2010.02.26 - 28 Today's Current News - ***NO DISCUSSIONS HERE PLEASE ***

[Angel Who Cares]

2010.02.26 - 28 Today's Current News - ***NO DISCUSSIONS HERE PLEASE ***

 

[Angel Who Cares]

Alachua's actual CCU more challenging than TV's CSI
Even years later, police look for lead that will bring a break
Published: Friday, February 26, 2010 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, February 25, 2010 at 9:26 p.m.
<snipped>
It can start with a tip or the opening of a musty case book.

Cold case analyst Jamie Whiteway begins the tedious process of reviewing stacks of paper filed by officers sometimes decades ago. She looks at crime scene descriptions laid out in inches and feet instead of GPS locations and reading through the history of efforts made to solve the case.

And while reading the files, she catalogs the information on the computers and looks for ways to move the case forward, perhaps with a new interview or maybe a test using new DNA technology.

Members of the Alachua County Sheriff's Office Cold Case Unit include Dean, who has been with the agency more than 20 years, Whiteway, a cold case analyst, and Larry Ruby, a special agent with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The team currently is assigned to 28 cases of homicide, missing persons and unidentified remains in the county. The oldest posted on the Sheriff's Office Web site dates back to 1966.

"The process of the investigation is the same. You interview witnesses, interview suspects, process the crime scene for forensics," said Dean, comparing detective work on recent cases to cold case investigations. "What happens is it gets more difficult as time goes on. Witnesses - their memories fade. Witnesses die. Suspects die. Forensic evidence gets lost and degraded." "We'll see what type of new technologies can be applied to the evidence and see if there's anything that can be done that hasn't already been done before," Whiteway said.

Techniques that Dean and Whiteway hope to use on cold cases are suspect analysis by a psychologist and statement analysis.

A psychologist reviews the case beforehand to give investigators strategies on interviewing a suspect, Dean said. With statement analysis, witness statements and transcripts are reviewed for phrases and terms that can help determine if someone is lying or telling the truth. "It's just turned into this almost mathematical, scientific thing, like you're grading a paper. It's almost kind of like a lie detector," Whiteway said.
*Much More At Link! Very Informative Info...IMO :wink:
***5-Page Article!!!!

The images shown below related to cold cases from left to right and top to bottom: James Edward Tuff Jr., Haleigh Cummings, Sudheer Satti, sketch of rape suspect, Tiffany Sessions, Wende Ellinger, Michael Shane Crutchfield, Heather and Kira Radcliffe, Elizabeth Foster.

SEARCH COLD CASE DATABASE
Explore Gainesville.com's interactive database of unsolved cases.
http://www.gainesville.com/article/99999999/MISC/907289998

Database center
See a database of unsolved crimes in the area.
http://www.gainesville.com/datacenter

Article:
http://www.gainesville.com/article/...a-s-actual-CCU-more-challenging-than-TV-s-CSI