Page 35 - Cigarette Butt News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

But first, an artist is proving what you leave behind could be a lot more than you think. we go below the surface in today's technovations. >> you may want to think twice the next time you spit out your gum or put out a cigarette butt in public. this artist might pick it up, extract the dna and turn it into a 3-d face that could look like you. >> a lot of my work begins with a question. in this particular case, the question was, what can i learn about them from a single hair. >> once she finds a sample, she takes it to the lab it mine it for dna, then analyze results. >> from a cigarette butt,...

A question. in this particular case the question was what can i learn about someone from a single hair. >> reporter: she takes it to the lab to mine it for dna and then analyze the results. >> from a cigarette butt i can learn where someone's ancestors likely came from, their gender, eye color, hair color, complexion. >> reporter: that information is then fed into a computer program that generates a 3-d model of a face. >> the way i'm using code here is a lot like how a sketch artist would use a pencil. >> reporter: it takes about three hours to print. then the excess powder is removed to reve...

If they were going to arrest me then take me now or back off and let me finish what i started. >> chris, people joined you today to help in the clean-up efforts. why do you think they joined you? >> it was unbelievable. today we had volunteers, had a volunteer that heard about it yesterday in ohio. they drove all through the night to get here today so they could teach their children who activism is. we had people reach in their pockets and by airplane tickets from as far as seattle, washington, california, colorado. people flew in from all over the country. it was unbelievable, the response we...

Detective t.j. watts began taking a fresh look at the evidence -- a cigarette butt was the gotcha moment. >> it was inside of a mountain dew can in the console. >> reporter: dna was tested and linked the cigarette to this man, jose manuel martinez, and watts caught up with martinez in an alabama jail where he was awaiting trial for a murder there. he had been captured in arizona crossing the border into the u.s. from mexico. watts says martinez confessed to the florida killings right away, and there was more. detective watts says martinez told him he had killed more than 30 people since he was...

Their bodies were left in the back seat of a pickup truck on a rural stretch of road in central florida, shell casings scattered around. javier and gustavo had been shot to death. for more than half a dozen years, the killings had gone unsolved. >> it was a cold case. >> reporter: no leads? >> no leads until we picked it up and started going back through the case. >> reporter: that was a year and a half when detective t.j. watts took a look at the evidence. a cigarette butt was the gotcha moment. dna was tested and linked the cigarette to this many, jose manuel martinez. he was awaiting trial ...