, like Mike,

can find prints on things that have been under water.

(ringing of timer).

MIKE: Now in the right light we'll be able to see it just a little bit better.

KIRBY: Oh yeah. CHARLIE: Yeah, no I see something for sure.

KIRBY: I totally see it.

CHARLIE: There's definitely some stuff in there.

KIRBY: I think it's a whorl.

CHARLIE: I'm calling it a whorl too.

We got a whorl thumb print.

MIKE: I would agree.

CHARLIE: The person who stole my bike has a whorl thumb print.

KIRBY: So what do we do with this fingerprint?

MIKE: If we had a suspect we could compare it to them...

KIRBY: Mhmm.

MIKE: Otherwise we can take the information and put it into a database and see if

that person had committed any previous crimes.

CHARLIE: Ahh. KIRBY: Cool.

MIKE: And see if they pop up in the database.

CHARLIE: Alright what's next?

MIKE: All we have to do is turn the lights off so we can see it under there.

CHARLIE: Got it. Ohhh.

MIKE: And see what we have.

CHARLIE: That's great, looks like we got two.

KIRBY: And it's super detailed.

(camera shutter).

CHARLIE: Kirb I can't believe we're looking at the actual fingerprint from the person

who stole my bike.

Ok... I... think we got it.

So we should take this back home and compare with our suspects right?

MIKE: That's right.

CHARLIE: We also took a footprint away from the scene.

MIKE: You should be talking to Bill and Rebecca and they're in the next room.

CHARLIE: Alright Mike, that's so much for helping us out.

MIKE: Good luck guys. KIRBY: Thanks so much. See you later.

CHARLIE: I'll take this fingerprint.

MIKE: Nice meeting you. CHARLIE: See you later.

Bill Demuth, forensic footwear examiner, he specializes in finding unique clues in

footprints that can be used to help solve crimes.

His favorite Weird but True fact is, positive identification of a

suspect's shoeprint can be made with as little as one random characteristic!

Where do we start?

BILL: Well we'll start with the gel lift.

The first thing we're gonna do is we're gonna image this, and we always wanna make sure we

shoot these with a scale in the image.

And in order for you to compare this to an actual shoe you have to make sure that

it's the same size as the shoe was.

CHARLIE: Do you see anything initially?

BILL: It looks like it marked very well.

So right off the bat you might be able to tell brand and you might be able to tell size.

CHARLIE: That's awesome. KIRBY: Whoa.

BILL: The next step is we're going to grab our image.

(camera shutter).

I think we've got it. CHARLIE: Awesome.

BILL: OK so what we've got on the screen is the original image and what I've done is

I've adjusted the contrast a little bit.

This is the, kind of, clean version of that gel site.

CHARLIE: That's perfect.

REBECCA: Hey guys what'd you find out?

CHARLIE: Oh we got an awesome footprint from Bill.

KIRBY: And some photos of the fingerprints.

REBECCA: Now you've got some suspects.

CHARLIE: Mhmm.

REBECCA: So you're gonna take your fingerprint and your footprint home and you're

gonna compare those to your suspects.

CHARLIE: Perfect. Time to crack the case I guess.

REBECCA: I think so.

CHARLIE: Thank you guys so much for your help.

KIRBY: Thank you so much for your help.

CHARLIE: We really appreciate it.

BILL: Good luck.

CHARLIE: See ya. KIRBY: See ya later.

Weird but True, perspiration level is one of the reactions

measured in a lie detector test!

CHARLIE: So we've been going over our evidence and we just found the weirdest thing.

KIRBY: So we got a piece of mail from both our suspects, Casey and Patrick,

to collect their thumbprint.

CHARLIE: So we can compare them with the print we got from the can at the crime scene.

KIRBY: And guys we got a match.

CHARLIE: But here's the thing. We found three sets of prints.

One on Casey's piece of mail, an arch.

Another a little whorl on Patrick's piece of mail.

And a third that we found on both their pieces of mail, a big whorl.

KIRBY: And that's the one that matches the print on the can from the crime scene!

CHARLIE: But here's the thing, whose print could this be?

KIRBY: Oh my gosh! CHARLIE: What?

KIRBY: I figured it out! CHARLIE: Who did it?

(doorbell).

KIRBY: Bob!

CHARLIE: Bob? Our mailman?

KIRBY: Yeah think about it. Whose print would be on both pieces of mail?!?

The mailman's! Bob's.

When you got your ice cream you ran into Casey carrying boxes of craft supplies.

That Bob had just delivered!

CHARLIE: I...I don't know Kirb.

I don't really see the connection here.

Like where does my bike fit into it?

What about that footprint? And then where did Patrick go?

KIRBY: Alright, check this out...

Bob needs to deliver packages of craft supplies to our front door.

But your bike is in the way.

He moves it to make room for his delivery.

And leaves his can of soda behind.

Along with his footprints!

Patrick comes back from his loop, sees that your bike isn't there.

So he suspects you left to go find him and he heads back out.

CHARLIE: So my bike wasn't stolen?

Bob just moved it?

KIRBY: Yup.

CHARLIE: We found it! I was so worried about you!

KIRBY: Another case solved.

CHARLIE: I thought I lost you forever.

KIRBY: Charles, it's just a bike.

CHARLIE: This is amazing, we learned so much today about solving crimes.

What else did we learn today, there were so many Weird but True things!

KIRBY: Every one of your fingers has a different print pattern.

And no two humans have ever had matching fingerprints.

Palms of hands, feet, and toes also have unique print patterns.

CHARLIE: Combining super glue, heat, and humidity in a fish tank for 15 minutes can make a

fingerprint stand out on an object.

Kirb, can you help me unload these craft supplies?

KIRBY: For sure. There's so much stuff in here.

It's gone!

CHARLIE: Another crime!!!

KIRBY: Don't worry, I know exactly what to do.

This is a job for. Detective Kirby!

It was a dark and stormy night. In a city filled with secrets.

CHARLIE: Alright guys it looks like we've got another project on our hands.

KIRBY: The room was crafty, too crafty.

CHARLIE: But thanks so much for stopping by.

KIRBY: Time crawled by like a maimed sloth in molasses.

CHARLIE: Come by again when we discover more things that are Weird but True.

KIRBY: Too true. CHARLIE: We'll see you soon!

Captioned by Cotter Captioning Services.