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Introduction
Criminal homicides represent one of most grave crime categories against individuals, which investigation differs with considerable complexity and laboriousness. The general tendency to the growth of crime rate and the significant amount made in the field of murders against the percentage of criminal cases solved, establish the issue of enhancing the theoretical framework in criminal investigation as a subject of a great importance.
Fighting crime tasks demand from law enforcement bodies and the investigatory device in particular, fast and full solving of each committed crime, bringing to account of the persons guilty of its fulfilment, and the acceptance of necessary measures of the elimination of the reasons and the conditions promoting the fulfilment of crimes.
The forensic characteristic of crimes is the systematised description of natural features of the subject, situations, actions and phases of the development of the criminal activity, which received reflection in the traces of its preparation, fulfilment and concealment.
Despite the wide enough spectrum of crimes committed, all of them can be united in groups of homogeneous crimes which, at all individuality of each of them, can have a number of general signs, and accordingly in relation to them, general methods of investigation can be applied.
Therefore, a technique of investigating crimes as a part of forensic science consists of general provisions, applicable for the investigation of crimes of any kind, as well as the investigation techniques of particular crimes. In that regard, the purpose of the technique of any crime investigation, including the investigation of felonious homicide, is equipping the detectives with the newest, scientifically-developed recommendations and methodical techniques directed toward increasing the efficiency and the quality of the work of the investigatory personnel on solving and investigating crimes.
The technique of the investigation of crimes, being a necessary component of criminalistics, synthesises the achievements of forensic science, technology and tactics with regard to the goals and the features of investigation of separate kinds of crimes. With that, all the developed methods of solving, investigating and the preventing of crimes are based on strict law compliance and provide the most effective utilisation of resources and techniques of forensic science.
Assessing the developments of the criminal investigation methods, this paper is addressing the usage of the investigative pattern in analyzing a homicide. The presented case is taken from the book “Trace Evidence” by Bruce Henderson, which documents the investigation process of the crimes that took place in northern California. The killer, known as I-5 strangler due to the crimes taking place along Interstate 5, near Sacramento, California, was specialized in picking up victims abducting, sexually assaulting, and strangling his victims in one jurisdiction and dumping their bodies in another, creating seemingly difficult task for investigators in this process.
Analysis
The crime scene for the first victim was established as a remote trail near Terminus Island outside Sacramento, Calif., in July 1986, as a body of a semi-nude female body was found floating face down. Arriving at the crime scene, the official representatives present were San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department, and the person who reported the dead body was a fisherman who usually used the ditch in which he found the victim as place to get bait. The scene was found to be safe and accordingly physical boundaries were established, although the place seemed that it was mostly out of crowd.
The death of the victim was confirmed through visual observance and it was clear that the victim was dead for several hours. Estimating the time of death needed more examination from the pathologists, which stated that “rigor mortis”, i.e. the flaccidness of the body’s muscles after death, already set in.
Approximate time of death had been supposed to be within the past day. Accordingly, after the death was determined, medical and legal jurisdiction could be established. Preliminary medical observance revealed a purple spot on the back of the neck from which it could be assumed that the victim was strangled to death, and the dirt on her back showed the victim was dragged before her death.
Preliminary briefing was conducted, along with scene location and the nature of the investigation was determined as suspicious death. Responsibilities were divided, as photographers took pictures of the body, a sketch was drawn of the overall location of the crime scene, and the evidences were collected. The evidences included a pair of leather sandals found near the water. Any identifying objects such as purses, wallets, and ids were not found.
A scene walkthrough was conducted after which a flattened area was found in the grass, so it was assumed that it was the place to which the victim was dragged. The scene’s perimeters were adjusted and the evidence was collected establishing a chain of custody. All proper documentation was made indicating the end of the main required procedures related to the crime scene. Another walkthrough conducted later found a blue tank top with clearly cut straps.
The identity of the victim was established through missing persons’ report, as Stephanie Brown after which an analysis of the DNA matched that of the victims. Additionally, a car matching the description of the victim’s car was found 20 miles to the crime scene. Examination of the external body found that the victim was punched in the jaw, bound to her wrists, strangled to death and dragged after that to the dump site. Additionally, the hair of the victim found to be cut by the murdered. An examination of internal body revealed the presence of semen which assume the case of a rape, and imply a sexual homicide, with yet unknown pattern.
The shift to a case of a serial murder was made when the body of another female victim was found along the same road four months later. The same procedures were repeated, and pattern was established between the two murders shown in the clothing being cut approximately, the same way. A difference between the two cases was found in the existence of a witness who described a man who offered to drive the victim home before her death, as a white male in his 40s, with a large nose and a pale skin.
Two more similar murders took place during the same year with no direct evidences toward any particular suspect. The serial killer version was confirmed as subsequent murders occurred at different times; no material gain was established; no prior relationship between the victim and the attacker or among the victims; the victims were mostly single women. (Swanson) It was around that time that a man fitting the description put earlier was charged with an assault on a prostitute in a circumstance similar to the presented case.
As a main suspect in the case, the evidences were traced to the items found in his truck. Using the microscope and the principle that a contact between the murderer and the victim would leave the trace, a fiber of the rope used on the last victim, which was found in the crime scene, was compared to the fiber from the suspect’s car. Additionally, a comparison of the hair found on the victim dress was conducted t compare with the suspects and found to be identical to the inner thigh hair. Additionally, as a confirmation, a DNA sample form the sperm found on the first victim was compared to that of the suspect providing a conclusive indication to the murder.
Conclusion
As it was seen, using the methods of investigating the crime scene along with the procedures in tracing the evidences could provide helpful in facilitating crime analysis. Nevertheless, it is hard to state that the current development in criminal investigation would have changed the pattern in the I-5 strangler case, as most of the evidences were analyzed after establishing a suspect. The DNA test served as a confirmation, rather than single evidence. The difference that might have been made is linking the murderer to all other victims, unlike the real case where he was charged with the murder of the last victim at the time.
Works Cited
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Henderson, Bruce B. Trace Evidence. New York, NY: Scribner, 1998.
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Swanson, Charles R. Criminal Investigation. 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009.
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