I love historical mysteries and books where we deal with forensic sciences in their early stages. So when I heard that “A Cruel Necessity” by L.C. Tyler would bring me a dead body with an expertly slashed throat underneath a dung heap I had to read the book in one sitting. Naturally. The author takes […]
Case of the Month: Doni Grindstaff
Expanding the reach of cold cases is the title of a chapter dedicated to Doni Grindstaff. I wrote it for the book “Solving the Unsolved.” The book was released by the American Investigative Society Of Cold Cases (AISOCC). I am posting part of the text here by request of Doni’s family and readers. __ If you […]
The cold case of Bernard Oliver (1950 – Jan 1967)
The Bernard Oliver case is known as the Tattingstone Suitcase Murder. Suffolk Police is reaching out again to the public for help. No one was ever charged for this murder. Bernard went missing January 6, 1967. He had not come home from an evening out with friends. His dad reported him missing the next day. […]
Phenotyping and Cold Cases
A few weeks ago, I received an email from Tom Shaw. He is an IAI Certified Forensic Artist & Snapshot Account Specialist at Parabon NanoLabs in Reston, Virginia. We started talking about phenotyping and how that could advance the investigations in cold cases. There are cases that grow cold because there is no DNA match […]
The Zeigler November 2016 appeal
On March 31, 2016, an evidentiary hearing was held for William Thomas Zeigler to request touch DNA testing in his case. Judge Whitehead denied that request for touch DNA on July 18, 2016. On November 23, 2016, an appeal was filed in the Supreme Court of Florida. In this post I have joined the state’s arguments […]
NamUs: underutilized. Why?
“NamUs is one of the most underutilized tools, not just from law enforcement, but also from the public,” said retired NYPD Det. Joseph Giacalone, a former cold case investigator. “It’s one of the greatest tools that can be used to solve some of these cases, but no one knows about it.” Joseph Giacalone is no stranger […]
Moscow Bound by Adrian Churchward
If you look at the cover of this political thriller you will see in the background some lines of a document. We can vaguely make out what it says. It is a snapshot of a page. That one page undoubtedly belongs inside a huge file. The words “Top Secret” are crossed out. Who did that […]
Case of the Month: Teryl Lynn Steele Orcutt
Teryl Lynn Steele Orcutt went missing on Jan 21, 1990. On Jan 28 she was found stabbed to death in a palmetto thicket near Black Creek, Middleburg, Florida. She was just 26 years old. I do not know the exact date of death. Teryl was stabbed many times in her chest. Her partially clothed body […]
The Grenadillo Box by Janet Gleeson
How I missed Janet Gleeson‘s book in 2002 I do not know. It will forever be a mystery. The book has everything I love: a historical setting with enough twists so that the plot I envisioned could come true. We are in the eighteenth century, in the United Kingdom. The year is 1755. It is […]
Eric Haider Update
This continues the post about Eric Haider. I found some new details in an article I had not seen before. Maybe I just missed those details them but I thought I’d post it here anyway to have a more complete case description. The article about Eric Haider is from Fox West Dakota. The new (to […]