Defrosting Cold Cases

“Jackson County prosecutors today filed 22 charges against Bernard Jackson, a twice-convicted sex offender, in connection with the series of rapes that terrified women in the Waldo area a year ago. Prosecutors used DNA from a lotion bottle and a shirt to link Jackson, 53, to two of the five attacks that happened between September [...]

Tags: Crime Scene, Cruelty, DNA, DNA Database, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Forensics, Investigations Division, Kansas City, Missouri, Police, Prisons, Rape kits, Victim, Witnesses

If you have been reading up on the 1975 Canadian cold case of Sharron Prior, you know that Joe Giacalone thinks that one person is responsible for Sharron’s murder. I think more people were involved. You can read up about this in the posts and comments where Sharron’s mother Yvonne explicitely asks us why we [...]

Tags: Autopsy, Canada, Crime Scene, Cruelty, DNA, Evidence, Finger Printing, Forensics, Identification, Investigations Division, Police, Rape kits, Sharron Prior, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses

The Los Angeles Times reports that the LAPD is catching up but cannot keep up. “The Los Angeles Police Department announced today that it has cleared a decades-old backlog of untested DNA evidence collected in rape and sexual assault cases, but acknowledged the department’s laboratory remains too small to keep pace with the influx of [...]

Tags: DNA, LAPD, Rape kits

Sharron‘s case has been in the top five “best read posts” on DCC ever since it got posted in December 2010. Vidster could not be happier! The post has created some discussions per email with readers. They told me such interesting facts that I emailed them all and asked them whether I could use parts of their [...]

Tags: Autopsy, Canada, Crime Scene, Cruelty, DNA, Evidence, Finger Printing, Forensics, Identification, Investigations Division, Police, Rape kits, Sharron Prior, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses

UPDATE 1: Sharron’s mother, Yvonne Prior, has provided us with details to correct the post. a:  ”The girl who was at our home, Sharron’s friend, on 29/march/1975,  asked my daughter if she wanted her to walk her to the Pizza place. Sharron said NO, but thanks anyway!” b: ”Everything you said about Sharron being found is correct except her [...]

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

Riley Fox’ murderer’s plea bargain was accepted yesterday by Will County (IL) Judge Richard Schoenstedt. Before his sentence, Eby rose and addressed the courtroom briefly. He apologized to Riley’s parents saying that he wished he could trade his life to bring her back. In June of 2004, the body of Riley Fox(3) was pulled from a creek near [...]

Tags: Autopsy, Capital Punishment, Child Abuse, Crime Scene, Cruelty, DNA, DNA Database, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Forensics, Identification, Illinois, Investigations Division, Police, Prisons, Rape kits, Riley Fox, Unsolved Homicide, Victim, Witnesses

Sundeep Bhatia’s observation is one I agree with: “But the request to test the DNA evidence is not really about the conviction or sentence. It’s about the evidence and the possibility that it may shed some light on who the real killer is. Skinner hopes it is exculpatory. But it may be inculpatory. Skinner doesn’t [...]

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

Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Capital Punishment, Crime Scene, Death Row, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Forensics, Henry Skinner, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Police, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Rape kits, Texas, Victim, Wrongful Convictions

Richard Ramirez terrorized California in the early 80s with a string of rape-murders. His DNA has now finally been retested allowing San Francisco Police to close the case of the 1984 murder of a 9-year-old girl in the Tenderloin. Though the retesting of the serial killer’s DNA was largely a formality — meant simply to confirm the results [...]

Tags: Autopsy, California, Capital Punishment, Crime Scene, Cruelty, Death Row, DNA, DNA Database, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Forensics, Identification, Investigations Division, Police, Rape kits, Victim

In my post “DNA: a civil right” of March 26, 2010, I described why I firmly believe that (post-conviction) access to DNA testing for the condemned (in this case Henry Skinner) should not hinge on how formalistic the question to the courts is phrased. It should be implied. Today, the New York Times published an editorial [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Capital Punishment, Crime Labs, Crime Scene, Death Row, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, Forensics, Henry Skinner, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Police, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Rape kits, Texas, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions