Defrosting Cold Cases

From the New York Times: “In an opinion that harshly criticizes the tactics of the police and prosecutors, an Illinois appellate court on Friday night reversed the conviction of Juan Rivera, who has spent 19 years in jail for the 1992 rape and murder of an 11-year-old baby sitter in a suburb of Chicago. There [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Crime Labs, Crime Scene, DNA, DNA Database, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, Finger Printing, Forensics, Identification, Illinois, Investigations Division, Juan Rivera, Miscarriage of Justice, Police, Prisons, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Rape kits, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

In 2012 “Cold Case Research” will come out. The author is Silvia Pettem and this is how she describes her book: “Cold Case Research: Resources for Unidentified, Missing, and Cold Homicide Cases,” to be published by CRC Press in 2012. Topics include the latest search engine tools such as TLO, the revolutionary missing and unidentified [...]

Tags: Autopsy, Ballistics, Book Reviews, Crime Labs, Crime Scene, Cruelty, DNA, DNA Database, Evidence, Finger Printing, Forensics, Identification, Investigations Division, Partial Finger Printing, Police, Rape kits, Silvia Pettem, Unidentified, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses

Bernard Jackson was sentenced today to 18 consecutive life sentences today for rapes he committed in the Waldo and Armour Hills neighborhoods almost 30 years ago. No trial date has yet been set for Jackson’s unresolved criminal case, in which prosecutors accused him of two more recent sexual assaults in the Waldo area. Read more here.

Tags: Crime Labs, Crime Scene, DNA, DNA Database, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Forensics, Identification, Investigations Division, Missouri, Police, Rape kits, Victim, Waldo Rapist

From the Denver Post: “Investigators taking a new look at the unsolved 1993 kidnapping and murder Alie Berrelez (5) matched a DNA sample to a long dead suspect in the case — ending a saga for the little girl’s family.  Nicholas Randolph Stofer was a focus of the investigation as far back as February 1994, but prosecutors [...]

Tags: Alie Berrelez, Crime Scene, Cruelty, DNA, DNA Database, Evidence, Forensics, Identification, Investigations Division, Rape kits, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses

From the Pitch: “Bernard Jackson‘s sentencing is scheduled for September 30, 9 a.m.” Jackson could be sentenced to 30 years in prison.  Jackson is also charged with rapes in the same area where five rapes occurred between September 2009 and February 2010. To be continued …  

Tags: Crime Labs, Crime Scene, DNA, Evidence, Forensics, Identification, Investigations Division, Missouri, Police, Rape kits, Victim, Waldo Rapist

An interesting webfind, folks, and I could use your help to figure out what it really means: “What ever happened to mike french. he was cut up into little pieces for raping sharron prior.She was the daughter of one of his decieced brothers.Mike and his buddy ,we all know who that is lured sharron in [...]

Tags: Autopsy, Canada, Crime Scene, Cruelty, DNA, Evidence, Forensics, Identification, Investigations Division, Point-St-Charles, Police, Rape kits, Sharron Prior, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses

According to the website of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Henry Skinner is set to be executed Nov. 9, 2011. In March of this year, the justices ruled that Skinner had the right to sue a Texas district attorney under a federal civil rights law for refusing to allow him access to evidence for [...]

Tags: Capital Punishment, Crime Labs, Crime Scene, Cruelty, Death Row, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Finger Printing, Forensics, Henry Skinner, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Police, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Rape kits, Texas, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

Bernard Jackson was found guilty of 18 total counts of rape, sodomy, and robbery in the cases of four women dating back to 1983 and 1984. The prosecution built their case on DNA. Most victims were never able to give a 100% identification of their attacker due to the fact that they were blindfolded. Fingerprints left [...]

Tags: Crime Labs, Crime Scene, Cruelty, DNA, DNA Database, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Finger Printing, Forensics, Identification, Investigations Division, Partial Finger Printing, Police, Rape kits, Victim

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

The Bernard Jackson trial started today. The trial is expected to last two weeks. “Police arrested Jackson, a suspect in a string of more recent sexual assaults  in the Waldo area, in May 2010 when testing determined that his DNA matched that  of biological evidence in the 1983-84 attacks. He also has been charged for two  [...]

Tags: Crime Scene, DNA, Evidence, Forensics, Identification, Investigations Division, Kansas City, Missouri, Rape kits, Victim, Waldo Rapist, Witnesses