It’s &#8220good old-fashioned” police work, not DNA, that solves most murder cases, forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, host of the HBO series &#8220Autopsy,” said in Vicksburg Friday.

Addressing about 150 people during the Mississippi Coroners Association bi-annual conference at the Vicksburg Convention Center, the chief forensic pathologist for New York State Police was an expert witness in such cases as John F. Kennedy’s and Medgar Evers’ assassinations, JonBenet Ramsey’s disappearance and Nicole Brown Simpson’s murder.

He began the daylong lecture discussing the early beginnings of forensic science and how the use of DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, factors heavily in helping law-enforcement officials identify victims and their predators.

&#8220But most murders aren’t solved by DNA,” Baden said. &#8220Those cases are usually solved by the good old-fashioned way – police work.”

Or, they’re solved after suspects confess, he said.

&#8220The first murder, of Abel by Cain, was solved not by forensic science, but by confession. And most murders are solved by confession.”

For the next several hours, Baden showed images of crime scenes involving sexual assault and murder, including the O.J. Simpson case in 1994, in which the former actor and professional football player accused of killing his former wife and her companion was acquitted.

He talked about how police incompetence contaminated the crime scene and the importance of properly processing such scenes.

&#8220You shouldn’t have people walking all through the crime scene” before crime-scene technicians arrive, Baden said. &#8220In the O.J. Simpson case, you had investigators leaving their shoe prints in blood all over the house.”

Pointing at an image of the body of one of the victim’s in that case, Ron Goldman, Baden expressed disgust.

&#8220Look at that: You can see an investigator’s feet standing right over the body, and another investigator has thrown his gloves on top of the body. That just doesn’t happen today.”

He went on to describe the position of the body of Simpson’s former wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, when she was found just inside the house. He said blood splatter on her back proved her attacker, obviously bleeding, was standing above her at a 90-degree angle when she died.

But, Baden said, the woman’s body was improperly moved and handled after being removed from the house and thus, investigators wrongly concluded that a shoe print was on her back.

&#8220Bodies should be removed and transported the way they are found so something like this doesn’t happen. Investigators were confused.”

The author of more than 80 books, Baden has investigated deaths in Croatia, Serbia, Israel, England and Canada. He has been a consultant to the FBI, the Veterans Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Drug Enforcement Agency and the Department of Justice.