Crimes like shootings and stabbings often rely on detective work before a suspect can be identified. One of the first units to respond is the Omaha Police Crime Scene Unit.

In the basement of Omaha Police Headquarters at 15th and Howard in a room not much bigger than most living rooms, a highly specialized team of investigators are on-call 24 hours a day to collect evidence.

This team was instrumental in solving two recent murders.

Karenina Smith looks at every room she enters differently than most. "Everyone leaves something when they go into a room, whether it's the oils when you touch something, skin cells sluffing off, hair cells or something else. It's just a matter of whether or not we have the tools and are able to retrieve it."

Smith is a crime scene technician for Omaha Police. For her, every detail matters. "We're not here to accuse, we're here to prove or disprove the facts as they are."

One of those details we all leave behind are our fingerprints. "Everyone has fingerprints. I'm sure you've heard, no two fingerprints are alike."

Smith's work is more important than ever. One cold night last month, someone gunned down two people and shot a third in a seemingly random manner. The metro was uneasy as the gunmen remained at large.

"I like the satisfaction of coming to a conclusion and getting to the bottom of the facts."

The police department's crime lab cracked the case after they allegedly found 15-year-old Juan Castaneda's print on a car belonging to one of the victims. Police say Castaneda left the print after he and his two friends gunned down the woman outside her job near 52nd and Leavenworth.

The technique to lift a fingerprint is relatively simple. A crime scene is dusted with a powder that enhances and illuminates a print. The print is then lifted with tape and run through a computer which contains the prints of over 100,000 Nebraskans.

"There is no 'ding' or automatic hit like there is on the crime scene shows," says Smith. The computer suggests possible matches and then a technician makes a final determination on whether there is an actual match.

Once police tracked down Castaneda, that led them to the other two suspects in this case, all because of a palm print that was left on the victims car.