FlyAzzLove asked this question on 4/18/2000:
This is for a book, so I need some help making sure the conclusions drawn are realistic of your average cop/detective. WARNING...kind of gruesome.
There's been a string of murders....the first two are actually deemed missing persons because the bodies have never been found (am I correct to say that missing persons is a different division than homocide...so as soon as a body turns up a different detective is called in?).The third body lies sprawled on the floor ( a female in her own first floor apartment). The door is untampered, the chain still linked. The window is shattered. A small coffee table is the only turned over piece of furniture the magazines and a shattered glass spread on the floor. The girl is nude, with a hankerchief covering her eyes. Her wrists are red and bloody as if she was bonded but they aren't now. The arms are outstreched to the sides so her body looks like that of a 'T.' They've recovered hair, that seems to be of a cat, and s bit of blood that is not the victim's. Her fingertips have been removed. On her stomach is carved "The Last One" on her back, "Is Coming." Oh yeah...the victim is found lying on her back.
STB56 gave this response on 4/18/2000:
I agree with tcsmpsi you need to add alot more info. Alright was there glass on the outside of the window or the inside donoting someone broke out or broke in depending on what side the glass is on? In other words did someone enter through the door lock it after the victim was in as not to be disturbed then left out the window or was the exit and entry also the window. Was the glass from the window or the coffee table? Was there a cat dish in the apartment a cat could have crawled out of the window, In other words did she have a pet cat at one time or not? I don't think that a detective would pay alot of attention to the fact that one cat hair was found if you want to make that importnant you would have to indicate more than a single cat hair, unless it was at other crime sites in which the persons died in a similar manner. Did she own a cat? Approximate time of death, who found the woman, how are we to know it is the third? Bonded by what? Are there rope burns, what was the cause of death? Any weapons left at the scene?, Any visible marks or bruses besides that of what was on her arms? Is she in post rigimortis or rigimortis stages? Where her arms positioned there? Is there a blood smear leading to where the arms are placed? Is there any other blood anywhere? Footprints, Fingerprints possibly? Was she killed there or was she moved and the body positioned in a certain manner? How were her legs and feet positioned? Which way was her head turned? A hankercheif placed over her eyes or was it wrapped around her head? Was there anything in the house that was missing? Was food eaten? Was there defication on the floor? Any fibers? What was thought was used to break the window? Any blood marks from glass on the window, as if the perpitrator was cut entering and got stuck with glass? Any outside footprints or tire marks? When was the last time someone saw her or heard from her? Anyone in the area hear anything suspicious? Do the words look like they are from a sharp instrument and cut in or are they from a blunt one as in a needle that was inserted then the skin ripped instead of cut? Where the letters precise, noting that someone took their time, or were they rapidly placed and sloppy, denoting that the perpitrator was in a hurry? Does she have a boyfriend? Where are her clothes at? How did they get there? Were they rapidly taken off or neatly folded or in a neat pile? Does it look like she had just gotten out of the shower, or like I said was she undressed? Was there evidence of sexual assault in her vagina, oraly, or analy? Was there semen in the apartment? Outside on a napkin? In the area outside of her window? What was in any nearby dumpsters or trash cans? What was in her trash can? Was there food on any tables? Was the T.V. on? Any drinks that were half drinken? How many cups? Did she have makeup on noting that she was going to visit someone or someone was going to visit her? Was her purse there? Her car still there? Valuables? Where does it look like the original attack occured? Defends marks on her arms or legs? Determined cause of death? At this early stage of the investigation depending on how small or big the town was, no one would probably think to note physcial demographics, such as race, hair color, eye color, overall physical appearance. If it was a small town or if they suspected it was connected to other murders they might take note and try to find a pattern, which is called a MO or Modus operandi. It is learned behavior. It's what the perpetrator does to commit the crime. It can change as the person gets older or wiser or learns more about investigative techniques, or as they get better at it. A signature does not basically change. A signature differs in what the perpetrator needs to do to be sexually or fully fullilled. Such as tourtour or humilation of their victims that usually does not change. The MO and signiture that I have just described come from a book called Mindhunter by John Douglas. If you would like to know more about serial killers check out the book. It is about the FBI's profiling unit. I hope that I have helped you out. Please grade my answer in a manner that reflects how much info I have given you and the quality of it. Thank you, and if you have any more questions please don't hesitate to ask me for further help.
FlyAzzLove asked this follow-up question on 4/19/2000:
A few of the questions you asked me are questions I wanted answered! I'm just trying to get the average detective's reaction to a crime scene? What is thought to have broken the window? But I will try to clarify some issues. I gave you a lot of information that the detectives wouldn't know, but the readers would, like the fact that it's the third murder and the first two have yet to be found.
You're absolutely right, serial killers kill in patterns, but this not a serial killer's work.(Is this something a detective would atomatically assume?) The others are missing persons, this is rather a chain of murders from one person, than a consistant pattern of killings.
1. Takes place in a rather large city with a rather large police department.
2. The fingertips are removed from the first joint.
3. The hair found is that of a cat, but of course from first discovery they can't be certain.
4. The window is broken near the latch, and then raised about 3/4 the way. The turned table is in the living room, in front of a couch and behind the couch is the body. The position is semi-natural...it's that of someone making a snow angel. But, yes she was placed that way.
5. The hair was found on the couch, and the victim didn't own one.
6. The apartment was hers, but she was late on rent and about to be evicted. The lanlord found the body and reported the murder.
7. The handkerchief was tied around her head, covering the eyes.
8. The girl was about 22 years old, very small-framed. African-American. She was a small part of an organized crime scene.
9. The words were carved neatly and carefully, not very deeply, (for persision sake, wounds start to spread and split the deeper the cut).
10. Her apartment is large, and fully furnished, nice accessories, she has a lot of expensive items, it's clear she was well taken care of...nothing else was out of place. Nothing taken, nothing moved.
You're absolutely right, serial killers kill in patterns, but this not a serial killer's work. So without trying to give away too much, this girl found was murdered, and the scene is more of a cover-up to throw detectives off. That's why the others are missing persons, this is rather a chain of murders from one person, than a consistant pattern of killings. She was more or less an accident, she had to be taken care of, but was too smart to leave her apartment, etc...so that's where she was killed. The murderer didn't want to take the chance of trying to drag a dead body out of an apartment complex, so he staged the scene. He's covering his trails. As for your individual questions, I'll try and be as descriptive as possible.
1. Takes place in a rather large city with a rather large police department.
2. The fingertips are removed from the first joint.
3. The hair found is that of a cat, but of course from first discovery they can't be certain.
4. The window is broken near the latch, and then raised about 3/4 the way. The turned table is in the living room, in front of a couch and behind the couch is the body. The position is semi-natural...it's that of someone making a snow angel. But, yes she was placed that way.
5. The hair was found on the couch, and yes there were a good amount of hairs, not just one, and the victim didn't own cat.
6. The apartment was hers, but she was late on rent and about to be evicted. The lanlord found the body and reported the murder.
7. The handkerchief was tied around her head, covering the eyes.
8. The girl was about 22 years old, very small-framed. African-American. She was a small part of an organized crime scene.
9. The words were carved neatly and carefully, not very deeply, (for persision sake, wounds start to spread and split the deeper the cut).
10. Her apartment is large, and fully furnished, nice accessories, she has a lot of expensive items, it's clear she was well taken care of...nothing else was out of place. Nothing taken, nothing moved.
11. No blood, other than the one drop that has yet to be identified.
12. No footprints, no fingerprints, no tire marks. The person who is responsible, was careful to leave behind only what he wanted to leave behind.
13. The last person who saw her (other than the killer) was someone she worked with, but since they ran an illegal business he's not going to say anything. Before him the last person who saw or heard from her was her girlfriend, when they had an argument.
14. She doesn't have a boyfriend, she has a girlfriend. Who isn't emotional about her girlfriend's death. She claims they weren't on the best of terms, and had a small argument the last time they talked and that was it.
15. Her clothes were never found.
16. Her television was off. There was some take-out food in the trash, some shredded papers that will later be put together as describing some business deals, and transaction reports. Also two cracked and burned floppy disks.
17. There are bumps and bruises on her forearms, and a needle mark on her right forearm, near the elboy joint.
18. This is the first murder that they found, so I expect that a detective would not think of attempting to develop an MO yet. (but that was something I was asking you).
17. The place is very neat as if nothing else was touched. No food out, nothing.
18. The coffee table was shattered and is nowhere near the window.
19. The broken glass feel on the outside of the window.
20. Her car is still there, she doesn't carry purses.
Please try to deduce what any detective would, as oppose to trying to find the right answer...books are written with (sometimes unrealistic) twists, so dn't expect to be able to figure it out. I'm not asking for a complete assumption based on the total amount of information found over time, just (1) an initial reaction to the crime scene, and (2) a rational deduction based on the information found at the crime scene after it has been analyzied by the crimonology lab.
Thanks for your repsonse.
STB56 gave this response on 4/21/2000:
Ok i am not a detective, however I just graduated college and am trying to become an investigator with a county prosecutors office. Obviously I would not go to homicide right away. However I have read some books about investigative work. I have absolutely no experience in the feild everything I tell you is how I think an investigator or detective might react, based on what I have read or studied about investigative work.
First of all the first person on the scene would be a uniformed patrol officer. He would then call the detective bureau in to come investigate, and would probably also call the medical examiner. The investigator will take pictures, take notes and might draw a diagram of the building. He will also look for all evidence he can see at the scene. He will probably try to answer basic questions to himself. This would help develope motive for the killing. Obvious first question is how did they get in? If there is glass on the outside of the window that means that the killer broke out, if there is glass on the inside that would mean the killer broke in.
This leads to the question what was the victim doing when the perpitrator got in? So was she relaxed and watching T.V. or sleeping so one can conclude it was a suprise attack, or did she know the person and was it a casual meeting that turned ugly? If it was a casual meeting such as she was expecting someone or was sitting down with someone to have a drink, that means she felt comfortable around the person. If she was sleeping perhaps then the motive might be robbery, or a perpitrator looking for a victim to rape, or they could have broken in just to kill.
Next you might try to figure out around what time the victim was killed and the method of killing. This will be confurmed at the medical examiners office where ever they do an autopsy, and an autopsy will be preformed because it is a suspicious death. From the looks of it, it sounds like the victim tried to fight back, and the knocked over table would be a sign of that. If it was a small area of dissorray, it would show she was overpowered quickly. The manner of death shows some kind of poison or drugs with the needle mark in her arm. However that will be confirmed or denied after the autopsy.
Next why are her fingertips missing? Was she tourtured? Or was it done after her death? Does it have another purpose? The medical examiner may or may not be able to tell. Look at her marks on her hands and try to figure if she struggled alot, or what was used to tie her up.
Next would be why is she naked? I can think of 5 possible explinations. One she was naked from taking a shower getting dressed or slept naked in other words she was already naked and got suprised. Two she was having sex and was already naked. Three the killer removed her clothes for a sexual reason, such as rape. Four the killer wanted to humilate the victim before death in some manner, maybe in an interrogation or way to hurt her more. Make her skin bare so he could hit her or hurt her more. Fifth the killer wanted to remove evidence.
This may explain why the words were marked on her. Tourture could also explain this. That might be the next question. Why were they put there? If they were fast, deep and sloppy it might indicate this was an impulse, such as someone who was psycotic. If it was neat it would meant the person took their time, and it was diliberate. Next is the blindfold. If she was blindfolded this might be so that the killer did not want to be identified. Also like I said before, if this was a sexual killing it might indicate that the person was sorry for their act. I can not think of other reasons to be blindfolded, except to show a message. The same with the body positioning. I would next try to figure out where she was actually killed at, and if she was moved, and of course why? Why would she be placed that way. This is obvious to say a message to either police, a third pary specicially or the world. It has some significants but I may or may not be able to figure it out. I would not be able to draw a MO off of one killing.
After the body was done being looked at, the investigator might take a look around the house. To find what is missing, this may involve asking friends and family if anything was missing. Looking for the obvious. Money, keys, car, jewlery, tv, expensive things.
Look all over the house to see what else you can find. Look in the bathroom to see if the toilet seat is up, noting a male went to the bathroom there, only because all of this intentionality and time, a person might have to go to the bathroom. Look in her bedroom. Look in the kitchen. Just look for things out of place or unusual be nosy, look in her telephone book, diary, trash any personal places where she might keep important papers.
After that I might sweep the house for fibers, with a special vacume, maybe use liminal but probably not.
Next I might go outside and look at the window and in the vicinity. Looking for a better idea of how the perpitrator came in, and what he was doing outside before he came in if he came in that way.
Next would be interviewing friends, family, landlord, anyone who may have known her and had a possible motive. Her lover might be a prime suspect if you thought they did in fact know their attacker. This would not fit the definition of a professional hit, by the mob or organized crime. It may fit the defintion of some kind of tourture. The fact that she was naked would probably indicate some sexual attack, but if the lab said that was not there, then I would have to think of other reasons. It would not fit the average attack from someone who was in a fit of rage either. This would be too diliberate, too premeditated. They had to bring a hankercheif with them, they had to bring some kind of device to cut her although they could have imprivised with a kitchen knife. They had to bring something to bind her hands up with. My inclination would be it was someone who knew her personally or knew of her. They had a certain plan. I hope this fills in the gaps.
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