Defrosting Cold Cases

Who killed Carl Bridgewater? We may never know but after reading Paul Foot‘s excellent analysis of the police interrogations, I am sure that none of the Bridgewater Four were involved. Even though the case dates back to 1978, I consider this book to be a classic to study how cases can go wrong fast. It [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Autopsy, Ballistics, Book Reviews, Carl Bridgewater, Crime Labs, Crime Scene, Cruelty, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, Finger Printing, Forensics, Gun Fire, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Partial Finger Printing, Police, Prisons, UK, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

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

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

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

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

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

One of the issues in the Laura Henderson-Ibach case has been Mac’s van. Did a live or death struggle take place here or not? As you have been able to read in our post, the van doubled as a temporary home to Jim Kerwin. Please take a look at these pictures. They were taken before [...]

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

Part 4: “The timeline does not work and police do not care” by Tiah Two different private investigators interviewed everyone who was connected in any way to this case. Much of what they found I will discuss here. If I use the phrase “we know” it is because the information was collected and corroborated by [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Crime Scene, Cruelty, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, Forensics, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Missing Person, Police, Prisons, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions

Part 3: Who else was involved? by Tiah Ruble’s reputation was sullied by all his actions and lies and he chose to leave Kodiak. He has refused to speak to anyone regarding this case ever since. I strongly suspect that Ruble was somehow involved in Laura’s disappearance whether that involvement was direct or indirect. He [...]

Tags: Actual Innocence, Crime Scene, Cruelty, DNA, Evidence, Expert Testimony, Faulty Evidence, Finger Printing, Forensics, Identification, Investigations Division, Miscarriage of Justice, Missing Person, Partial Finger Printing, Police, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Victim, Witnesses, Wrongful Convictions