Posted on 03/25/2005 12:20:12 PM PST by Cagey
The mystery of how a human finger found its way into a bowl of fast-food chili has sparked a series of investigations that hope to trace the finger back from a San Jose restaurant to the hand it was detached from.
Santa Clara County sheriff's officials said Thursday that they planned to lift a fingerprint from the mystery digit, in the hope that the owner's prints might be listed on a database.
The far-flung probes began after a diner at a Wendy's restaurant on Monterey Road bit into the 13/8-inch piece of a finger Tuesday evening while eating chili.
Investigators from Santa Clara County's Department of Environmental Health are tracing the meat, sauce, beans, spices and frozen vegetables used in the tainted chili back to their producers in hopes of linking the finger to an industrial accident.
"We probably are going to go back as far as the grower of the beans," said Ben Gale, the environmental health director, even as a restaurant spokesman expressed confidence that the digit had not originated in the food supply process.
County health officials have said that, although repulsive, the finger fragment was well-cooked and unlikely to cause health problems more serious than emotional trauma.
One fingerprint expert said it will take only seconds for investigators to identify the owner of the lost finger if the individual is among the millions of criminals, immigrants, school and bank employees, and other licensed professionals whose prints are on file in searchable federal, state and local databases.
"If you have an unknown print, you can search the database and boom! Out it pops,'' said Kenneth Moses, a former San Francisco police crime scene investigations supervisor who does forensic identification consulting.
Failing that, investigators will probably face weeks of tracing delivery invoices and lot numbers
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Probably the finger of an illegal alien who didn't want to be sent home after accidentally cutting his finger off during food preparation.
Gives a whole new meaning to the term "finger food".
Just Damn
BTTT
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Will somebody discover a penis in their bowl?
Somebody really gave Wendy's the finger.
Imagine if the fingerprints match those of a missing person.
One wonders where the rest of them wound up.
We need to put Dr. Richard Kimble on the job!
i would suspect frozen vegggies or meat as the primary area where the finger popped up or off., just a hunch.
WOw. I wonder where the REST of the person is...?
Chili is people.
Some detterent to illegal immigration might result if we spread the rumor among illegal aliens that US businesses are grinding up illegal aliens and using them as a substitute for hamburger at fast food joints.
Come to think of it, that might improve the quality of the food at some of those joints.
Just damn.
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WHERE'S THE BEEF!?!
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