Chapter 6

Figure 6.1 Photo taken by police investigators of this inside door from a 1979 Thunderbird. In 1987, these patterns were interpreted as shotgun-related bloodstains from a homicide victim, John Cedarlund, as reported by eyewitness testimony from female police informants. DNA testing later proved that this was not the blood of John Cedarlund.

Figure 6.2 Hurricane Katrina, pictured here the day before it landed, was the costliest and among the most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history.

Figure 6.3 Todd Alan Reed confessed to disposing of two of his victims in this area of Forest Park overlooking the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. The area was just off the roads and hiking trails; it had been cleared for power lines and was popular because of the view. It was also an area frequented by prostitutes and their customers in the evening.

Figure 6.4A This child victim of sexual homicide was discovered nude, beneath a blanket from her bedroom, in her backyard. She died from manual strangulation. Examiners initially believed that the injuries evident on her neck were consistent with abrasions and bruising from manual strangulation. Upon close inspection of the photograph, it becomes clear that the pronounced “abrasions” are actually postmortem ant activity. The ants are actually visible in the photo and have characteristically focused their attention on the tissue damaged during the attack, including her neck. The dark areas of “bruising” are actually fingerprint powder left behind from an attempt to develop latent prints.

Figure 6.4B This child victim of sexual homicide was discovered nude, beneath a blanket from her bedroom, in her backyard. She died from manual strangulation. Examiners initially believed that the injuries evident on her neck were consistent with abrasions and bruising from manual strangulation. Upon close inspection of the photograph, it becomes clear that the pronounced “abrasions” are actually postmortem ant activity. The ants are actually visible in the photo and have characteristically focused their attention on the tissue damaged during the attack, including her neck. The dark areas of “bruising” are actually fingerprint powder left behind from an attempt to develop latent prints.

Figure 6.5A One of the authors (Turvey) worked a case in Las Vegas from 2001, where a man was killed in a garbage dumpster enclosure behind a bank. He was found on the ground inside the enclosed area next to the dumpster, buried beneath trash that had been removed from it. Police arrived while it was still dark and drove a patrol car right up to the opening of the enclosure in order to use its lights for illumination and its hood as a staging area for processing efforts. In doing so, they necessarily parked on top of bloody footwear transfer that the offender left behind as he exited the enclosure and did not recognize or collect it. They also collected bloody items of evidence from the body and the surrounding enclosed area into several large bags, without documenting it in situ first, allowing for secondary transfer. These bags were then transported back to the police station where they were sorted through, and much of it discarded. There is no record of this activity in any police report; rather it came out under cross-examination. It is interesting to note, also, that no crime scene tape was used at this scene.

Figure 6.5B One of the authors (Turvey) worked a case in Las Vegas from 2001, where a man was killed in a garbage dumpster enclosure behind a bank. He was found on the ground inside the enclosed area next to the dumpster, buried beneath trash that had been removed from it. Police arrived while it was still dark and drove a patrol car right up to the opening of the enclosure in order to use its lights for illumination and its hood as a staging area for processing efforts. In doing so, they necessarily parked on top of bloody footwear transfer that the offender left behind as he exited the enclosure and did not recognize or collect it. They also collected bloody items of evidence from the body and the surrounding enclosed area into several large bags, without documenting it in situ first, allowing for secondary transfer. These bags were then transported back to the police station where they were sorted through, and much of it discarded. There is no record of this activity in any police report; rather it came out under cross-examination. It is interesting to note, also, that no crime scene tape was used at this scene.

Figure 6.6A Twenty-one-year-old anthropology major Jamie Lynn Penich.

Figure 6.6B Twenty-one-year-old anthropology major Jamie Lynn Penich.

Figure 6.7 Autopsy photos of Jamie Lynn Penich's left shoulder reveal distinctive blunt force patterns left behind by footwear. This is action evidence consistent with stomping.