NCJ Number
208249
Journal
Law and Order Volume: 52 Issue: 11 Dated: November 2004 Pages: 117-119
Date Published
November 2004
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article presents and draws lessons from a case study in which the author, a retired New York City homicide detective, conducted an independent investigation of a death that had been ruled a suicide by the police agency having jurisdiction; the author determined that the death was a homicide, with the crime scene staged by the perpetrator to make it appear to be a suicide.
Abstract
Based on the author's investigative procedure and findings in the case study, as well as a critique of the flawed police investigation in the case, an investigative protocol in death cases is recommended. The author advises that any death investigation should be conducted with a thoroughness that presumes it is a homicide. This involves assessing the injuries and/or wounds of the victim in relation to the type of weapon determined to have been used to produce death. The weapon should be tested for latent fingerprints, and any firearm at the scene should undergo ballistic testing to determine whether it was used in the killing. Investigators must also obtain information from witnesses (friends and relatives of the victim) to determine the victim's behavior as close as possible to the time of death. Profiles of any suspects should also be developed. Based on a thorough collection and analysis of all the evidence, investigators must then reconstruct a scenario for the death that accords with the evidence. Following this procedure in the case study presented enabled the author to determine that the crime scene had been staged to make a murder appear to be a suicide.