Dogs in the park also picked up the scent of Joshua Wade, a neighbor accused of killing her, in the same area off Raspberry Road, according to the evidence presented at a court hearing Wednesday.
In the third day of a hearing involving evidence turned up by specialized dogs in the investigation into Schloss' death, FBI agents gave details about how they used the dogs to glean clues about Wade's and Schloss' movements before and after her death.
The hearing is a prelude to Wade's trial in federal court on charges stemming from Schloss' murder.
The dog evidence is being challenged by Wade's attorneys, who say the device used to gather scent for dogs is unreliable and that the dogs could be influenced by their handlers. They don't want it heard by a jury. The hearing has involved both sides questioning experts in the field of dog handling and human scent detection with bloodhounds.
The dog evidence was used to support a search warrant for Wade's house that turned up important evidence. If his attorneys convince a judge the dog evidence is invalid, they'll ask for that evidence found in the house to be thrown out.
Experts on both sides have testified that bloodhounds have the ability to pick up human scent trails, made up of skin cells and chemical combinations as unique as DNA, that are days, weeks and sometimes months old depending on the weather conditions. Dogs are also trained to signal when a specific scent isn't present in an area, which can be useful for ruling out connections between people and places.
FBI Agent Jolene Bronkhorst spent most of Wednesday on the stand describing dozens of attempts by investigators to pick up Schloss' and Wade's trails. She described a basic procedure in which a mechanical device lifts scents off objects and deposits them on cotton pads. The dogs use the scented pads to find matching trails.
Bloodhounds, whose out-of-state handlers didn't know about growing suspicions over Wade's involvement, followed scents taken from Schloss' abandoned car from two ATMs, where investigators say Wade used her card after her disappearance, to the side door of Wade's house. One trail stretched over four miles and ended directly at the side door, Bronkhorst explained. Bank records showed that Schloss was generally not an ATM user and had not recently visited either of the ATMs.
The dogs also picked up scents taken from Wade's backpack and shoes at Kincaid Park, following him along a footpath, through a tunnel under Raspberry Road to a pile of wood chips. Another dog, following a scent taken from one of Schloss' kitchen aprons, picked up her scent in the same area.
A cadaver dog, trained to detect the smell of a body after death, found nothing in the area. The same dog did find the odor of decomposition in Schloss' car and on several items of clothing and a dryer sheet found in Wade's house.
The scent dogs were used to link Wade and Schloss to certain objects. The items of Wade's clothing that carried the scent of decomposition also carried Schloss' scent. The dogs also found Wade's scent on Schloss' bed linens.
The hearing continues today.
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