Defrosting Cold Cases

The Crewe Murders will be explored once more but in a different setting. “Although much of the detail of the filming and direction the programme will take is being kept under wraps the film company has confirmed the Crewe murders programme will be a “one-off special”. No firm date for the screening has yet been [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Ballistics, Crime Scene, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, Finger Printing, Forensics, Gun Fire, Identification, Investigations Division, Jeanette and Harvey Crewe, New Zealand, Partial Finger Printing, Police, Prisons, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

The Orlando Sentinel reports that “Just hours after the verdict was read in the biggest case of his career [Casey Anthony], veteran Assistant State Attorney Jeff Ashton announced he will retire at the end of the week.” As you know, he also handled the Zeigler case. No word yet on who will replace Ashton. To be [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Ballistics, Capital Punishment, Crime Scene, Death Row, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, FBI, Finger Printing, Florida, Forensics, Gun Fire, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Police, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, William Thomas Zeigler, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

Review of Zeigler Project During their final spring semester twenty five (25) undergraduate and five (5) graduate students from Penn State University (PSU) reviewed documents pertaining to the trial and conviction of William Thomas Zeigler. Mr. Zeigler was convicted in 1976 of murdering his wife Eunice Zeigler, his father-in-law and mother-in-law, Perry and Virginia Edwards, [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Ballistics, Capital Punishment, Crime Labs, Crime Scene, Death Row, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, FBI, Finger Printing, Florida, Forensics, Gun Fire, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Partial Finger Printing, Police, Prisons, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, William Thomas Zeigler, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

A pretrial hearing begins coming Monday in Sullivan County Superior Court (NH) in the case of David McLeod who is accused of setting the 1989 fire that killed the Hina family. McLeod was indicted last year on four counts of murder, accused of setting the blaze that killed the Hinas. I am particularly interested in the forensic arson detection part [...]

Tags: Arson Detection, Autopsy, Cameron Todd Willingham, Crime Scene, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, Forensics, Identification, Investigations Division, Kenneth Richey, New Hampshire, Police, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses

Tags: Autopsy, Black Dahlia, Book Reviews, Child Abuse, Crime Scene, Cruelty, DNA, Evidence, Faulty Evidence, FBI, Finger Printing, Forensics, Identification, Investigations Division, Partial Finger Printing, Police, Prisons, Rape kits, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses

In the magazine “North & South,” Chris Birt makes a  strong case for an in-depth review of Len and Norma Thomas Demler’s involvement in the case. Note that Norma is not related to Arthur Allan Thomas! Strong ties have existed between the Demler and Thomas family for quite some time. The siblings in the family married [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, arthur allen thomas, Autopsy, Ballistics, Book Reviews, Capital Punishment, Chris Birt, Crime Labs, Crime Scene, Cruelty, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, Finger Printing, Forensics, Gun Fire, Identification, Investigations Division, Jeanette and Harvey Crewe, Len Demler, Miscarriage of Justice, New Zealand, Police, Prisons, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Rochelle Crewe, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

As you know, our #cclivechat on July 15, 2011, centers on the case of Elizabeth Short. Elizabeth (July 29, 1924 – January 15, 1947) was found savagely murdered and her body was left in plain view for anyone to see the grotesque mutilations that she was subjected to before she died. Over the years, many authors [...]

Tags: Autopsy, Black Dahlia, Book Reviews, California, Crime Scene, Cruelty, DNA, Elizabeth Short, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, Finger Printing, Forensics, Identification, Investigations Division, Partial Finger Printing, Police, Rape kits, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses

The controversial chairman of the Texas Forensic Science  Commission will be out of the job next week. The state Senate Nominations Committee has ended its work  for this session without voting on Gov. Rick Perry’s appointment in 2009 of John  Bradley to chair the commission. Perry appointed Bradley to lead the commission days before it was to [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Arson Detection, Autopsy, Cameron Todd Willingham, Capital Punishment, Crime Scene, Cruelty, Death Row, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, Forensics, Miscarriage of Justice, Police, Prisons, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Texas, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

The Caughlin family is calling for an independent external review of the 1974 murder of their little sister Karen Caughlin. “It’s been 37 years, and it’s time,” said Caughlin, who will hold a press conference in Sarnia next week to discuss and seek public support for the review. “This is not going to be solved under [...]

Tags: Autopsy, Canada, Crime Scene, Cruelty, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, Finger Printing, Forensics, Identification, Investigations Division, Michigan, Partial Finger Printing, Police, Sarnia, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses

The hearing today brought forward some more details about the fire. Key is of course whether the fire was accidental or arson. Also, exactly where  was the point of origin and what was the material that ignited first. From the New Hampshire Sentinel Source Online: “On Wednesday, a federal fire investigator supported Norton’s belief that [...]

Tags: Arson Detection, Autopsy, Crime Scene, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, Forensics, Identification, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses