Pettem Cold Case Research Resources for Unidentified, Missing, and Cold Homicide Cases

1. Auflage 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4398-6170-7
Verlag: Taylor & Francis
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 333 Seiten

Cases in which all investigative leads appear to be exhausted are frustrating for both investigators and victims’ families. Cold cases can range from those only a few months old to others that go back for decades. Presenting profiles and actual case histories, Cold Case Research: Resources for Unidentified, Missing and Cold Homicide Cases illustrates how investigators can successfully apply resources that will enable them to reopen and solve cases gathering dust in the file room.

Today’s investigators have found that, to solve cold cases, they need to be internet savvy and make the best use of the rapidly changing methodologies of the twenty-first century, but they also have to be time travelers and open the door to the past. This volume weaves together the nearly forgotten skill sets of traditional historical researchers with the latest online tools, including TLO, a premier investigative system; and NamUs, the revolutionary database for missing persons and unidentified remains. Along with practical applications, Cold Case Research gives investigators the tools they need to save time and money and to jump-start their cold cases, while keeping others from going cold in the future.

Topics discussed include:

- Implementing cold case units

- People searches and working with databases

- Overlooked DNA in PKU cards

- The plight of the missing and unknown

- Applying historical and geographical context

- Online and off-line newspaper research

- Public and published records

- The use of volunteers

- Contact with co-victims

- Cold-case review teams and information-sharing resources

- Taking advantage of the media

Using a thinking-outside-the-box approach, this volume helps fill major gaps in traditional cold case investigation training and techniques, enabling investigators to confidently reopen and crack the mystery of cases long thought unsolvable.

Silvia Pettem was quoted in a January 29, 2012 article on missing persons in the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Zielgruppe

Law enforcement investigators, coroner and medical examiner investigators, and prosecutors.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Pettem, Silvia

Fachgebiete

• Rechtswissenschaften Strafrecht Kriminologie, Strafverfolgung
• Rechtswissenschaften Strafrecht Rechtsmedizin, Forensik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Section I: TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES
Challenges and Checklist
Time as an Ally
Checklist: To Help in Navigating the Chapters
Agency Organization: Cold Case Units
Miami-Dade Police Department’s Cold Case Squad
Metropolitan Police Department’s Cold Case Squad
Additional Cold Case Squads and Units
Current Practices and Good Investigators
TLO: The Latest Online Investigative System
TLO’s Beginnings
TLOxp User Tips
Additional Options for People Searches
Google
Some Additional, and Helpful, People Search Options
Social Security Death Index
Ancestry.com
Fee-Based Law Enforcement Websites
Dealing with Databases
Databases
Section II: MISSING, MURDERED, AND UNIDENTIFIED
NamUs: Connecting the Missing and Unidentified
NamUs: An Investigative Tool
Special Circumstances
Entering and Searching in the NamUs System
NamUs-MP: Creating a Missing Persons Case
NamUs-UP: Creating an Unidentified Persons Case
PKU Cards Retain Overlooked DNA
PKU/Guthrie Card Information, by State
The Plight of the Missing and Unknown
One Scenario: The Missing Person Is Presumed Dead
Prosecuting No-Body Homicides
Other Scenarios: Cold Missing Persons Cases
The Unidentified Remains of John and Jane Does

Section III: RESOURCES FOR EXPANDED RESEARCH
Historical and Geographical Context
Gaining Historical and Geographical Perspectives
Newspaper Research: Online and Off
How Newspaper Research Can Help
Newspaper Research Options
Understanding Obituaries
Published and Public Records
Federal Public Records
State Public Records
Local Public Records
Published Local Records
Public Records Can Be Missing
Public Records Can Be Inaccurate
Recorded Document Offices
Volunteers: How They Can Help
Volunteers in Cold Case Research
Specialized and Independent Volunteers
Contact with Co-Victims
Co-Victims and Law Enforcement
Co-Victim Resources (A Sampling of Some Volunteer and Nonprofit Organizations)
Victim Rights Act: Colorado As an Example
Need for Kindness

Section IV: REVIEW TEAMS AND THE MEDIA
Cold Case Review Teams and Information-Sharing Resources
Cold Case Review Teams: A Sampling
Information-Sharing Resources: A Sampling
Cold Case Review Teams
Information-Sharing Resources
Taking Advantage of the Media
Print and Broadcast Media (Augmented with Websites)
Web-Based Media: Agency Use of Cold Case Websites and Social Media
Conclusion
Section I Tools and Techniques
Section II Missing, Murdered, and Unidentified
Section III Resources for Expanded Research
Section IV Review Teams and the Media
Selected References
Books
Documents and Reports
Interviews
Magazine and Journal Articles
Newspaper Articles and Radio and Television Broadcasts
Websites

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Silvia Pettem is a longtime historical researcher, newspaper columnist, and author of more than a dozen books. After decades of work for individuals, businesses, and governments, her life took a new turn in 1996, when she stumbled upon the gravestone of a Jane Doe, a murder victim from 1954. A few years later, Pettem applied her research skills to both old-fashioned detective work and the power of the Internet by entering into a successful partnership with her local sheriff and forensic experts of the Vidocq Society to determine the young woman’s identity. Pettem chronicled their work in Someone’s Daughter: In Search of Justice for Jane Doe.

In 2008, the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office gave Pettem a Sheriff’s Commendation Award for doing the "lion’s share of the research" on the Jane Doe case. Two years later, the Vidocq Society presented her with its Medal of Honor.

While continuing to volunteer for the Sheriff’s Office, Pettem is now an associate member of the Vidocq Society, a volunteer in the detectives section of the Boulder Police Department, a NamUs Academy graduate, and a NamUs instructor in classes sponsored by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, expanding her expertise and working with colleagues all over the country.