Defrosting Cold Cases

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

Champaign, Illinois: On November 25, 1967, police found patrol officer Tatman lying on his back in front of his own squad car, the motor still running, it’s revolving lights still on, and the front door at the driver’s side open. His flashlight was lying on his left side. His hat was on the ground near the curb. [...]

Tags: Autopsy, Ballistics, Crime Scene, Evidence, FBI, Finger Printing, Gun Fire, Identification, Illinois, Investigations Division, Partial Finger Printing, Police, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses

Please welcome guest blogger Tiah! Unlike most guest bloggers on my site, Tiah is not involved in the legal world.  Instead, she is an accountant, a far leap from the world of forensics and law!  Tiah has assisted on appeal cases in the past; she was the lay person who reviewed transcripts of court cases.  [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Alaska, Crime Scene, Cruelty, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, FBI, Finger Printing, Forensics, Identification, Investigations Division, Kidnapping, Kodiak, Laura Henderson-Ibach, Miscarriage of Justice, Missing Person, Partial Finger Printing, Police, Prisons, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

From the LASD on Nixle: On  March 15, 2011, the LA County District Attorney’s Office filed murder charges against Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter for the 1985 murder of John Sohus(26). Gerhartsreiter, of German nationality, is also known as Christopher Chichester or Clark Rockefeller. “In February of 1985, John (26) and Linda Sohus (28) disappeared from their home in the 1900 [...]

Tags: Autopsy, California, Crime Scene, DNA, Evidence, FBI, Forensics, Investigations Division, Missing Person, Police, Prisons, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses

The FBI’s Cold Case Initiative is investigating the 46-year-old case of James Reeb, a Massachusetts minister who was beaten to death in Alabama while doing civil rights work, a spokesman said Friday. The FBI launched an initiative in 2007 to investigate unsolved murders from the civil rights era. A spokesman with the agency, Chris Allen, said [...]

Tags: Alabama, Autopsy, Civil Rights Cold Case Initiative, Crime Scene, Cruelty, Evidence, FBI, Forensics, Identification, Investigations Division, Police, Prisons, Unsolved Homicide, Victim

After many decades, evidence is surfacing of Banks‘ vast properties! Cooper reports that “The Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project at Northeastern University’s School of Law has been investigating Banks’ case for over a year and has just made a remarkable discovery; The Project has found records proving what Banks’ family has known for 57 [...]

Tags: Autopsy, Crime Scene, Cruelty, Evidence, FBI, Identification, Isadore Banks, Unsolved Homicide, Victim

From the Dallas Morning News: “Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said Tuesday the Senate will delay action on the confirmation of Williamson County prosecutor John Bradley as chairman of the Texas Forensic Science Commission while he (Dewhurst) talks to Senate Democrats about their opposition to the nomination. There has been controversy over Bradley’s comments in the [...]

Tags: Arson Detection, Autopsy, Cameron Todd Willingham, Capital Punishment, Crime Scene, Cruelty, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, FBI, Forensics, Identification, Investigations Division, Police, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Texas, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

The Orlando Sentinel reports that Zeigler’s lawyers, arguing for more DNA testing, asked the court for a continuance of the scheduled February 3rd hearing. A former forensic expert is no longer available. “The new expert, Timothy Palmbach, works with blood spatter evidence an does forensic analysis work. But Assistant State Attorney Jeff Ashton, another veteran [...]

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

The significance of the Jellison Tape Is it evidence? Is it exonerating? Is it implicating? The tape’s conversation has been posted in full so I refer you to the previous post to read it. As you know, it was suppressed by the state for about twelve years. Why? Because of what Jon Jellison saw and the [...]

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, Jellison Tape, Miscarriage of Justice, Partial Finger Printing, Police, Prisons, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Victim, William Thomas Zeigler, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

In my previous post “Zeigler, Part XVI“, I referred to the Jellison tape that was conveniently kept from the defense team. It was only recovered in April of 1987, when Zeigler’s lawyers made a Florida Public Records Act request for the files of the State Attorney in Orlando. That’s when they discovered (aside from the “Buried Thompson report”) [...]

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, Police, Prisons, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, William Thomas Zeigler, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions