investigation

Whodunnit, and why? All about criminal investigations and the forensic methods used to search for clues and collect evidence to get to the bottom of the crime.

The lost sister: Where is Jessica Masker?
For many of us, our siblings are our closest friends. As kids, we may fight and disagree over things that now seem so trivial. But our siblings will often watch our backs. But what happens if one of your siblings disappears? It’s not like there is an instruction manual that prepares us for this situation. I recently spoke to a young woman named Christina Masker, who has spent the past eight years searching for her missing sister.
By Marc Hoover5 years ago in Criminal
Ted, Americas second serial bomber
Two months after the una-bomber was arrested there was a suspicious package found in the lobby of the Poff Federal Building in Downtown Roanoke, VA. It was in a brown box wrapped in similar packaging to what Ted was known to have used. This had to be a copy cat crime otherwise, Ted being in prison was a lie. The building was evacuated immediately through alternative methods. The SWAT team was called in and VMI sent in their bomb disposal units. After several hours of work they had the bombs defused and everyone could return to work, Those who felt unsafe could go home for the rest of the day.
By Lawrence Edward Hinchee5 years ago in Criminal
Beyond Depraved: LaLaurie Mansion’s Death Attic
On the evening of April 10, 1834, a fire broke out in an elegant three-story mansion in New Orleans’ French Quarter. The rescuers found a slave woman chained in the kitchen who admitted to deliberately setting the blaze. She felt it was worth the risk of dying in a fire to escape further torture at the hands of Madame LaLaurie, the lady of the house. After the authorities released her, she led them to the attic where worse horrors awaited them.
By Kathy Copeland Padden5 years ago in Criminal
why I'm sad that the case of the Somerton Man may finally be solved
The case of the Somerton Man has inspired a generation of internet sleuths and crime enthusiasts. Filled with mystery and intrigue and even some suggestion of links to secret-agent espionage, the case of the Somerton Man is entirely fascinating. But now, following the exhumation of the Somerton Man's body and advances in DNA testing, there is a fair chance that this case could be solved. We might finally find out who the Somerton Man is, how he died, and maybe even why he died.
By Jaimie5 years ago in Criminal
The Murdering Barn
Phillip Jackson comes home from a one month business trip. But something is out of place, seriously out of place. He can't find his parents, his wife, housekeeper, nor nurse that was hired several months before he left on his business trip.
By Lawrence Edward Hinchee5 years ago in Criminal
The abduction of Dorothy Forstein
Every year, people disappear. Although most of them return home, many others never do. What happens to these missing people? Did aliens abduct them? Although I don’t subscribe to alien abductions, it makes for good television. When people vanish, they have either walked away from their lives or someone else killed and disposed of them.
By Marc Hoover5 years ago in Criminal
Is it ever worth it?
"Gimme two packs of Marlboro Reds and a pack of stunners." The clerk turned to get what I asked for when someone behind me reached around and grabbed my wallet from my hand and took off running out of the store. I gave chase. That was a mighty fine wallet. It didn't have much cash in it but it did have my Detective Sergeant badge in it and I worked damn hard for that badge. The suspect got the leap on me. He was fast but I was able to keep pace. I followed him for about a quarter of a mile and watched him run into the front door of a duplex and slam the door behind him. Now, this just got even more serious. I ran up to the same door but it was now closed and locked. I knocked. No answer. I knocked again. Still no answer. A lady was outside across the street and I yelled for her to call the police, to tell them an officer needed assistance. In a few minutes, several units arrived. I knocked a third time and a woman answered the door. She claimed she had been sleeping. She said she lived alone. She said no one other than her was inside. She didn't believe me and refused to let us come in and search, then she heard a noise and invited us in. We searched both upstairs and downstairs and found nothing. There was no one inside that duplex.
By Joey Lowe5 years ago in Criminal
The Detective and The Grim Reaper: A Deathless Murder
"Death is a strange thing. We go through the entirety of our lives knowing that it waits for us at the end, and yet we rarely fear its eternal presence or give it much consideration at all. "
By Shenoa Rose5 years ago in Criminal
Two thousand, three hundred and six
The world ended when the phone went straight to voicemail. (It was a Sunday.) Mia Black Earth set the phone on the kitchen counter and stared at it for a moment. She paced the kitchen, alternating between pulling at her bottom lip and chewing on it.
By E.J. Wottreng5 years ago in Criminal
The M word
The year is 2120 and Michael fondly looked at the ornate heart shaped golden locket. It contained a picture of his late wife Lara who died two weeks ago. Lara and Michael had only been married for 2 years but were childhood sweethearts.
By larissa s 5 years ago in Criminal
Delmar Anholt Jr. and the Valentine’s Day Homicide
On February 14th, 1982, the gruesome discovery of a woman and her unborn child is made. Kneeling over the body is a man, attempting to gouge out the woman’s eyeballs.
By Hannah Marland5 years ago in Criminal
Our Instructor Was Shot in Front of us
14 Years ago I was living in Johannesburg, South Africa, and I used to attend martial arts training in the city. We trained in a scout hall and were a small group of max 8 on any given Monday night. The night of the crime there were only 2 of us, and the instructor an elderly man (70 years old).
By Dean Gee5 years ago in Criminal