Criminal Investigations

1. Criminal Investigations CJ210 Prof. Andy McIntosh Death Investigations

2. Death Investigations Homicide: The Killing of one human being by another. There are several different categories that these types of cases are broken down into. All death investigations should be treated as a homicide until determined otherwise.

3. Death Investigations • Justifiable Homicide – The lawful killing of another. • Examples: Execution by state. Law Enforcement kills the suspect who is armed. • Excusable Homicide – The killing of a person by another without negligence or intent. • Example: Hunter mistakes another hunter for a deer. • Suicide – The taking of one’s own life.

4. Death Investigations • Criminal Homicide – 2 types • Murder - The killing of one human by another with malice aforethought (the killer thought about it before they did it, had intent). • Felony Murder – The killing of another by a person who was in the process of committing another crime. (Convenience Store Robbery). • Manslaughter – The unlawful killing of another without intent.

5. Homicide Investigation Waltham, Massachusetts December, 1989. Police respond to an urban multi family home located in a middle class neighborhood. Time About 9:30am. The call is for a woman who has been stabbed. Police arrive in about 2 minutes of call with an ambulance.

6. Homicide Case • The victim: • Gilberta Harvey. • W/F , • 78 YOA. • Mother of 7 Children • Lived at scene of crime. • Retired Grandmother • Quiet street with little violent crime • Lived by herself. Well known to neighbors.

7. Homicide Case • OK where do you start? • What are you going to do? • What is your next move? • Tell me.

8. Homicide Case • The scene… • Small apartment. Living area, kitchen , Bedroom, bathroom. • Victim’s body found in the bathroom in the tub. • Blood stains in the living room area. • Blood pattern in streaks between the living room near door and bathroom. • Victim discovered by a neighbor who heard a scream coming from the apartment?

9. The scene • In the crime scene… • Definite sign of a struggle. • Signs of disarray in the room. • Blood on the floor. • Some papers strewn about the floor. • A broken clipboard. • A bloody footprint. • No signs of forced entry. • No weapons found.

10. Evidence • What clues or evidence to we have? • Broken Clip board • The bloody footprint • The papers • Blood • What do we do with it? • DNA? • Fingerprints? • What else?

11. Evidence • What we get. • The footprint – Determined not to be from the victim. • The Blood – Determined to be all of the victims blood. • The papers – Determined to be papers which contain information about shoes: types and styles. • The clipboard – Find a fingerprint on the clip.

12. Evidence • The Fingerprint. • Successful lift. • 18 points of minutia. • Records check. • Submit the print through AFIS • No match • Is this is still important? • Is it now useless?

13. The victim • Autopsy • The medical examiner performs the autopsy within 24 hours. • Generally that is how fast it will be done with homicide cases. • The ME’s report (preliminary , pending toxicology). • Victim had been stabbed in the upper and lower torso multiple times. • Massive blood loss. • The weapon is not a knife. Unknown type of tool.

14. What else can we do? • How about a suspect? • Can we generate one? • Do we have a witness? • Are there any? • What can we use from what we have to find a possible witness? • Lets look at the evidence?

15. The papers • No fingerprints on the paper. • They are regular 8.5 – 11 inch white paper. • They have different types and styles of shoes upon them. • Are they useful? • If so how? • What can we do with them?

16. Neighborhood Canvas • Check the area and neighborhood. • Knock on doors. • Speak with neighbors. • Anything out of the ordinary? • Anyone or anything suspicious in the area? • Three neighbors have information.

17. Information from Canvass • Three neighbors remember the morning of the crime that a shoe salesman knocked on the door. • Description. W/M 5-7 to 5-9 in height. 125 to 150 pounds. Black hair. Brown eyes. White Shirt. Black Pants Strange eyes. What can else can we do with this?

18. Composite Sketch • Police sketch artist • Identi –kit. • Bring in each witness. • Try to create an image of a suspect. • See what materializes for a picture. • Once generated circulate it. • See what if anything is generated.

19. Create a suspect image.

20. Where are we now? • We have a victim. (deceased). • We have a cause of death. • We have a sketch of a possible suspect. • We have a fingerprint. • We have a footprint. • We have papers about shoes. • We have a clipboard.

21. Where are we now? • We do not have a murder weapon? • We do not have a motive. • We do not have an eye witness. • We do not have a suspect in custody. • What else can we do?

22. The papers about shoes. • Where did they come from? • What type of shoes? • Single type or style or brand? • Multiple style? • From a shoe store? • From a vendor? • Start Checking.

23. Stepping into the shoe world • The papers are multiple styles and brands. • You go to shoe stores: they are catalogs. • The most likely come from distributors. • You go to distributors. • The papers are photo copied out of catalogs. • There are hundreds of distributors in the area.

24. Shoe Distributors • You check over 100 shoe distributors locations. • For everyone you go to there seems to be 5 sub distributors. • You start with the larger ones first. • Work to the smaller ones. • The process takes about 3 weeks. • The trail grows cold……………Until.

25. A Break • You go to a very small distribution operation. • It is in the next city next to Waltham (Newton). • You enter and speak with the manager. • What will you do / ask him. • How bout some questions? • Tell me.

26. Information • The papers? – They do distribute the brands in our evidence. To save money on catalogs they often use photo copies of pages. He is able to provide the catalog that our papers came from. • The suspect – Composite. He views the composite and he says the suspect looks like a former employee.

27. The footprint • The manager remember he fired the suspect. • When the suspect was told he became upset and kicked the wall of the building and left an imprint. • A comparison of the footprint at the shoe distributor and the crime scene are the same.

28. A possible weapon • One thing you learn is that many of the employees in this location have or use a strange type of cutting tool to open boxes. • It is shaped in the same way that the ME’s office described the wounds on the victim.

29. The suspect • The suspect in named “Marc Finstein” • He is a W/M, 25 YOA. • Black Hair, Brown eyes. • He lives in the area. • You conduct a criminal check. • The suspect has a lengthy criminal record.

30. Events accelerate • You obtain his picture and his fingerprints. • A fingerprint expert checks his prints to the fingerprint found on the clipboard at the scene. –MATCH, Right thumb print. • You create a photo array with the suspects picture. • You show the array to the neighbors who saw the shoe salesmen. 2 /3 pick him out.

31. What next? • Do we have enough to arrest the suspect? • Should we? • Should we bring him in voluntarily? • Should we do some more investigating? • If we arrest him should we use probable cause or get a warrant? • Is there anything else?

32. Arrest • An arrest warrant is obtained for the suspect. • Also a search warrant is obtained for the suspects home. • The suspect is located at his home and is arrested. • A search of the home per warrant yeilds no further significant evidence.

33. Following the arrest • An interview is attempted. The defendant invokes his right to right to remain silent and to council. • The defendant is brought before a grand jury and a true bill is granted. • The defendant is tried and convicted of Felony Murder. (believed to be a burglary gone bad).

34. Following the arrest • Some footnotes.. • Fingerprint – The fingerprint was ID’ed as the suspects by an expert. • It was not found in AFIS despite a tremendous arrest record. • What happened? • The suspect’s first arrest fingerprints were in AFIS but the print in question was smudged when taken and submitted. No match due to human error.

35. Questions • Any questions about the case? • Any questions about the class? • If you have not received your papers yet , I am still working on them.