LAPD Crime Lab (SID)

The LAPD's Scientific Investigation Division served as the central forensic laboratory where physical evidence collected from the Bundy crime scene and the Rockingham estate was processed, analyzed, and stored. Criminalists Dennis Fung and Andrea Mazzola brought blood samples, hair and fiber evidence, and other collected items back to SID for serological testing and preservation, while supervising criminalist Gregory Matheson performed blood-typing analysis on key exhibits including stains from the Bronco steering wheel and blood found under Nicole Brown Simpson's fingernails. The lab's evidence processing room and its access controls became a subject of pointed questioning, with attorneys probing who could enter the facility and how items were tracked once inside. During the criminal trial, the defense systematically challenged SID's procedures, with Barry Scheck's cross-examination of Fung exposing lapses in evidence handling, and defense expert Dr. John Gerdes testifying that the lab had a substantial contamination problem that could compromise DNA results. The integrity of work performed at SID — from the initial packaging of blood swatches into coin envelopes and bindles to the serological analyses documented in Matheson's worksheets — remained a central and recurring dispute across both the criminal and civil proceedings.