NCJ Number
209536
Journal
Law and Order Volume: 53 Issue: 3 Dated: March 2005 Pages: 52-55
Date Published
March 2005
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Utilizing a staged crime scene, a death case presented as a suicide but laminated in vague or misleading facts, this article reviews the steps taken in the investigation by law enforcement and the medical examiner that led to missed investigative opportunities and a death investigation that is open to interpretation or an equivocal death investigation.
Abstract
Equivocal death investigations are those inquiries that are open to interpretation. Within the investigation the case may present as a homicide, suicide, or accidental death. For various reasons, facts are vague or misleading. This article presents a staged crime scene where an 11-year-old female was found hanging from her bedpost and initially determined a case of suicide. However, a forensic investigation concluded the death to be more consistent with homicide than suicide. The medical examiner also listed the death as suspicious. The article begins with a review of the initial responses made by police and the initial investigation by both the detectives and the medical examiner. Also reviewed, are the follow-up police and medical examiner investigations and an analysis of the investigation. What was concluded in this staged crime scene was that early on in the investigation red flags emerged which should have alerted the detectives of obvious collusion on the part of the parents in the case who misled the police with contradictory and inconsistent accounts. In this review, missed investigative opportunities were identified.