What do wipe patterns indicate?

Wipe patterns are significant because they provide clues about the interaction between a surface and the liquid, usually blood, that has come into contact with it. When a person uses a hand, clothing, or some object to wipe away blood from a surface, it creates a distinct pattern that indicates an attempt to clean up or alter evidence. This can suggest that someone was trying to hide or manipulate the scene after a violent act.

In terms of relevance to the options, wipe patterns do not provide information about a victim's struggle, which is better indicated by other types of patterns resulting from physical altercations. They also do not represent blood spatter from gunshots, which would create a different type of pattern known as spatter patterns. Furthermore, wipe patterns are not indicative of an arterial spurt, which presents as a larger and more pulsing spray of blood rather than a smudge or clean-up effort. Therefore, wipe patterns are best understood as signs of an effort to clean or alter a crime scene, indicating a conscious action taken after an incident has occurred.