Local helps solve crimes

Marisa O’Neil

Costa Mesa resident Steve Todd has helped solve scores of rapes,

murders and other crimes and has worked on high-profile cases like

the Green River Killer.

He doesn’t carry a badge and doesn’t work for a police department.

But his high-tech machine uses evaporated metals inside a vacuum

chamber to find high-resolution fingerprints on evidence when other

methods fail.

“It’s given us immediate, direct answers as to whether we’re going

to get prints or not,” Costa Mesa Lt. Ron Smith said. “We know right

away if there is there any chance at all.”

Todd started his business 10 years ago with one vacuum metal

deposition machine at the Costa Mesa Police Department. Now he has 20

of the $132,000 machines in use worldwide at agencies including the

FBI and Secret Service.

All three offshoots of the “CSI” television franchise have shown

investigators using one of the machines, Todd said.

When police in Belleview, Wash., bought one of Todd’s machines, it

helped catch a serial rapist on its first test run.

“They had evidence they wouldn’t be able to powder or superglue

[to lift prints],” Todd said. “The first time they used it, they got

a print that led to a match, and they were able to arrest a suspect.”

Todd developed the massive machine 10 years ago but had nowhere to

keep it. He called Costa Mesa police -- his local department -- and

made them an offer they couldn’t refuse.

He kept the machine there and let Costa Mesa police use it free of

charge. He also used it for his business, Spencer Laboratories, to

process evidence for other departments.

“He found a place to do it, and we get to do ours at no cost,”

Smith said. “He has people flying in from all over the country with

these murder weapons to test, and we have this amazing technology at

our fingertips.”

The machine evaporates small gold particles inside the vacuum

chamber with evidence to be checked, Todd explained.

Vapors cling to residue left behind as fingerprints and condense

into a solid.

Zinc is then evaporated and the print becomes visible.

The method can even bring out prints from someone who was wearing

latex gloves when they touched the evidence, he said.

“It will recover 100% more prints than powder and superglue,” he

said. “If those don’t work, you can put it in here, and 60% of the

time, you’ll get an identifiable print.”

The large chamber is big enough to fit a car door inside.

The pressure inside gets so low, it’s akin to the vacuum of space,

Smith said.

Costa Mesa police witnessed that effect when they used it to test

a brick-sized sample of cocaine for prints, he said.

“It swelled up to the size of a large sofa cushion,” he said.

They also used it to test an ashtray from a 1969 cold case. Police

have a print, and now they just need a match, he said.

Todd himself tested evidence believed to be linked to Green River

Killer Gary Ridgeway, convicted of murdering 48 women in Washington

state.

Todd just expanded his business, adding a DNA laboratory in Santa

Ana.

The lab is accredited to process DNA evidence for police agencies.

It will provide a quicker option when county labs, which usually

process DNA, get backlogged and a case needs immediate attention,

Smith said. Those accused of crimes could also use such a test to

help rule them out as a suspect more quickly if there is no match.

The DNA test helps compliment the fingerprints to solidify a case,

Todd said.

“DNA is a very powerful tool,” he said. “You could have

fingerprints on a bedspread, but they can’t tell you how they got

there.”

* MARISA O’NEIL covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4618 or by e-mail at marisa.oneil@

latimes.com.