Luminol Update / Open Thread

Daniela Hillers said McClintock bought a 1985 Chevette.

So far, there’s nothing new in the Söring video series except that his interview guests have occasionally mentioned me and Terry Wright by name (forcing Söring to do the same, with obvious reluctance). My plan therefore is to wait until a few more videos come out, and then do a short response. However, I notice my last post has attracted 80 comments, so I think it’s time for a new one, just to give people a chance to vent!

I also wanted to clear up an issue McClintock raised in his interview, where he accuses me of falsely claiming that he bought an entire 1985 Chevy Chevette to try to replicate the conditions of the mid-1985 luminol tests.

My source for this assertion was none other than Daniela Hillers:

Starting at 5:30, the voice-over written by Hillers states: “He [McClintock] obtained an identical car from the 1980s, and examined it together with his students using luminol. They put tiny splashes of blood on the floor-mats, seats, and carpets, making sure it was really minimal.” In this episode at about timestamp 11:30

Hillers says: “Dr. McClintock obtained an identical model of the car of the night of the crime and examined it with his students. That is, they spread blood on the carpets in the car…”

This factual goof is hardly surprising, since I identified 27 factual errors in the first half of Hillers’ book alone before I stopped counting. No wonder Söring almost never mentions Hillers, her book, or her podcast.

I have sent McClintock numerous emails asking him for comments and clarifications, which is my standard practice. McClintock never responded in any way. I am glad he seems to have made a full recovery from his health problems, which I obviously could not have known about. In preparation for my upcoming video, I emailed him again just after his video came out asking for his comments again. No reply. Apparently McClintock is still following Jens Söring’s order to never contact me, which he issues to all of his supporters.

Just to sum up, the Luminol-in-the-rental-car issue is irrelevant, which explains why nobody brought it up at trial. If the defense had tried to make an issue out of it, the prosecution had a response all ready to go: The Chevette was a rental car and the Luminol test was conducted 87 days after its return, during which time it had doubtless been deep-cleaned a dozen or two times with powerful detergents specifically designed to remove deep stains, including bloodstains. Thus, both sides realized the Luminol result on the rental car was a nothingburger and didn’t waste any time on it.

I’ve pointed out that McClintock has never explained how any bloodstain could survive all these cleanings, and all of the experts I have spoken to have unanimously concluded that bloodstains invisible to the naked eye (the rental clerk said the car was spotless on its return) would be undetectable after even 1 or 2 thorough washings, much less dozens. I have asked McClintock repeatedly what is the basis for his opinion that the bloodstains in the Chevette could have survived all of these cleanings. He has never responded.

How can we be sure the car was indeed professionally cleaned? Because, as the trial testimony showed, “Pantops Texaco” in Charlottesville, Virginia was a franchisee of the global company National Car Rental. As anyone who’s ever operated a franchise will tell you, the company whose brand you’re using and profiting from is obsessively concerned with making sure you don’t harm their reputation by providing subpar products or services. They regularly inspect their franchisees to ensure quality standards are maintained.

If your McDonald’s serves even one undercooked Big Mac, you’re in a hell of a lot of trouble. You may be forced by your franchisee contract to pay a huge fine to McDonalds, or McDonalds may simply cancel the contract, destroying your career and potentially leaving you with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt.

How much does National Car Rental care about whether its rental cars are clean? This much:

Clorox makes bleach, a chemical renowned for removing bloodstains and invalidating Luminol tests (it’s what Dexter used to cover his tracks). For that matter, this study showed that the ordinary household cleaner Lysol resulted in negative Luminol tests after just one application.

So, to sum up, the Luminol test on the car was never raised by the parties because everyone saw back then that it was a nothingburger, and that remains the case to this day.