Mr. Stombaugh. Yes, sir; ordinarily a case such as a murder or a rape, you will obtain the clothing of the victim, the clothing of the suspect in the case, as well as hair samples from the victim and hair samples from the suspect.
Mr. Eisenberg. How many types of cases like this do you think you have processed?
Mr. Stombaugh. Processed approximately 500 a year.
Mr. Eisenberg. For how many years?
Mr. Stombaugh. Four years—no, three years.
Mr. Eisenberg. In any of these approximately 1,500 cases, have you found a case involving Caucasian hairs in which the hairs from the known two different individuals matched in observable physical characteristics microscopically?
Mr. Stombaugh. No, sir; I have never found hair from two different Caucasian persons that matched.
Mr. Eisenberg. Have you found any in non-Caucasian hairs, by the way?
Mr. Stombaugh. I have found several cases in which hairs from two different persons of the Negroid race, although the hairs did not match completely, the characteristics were such that I felt that I could not go further with the examination because I could not exclude the hairs. The hairs were too similar. When I make a hair match. I know that any case might go to court, and of course I want to be absolutely certain in my mind.
In these cases I am referring to right now, the hair sample from the victim and the hair sample from the suspect were pubic hairs. They were so similar to each other that I could not find any pubic hairs that I could match with the suspect's pubic hairs, and be certain in my mind that these hairs came from him rather than her. I couldn't do this.