Forensics Project Part X: Crime Scene Investigation!

DO NOT CROSS!  Crime scene investigation in process!  A domestic crime was committed and the brilliant investigators of my class are going to find out what happened. In class, three crime scenes were simulated around the room and ten possible suspects and two animals (a cat and a dog) were displayed on the board in the front of the room for each student to analyze as a the possible criminal.   A group of four students were assigned to each of the crime scenes.  I was assigned crime scene three which was a domestic crime.

In the crime scene were a total of twelve clues to be analyzed.

Clue 1 was a black high heeled woman’s shoe with a pointed tip.  The shoe had a bow, a strap, was a size eight and was designed by Claudia:

Clue 2 was a ripped up note which said: “Someone help me please”:

Clue 2A was another ripped up note that said: “You’ll never find her”:

Clue 3 was a plain whorl fingerprint:

Clue 3A was another fingerprint which was an ulnar loop:

Clue 4 was a gold, open, tear-dropped shaped earing with chains rapped around the center piece of the earing for the design:

Clue 5 was a green and white fiber which, with further analysis, was determined as nylon:

Clue 6 was a clear, yellow liquid that was a possible poison.  When we analyzed the substance we found iodine in the sample:

Clue 7 was a footprint in soil.  The footprint was determined to be from a male wearing Vans.  The size of the print being 30cm long and 11cm wide was how we determined that it was a male print because males usually have larger feet than females.  The pattern on the bottom of the shoe was how we determined the shoes were Vans because another group member was wearing the same type of shoe:

Clue 8 was a sample of A+ blood found at the crime scene:

Clues 9 were hairs found at the scene.  With further analysis we identified the hair as dog hair:

Clue 10 was a fingerprint found at the scene that needed to be lifted.  When we lifted the print we found that it was an ulnar loop:

When our group completed the analysis of the clues found at the crime scene, we went to the board at the front of the room to interrogate the possible criminal and victim.  The dog hair at the crime could only belong to the dog, Tyson.  My group believed the victim of the crime was Tyese Jefferson because the shoe and earing found were a woman’s, the handwriting in clue 2 matched the handwriting of Jefferson, the fingerprint in clue 3A and the one that was lifted matched her ulnar loop print, she had Thyroid problems and iodine (found in the poison of clue 6) is poisonous to those with Thyroid issues and the blood found matched her A+ blood type.  My group believed the criminal was Smokey Johnson because a plain whorl print found at the crime scene matched his, the handwriting in clue 2A matched his handwriting and the footprint at the crime scene belonged to a male.  I later assumed that the restraining order put on Johnson was from Tyese Jefferson.

Finally, after determining what each clue was and the criminal and victim at the scene, we each came up with a scenario that fit the scene of the crime.  I thought that this was a kidnapping because there was no body found and the note in clue 2A implies that Johnson is holding her captive and is challenging the investigators.  It started like this.  Tyese Jefferson was counseling a troubled boy name Smokey Johnson who owned a golden retriever named Tyson.  Johnson developed feelings for Tyese and started to stalk her.  She then put a restraining order on him.  Johnson, who could not bear to be apart from Tyese, went to her house one night with a green nylon rope and a plan. He parked his truck on the road in front of her house, as to not leave any tire tracks, and walked up to her house, stepping on a dirt patch leaving his footprint.  *I assumed it was left there when he was approaching the house before the crime took place because the print looks rather relaxed as if he were walking and if he were dragging a body with him leaving the crime then the print would have been dug deeper into the ground.  He looked inside her house through the window leaving some fingerprints behind (plain whorl).  Tyese was upstairs when she heard Johnson break in through the back door and, in her panic, could not find her phone so she quickly wrote “someone help me please” on a nearby notepad as to notify anyone who could help.  Johnson came upstairs with his green, nylon rope and attacked Tyese.  In the struggle her earing was ripped out spilling blood, her shoe fell off and some of Tyson’s hair fell off of Johnson’s clothes.  After overpowering Tyese, Johnson tied her up with the green nylon rope but in his haste ripped of a couple of its fibers leaving some green and un-dyed parts of the rope at the crime scene.  Johnson, knowing Tyese had a Thyroid issue after stalking her, then force fed her just enough iodine to knock her unconscious.  As he was gathering up her body to be put into the truck, Johnson noticed the note scrawled on the notepad and ripped it up.  He then decided to leave a note of his own saying “you’ll never find her” but then realized that the brilliant crime scene investigators could analyze the handwriting and compare it to his so he tore up his note as well and then left with an unconscious Tyese in the back of his truck.