Tarah Helsel is a forensic scientist and the manager of RJ Lee Group’s Forensic Science department, where she specializes in gunshot residue (GSR) analysis. She oversees and participates in the preparation, analysis, interpretation and reporting of GSR evidence using Scanning Electron Microscopy / Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) techniques.

Ms. Helsel is an experienced expert witness and has given testimony relating to gunshot residue on more than one-hundred occasions. She has testified in federal and state courts, and has experience testifying for both the prosecution and the defense. She has been qualified as a gunshot residue expert in courts in 23 U.S. states, Puerto Rico, and the countries of Bermuda, Turks and Caicos, and the Cayman Islands. In 2023, she led the department to successful American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) accreditation in the areas of GSR analysis, and muzzle-to-target distance determination.

Ms. Helsel is a graduate of Waynesburg University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Forensic Science with minors in biology and chemistry. She is a chair and a member of the Mid-Atlantic Association of Forensic Scientists (MAAFS), as well as a member of the American Society of Trace Evidence Examiners (ASTEE) and the Ignitable Liquids, Explosive and Gunshot Residue Subcommittee of the Organization of Scientific Area Committees for Forensic Science (OSAC).