LIS Forensic Case Study 2021 by Sarah https://padlet.com/sarah_mcmahon1/tbusnoexmudk59tn en-us 2021-09-28 13:36:30 UTC 2022-10-03 15:43:19 UTC hello@padlet.com The Old Lady Killer https://padlet.com/sarah_mcmahon1/tbusnoexmudk59tn/wish/1884389510 1. Juana Barraza, a criminal in Mexico, was sentenced for over 700 years in prison for murdering 48 elderly aged women. Before murdering her victims, Barraza would choke them and steal their personal belongings. 
2. January 25, 2006, A neighbour caught Juana Barraza leaving the murder scene Ana María de los Reyes Alfaro, and a police man that was passing by, arrested her. Barraza couldn’t read or write and the police who searched her home found a trophy room with clippings from the newspapers of each of the murders that had occurred, along with personal belongings taken from the each of her  victims. Occasionally Barraza would leave the weapon she used to strangle her victims with at the scene of the crime. Majority of her killings were with a stethoscope that she wore like a badge of honor. She was arrested wearing it. 
3. Aside from the fact that the murder weapon was hanging around her neck as proof of guilt, Barraza’s fingerprints were found in at least eleven of the crime scenes. This forensic evidence proved that Barraza was ‘The Old Lady Killer’ since a set of fingerprints are unique to each individual and no two people in the world have the same fingerprints. The trophies she took from her victims’ homes, that were found in her house also had her victims DNA on it. 
4. On 31 March she was convicted and found guilty on 16 charges of murder and aggravated burglary including 11 separate counts of murder. Barraza only plead guilty to one murder and not any of the rest. she was sentenced to 759 year in prison. The city prosecutors at the time told reporters that they have fingerprints putting her at the scene of 11 murders.]]> 2021-11-11 14:54:33 UTC https://padlet.com/sarah_mcmahon1/tbusnoexmudk59tn/wish/1884389510 The Night Stalker https://padlet.com/sarah_mcmahon1/tbusnoexmudk59tn/wish/1884390429 Richard Ramirez was an American serial killer, active during the spring and summer of 1985. It has been claimed that he killed 14 people and raped and tortured 2 dozen more people. He was 24 when he committed his first murder, and it is suspected that by the age of 26, he would have committed 13 murders. 
Shoe prints were found around several of the crime scenes, that were extremely similar, leading to the police searching for one man for multiple killings. There were also fingerprints left on a car he had stolen, as well as on a business card. 
Scientists have created methods of identifying shoe prints as a form of forensic evidence. Indentations on the ground made by a shoe can be recorded and studied to be compared to prints at other locations or crime scenes. Through forensic analysis of footprints, scientists can approximate height and weight of the person who made the print. Identification of footwear manufacturers, model and shoe size can be used to profile suspects at a crime scene. 
There was a successful conviction based on this forensic evidence. He was sentenced to 19 death penalties on the conviction of 13 accounts of murder, five attempted murders, 11 sexual assaults and 14 burglaries. 
]]> 2021-11-11 14:54:54 UTC https://padlet.com/sarah_mcmahon1/tbusnoexmudk59tn/wish/1884390429 The Green River Killer https://padlet.com/sarah_mcmahon1/tbusnoexmudk59tn/wish/1884440099 1. Gary Ridgway, known as the Green River Killer, was America's deadliest convicted serial killer in 2003. He claimed to have murdered as many as 80 women. He pleaded guilty to 48 counts of murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
2. DNA evidence was the conclusive link between Ridgway being convicted as the Green River Killer. Ridgway gave a sample of saliva in 1987 to the police but technology was not as advanced so the sample could not be properly tested until 2001. This sample of saliva was linked to a sample of semen collected from one of his victims.
3. DNA evidence is used to match evidence to a suspects DNA. This evidence can be traced using microscopic-sized samples such as dead skin cells or dried saliva and sperm. DNA evidence is 99% accurate meaning it is difficult to argue over its results. Over 75% of court cases being presented with DNA evidence resulted in sentencing.
4. Gary Ridgway pleaded guilty to 48 charges of aggravated first degree murder as part of a plea bargain. He was sentenced to life in prison with a further 10 years in prison on the count of tampering with the evidence. For all of his 48 victims he was given a life sentence to serve for each murder.]]> 2021-11-11 15:13:40 UTC https://padlet.com/sarah_mcmahon1/tbusnoexmudk59tn/wish/1884440099 The Lindbergh Kidnapping https://padlet.com/sarah_mcmahon1/tbusnoexmudk59tn/wish/1884459090 1. On March 1, 1932, 20 month old Charles Augustus Lindbergh, the son of world famous aviator Charles Lindbergh, was taken from the second story of his home.  That night, the child’s nurse discovered that he was missing and alerted his parents. A ransom note was discovered on the windowsill. The crudely written note demanded that $50,000 be delivered to an undisclosed location.
2. In 1933, an executive order was enacted stating that all gold certificates be returned to the treasury. It so happened that about $40,000 of the Lindbergh ransom money that was given to Hauptmann was in the form of these certificates. During the manhunt, many offices were given pamphlets containing the serial numbers of the Lindbergh ransom notes and advised to be on high alert for any matches and this later confirmed that Hauptmann had the money.
3.Serial numbers found on money are eight-digit-long codes that are unique to each bill.  This information can tell us which series year the bill is from and where it was printed. They are found on the front of U.S. currency and are always printed twice.
4. On Janurary 2, 1935 Bruno RIchard Hauptmann was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to death and on April 3, 1936, Bruno Richard Hauptmann was put to death in the electric chair.]]> 2021-11-11 15:20:53 UTC https://padlet.com/sarah_mcmahon1/tbusnoexmudk59tn/wish/1884459090 The Phoenix Canal killings https://padlet.com/sarah_mcmahon1/tbusnoexmudk59tn/wish/1884474877 1. The Phoenix Canal killings were two Murders that occurred in Phoenix Arizona during November of 1992 and September of 1993. Both victims were females who went for a bike ride in the evening along the Arizona Canal and they never returned home. The twenty two year old victim was Angela Brosso. She was found decapitated in a field near a bike path that was across from the canal. The seventeen year old victim was called Melanie Bernas. She was found dead, floating in the canal, ten months later.
2. DNA evidence of the suspect was found in the bodies of the victims, in the form of bodily fluids. At the time, they could not find the suspect and this tragedy became another cold case. But in 2015, police officers took a sample of DNA from a mug that Bryan Miller was using at a Chili's, and this DNA sample was identical to the DNA that was found on the victims. Miller denied having any involvement, but the DNA sample speaks for itself. 
3. In 1987, English forensic investigators used DNA testing to help solve the "Black Pad" murders and identify the killer as Colin Pitchfork. This was the first case which used DNA evidence to determine the identity of a murderer. DNA evidence is now a powerful component of the forensic science and criminal justice departments. It can link seemingly unrelated crimes and resolve cold cases. It can prevent innocent people from going to prison for crimes they did not commit. 
4. Bryan Patrick Miller was arrested on January 13th, 2015. He unfortunately has not been convicted yet. His trial has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Miller has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, kidnapping, and the sexual assault of Angela Brosso and Melanie Bernas. But prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. 
]]> 2021-11-11 15:26:53 UTC https://padlet.com/sarah_mcmahon1/tbusnoexmudk59tn/wish/1884474877 The Cornell Story Murders https://padlet.com/sarah_mcmahon1/tbusnoexmudk59tn/wish/1886414622 An 11 years old girl and her babysitter were murdered in Cape Coral, Florida during the night of the 10th of May of 1990. They were found by the child´s mum when she got back from her boyfriend´s house. It was determined that they were suffocated and sexually assaulted. The DNA on the items in the apartment did not belong to the victims. They were able to make a DNA profile and then put through the CODIS system. This was significant as in Florida all felons must have their DNA taken and this was how Joseph Zieler was found guilty of the murders. There is a 0.1% difference in our DNA that enable us to be individuals with different characteristics e.g hair colour, eye colour and different skin types. Joseph Zieler was convicted with two counts of first degree murder as well as two accounts of sexual battery and one count of burgulary.]]> 2021-11-12 11:24:32 UTC https://padlet.com/sarah_mcmahon1/tbusnoexmudk59tn/wish/1886414622 The Atlanta Child Murders https://padlet.com/sarah_mcmahon1/tbusnoexmudk59tn/wish/1886418551 1. In 1947 to 198, 25 African American adults and children, mostly male, were found dead in metro Atlanta in the areas of Brookheaven and Buckhead which is now known as the “Atlanta Child Murders. Wayne Williams was the main suspect in the case after being charged with the murders of Nathaniel Cater and Jimmy Ray Payne in 1982, despite there being any evidence towards him in the Atlanta Child Murders. The victims were all from low income areas and either beaten and strangled and thrown into a river, beaten and tied to a tree or left in an abandoned building. 
2. The main piece of forensic evidence that aided in the conviction of Wayne Williams, solving the Atlanta Child Murders case was the analysis of fibers found on the bodies and clothing of the victims, Nathaniel Carter and Jimmy Ray Payne. [1] [2] [4] [5]. After Police obtained a search warrant for Williams’ house, they found fibres in comparison with those found on the victims’ bodies and clothing. [5].
This included "a coarse yellow-green nylon fibre" which was found on the clothing of Jimmy Ray Payne and hair of Nathaniel Cater and was used in the manufacturing of carpets.[3]. [1]. Fibres from a yellow blanket found in Williams’ room were matched with light-yellow rayon removed from Carter’s hair and acrylic fibers found on Payne’s body. Violet acetate fibers matching the bedspread in Williams room were matched with fibers found on Payne and Carters bodies. Nylon fibers removed from William’s car was consistent with a melted nylon fiber removed from Cater’s hair and the blue-green/blue-gray fiber recovered from Payne’s body.
Despite this, the FBI needed conclusive evidence to connect Wayne Williams to the murders. They needed to show that these carpet fibers were not commonly found.[4]. FBI analysts aided with the help of chemists at DuPont linked the fibers to carpets used by Chevrolet who gave the FBI further information on the carpets used in pre-1973 vehicles. [3] [4]. This allowed the FBI to analyse and eventually match these fibers to those found on the victim.
3. Fiber evidence is s form of trace evidence used that can trace a suspect to a victim by clothing, carpets, beds and furniture. Fibers are very useful in a crime scene as they can create connections. Investigators can compare chemical and physical characteristics of a suspect and fibers that have been found. The more to be found similar between them, the stronger the case is.
4.In the year 1982, three years after the killings began, a man named Wayne Williams was arrested and convicted of the murder of two adults. It was suspected that Wayne Williams was also responsible for the Atlanta child murders. Although evidence had been presented to possibly link Wayne Williams to the murders, he has never been tried or convicted of these crimes. He is currently serving two life sentences for the murders of the two adults. No one has been convicted of these murders, but this case was closed after Wayne Williams was convicted for the two murders. 




 

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