Chapter 4 The Crime Scene

• Library: How to Try a Murder Case: Pretrial and Trial Guidelines for Prosecution and Defense (ABA) (2011 Ed.)

CHAPTER 4 The Crime Scene

The successful processing of the crime scene in a homicide case can make or break a successful prosecution of the crime. The involvement of the prosecutor at the earliest stages of the investigation is often essential for successful and thorough processing. The prosecutor who operates under the belief that he can remain in the ivory tower of his office while the investigators and crime scene technicians "do their job" is often doomed to failure. As stated earlier, a teamwork approach—including all participants on the investigative/trial team—is essential.¹

The crime scene itself must be defined with an open and inclusive mind. It will not be limited, as a general rule, to the location where the body is found. The crime may have occurred at one location and the body dumped elsewhere. The weapon used and other critical evidence may be found in still other locations. If the motive was financial, as is often the case, the crime scene may include a safe deposit box in a bank.

Missing or Dead?

Is the victim a missing person? If there is no corpse, what evidence points to a homicide instead of the simple fact that the person is missing? In the case of a missing victim, the initial investigation must include inquiries into several issues that might explain the absence. Did the person have a motive to flee or leave? Is there an unhappy domestic history that might provide a motive, either for the flight or for foul play? Is there a financial situation that might cause the missing person to have fled?

Where there is no motive for the victim to have left his or her normal environment, and foul play is suspected, it may be possible to actually prevent a homicide through quick action. Most cellular telephones now have global positioning system (GPS) locating devices built into them. If the victim's phone was left on in her purse at the time of a kidnapping, for instance, the security department of the service provider can locate the instrument.

Service providers have emergency procedures under which they can waive any normal privacy concerns, so do not accept a customer service representative's claim that "We can't give you that information." Your friendly local FBI agent—assuming you have one handy—knows this drill and can get by the red-tape roadblocks. In fact, if the local police department investigating the matter does not already have the number for the appropriate official at the service provider on speed-dial, you should move to correct that deficiency now.

Looking for the Body

As in the real estate business, when looking for a corpse, think, "Location, location, location." Know your jurisdiction's geography. If the victim is missing and presumed dead, it is a safe assumption that the killer does not want the victim's body to be found. That motive will lead the killer to either destroy the victim's remains or conceal the corpse.

The methods of destruction of a body can be as vicious and varied as the means of the murder itself. Even efforts to vaporize the corpse in an explosion will leave evidence of an explosion and (usually) small body parts. Acids will leave chemical traces. Bodies are frequently burned, and the victims' homes burned down on top of them, to give the appearance of death in a house fire. Still, an expert autopsy will generally determine that death occurred before the fire, and arson investigators are very good at spotting arson. A body may be placed in a car that is then wrecked to mislead investigators into believing that blunt trauma was the result of the accident. Is the trauma consistent with impact areas inside the car? Is the body in such a position so that blood from a wound appeared to have flowed uphill?

Whatever the attempted means of disposal, modern forensic techniques make it difficult to make a body disappear without a trace. That...