Jake Alexander, a wealthy trial attorney, lay dead alongside his young lover on the floor of his Florida penthouse. The housekeeper said Jakes exiled son, Dave, ran from the crime scene. Dave asked his law school roommate, Charlie Carne, to represent him. But Charlie had never tried a capital case. The judge said the defense needed an attorney with death-row experience, so Dunstan Dundee joined the team. Dee Dee had ample experience, but his main interest became Jakes financial assistant and ex-loverSuzannenot Daves innocence. The prosecutor had fingerprints, hair, fibers, and blackmail, but his witnesses lied. Did fired cartridge cases found on the floor come from the revolver with Daves printsor had Dave been framed? Charlie would have to tie the fired cartridge cases to the killer if he was to save his friend.Jake Alexander, a wealthy trial attorney, lay dead alongside his young lover on the floor of his Florida penthouse. The housekeeper said Jakes exiled son, Dave, ran from the crime scene. Dave asked his law school roommate, Charlie Carne, to represent him. But Charlie had never tried a capital case. The judge said the defense needed an attorney with death-row experience, so Dunstan Dundee joined the team. Dee Dee had ample experience, but his main interest became Jakes financial assistant and ex-loverSuzannenot Daves innocence. The prosecutor had fingerprints, hair, fibers, and blackmail, but his witnesses lied. Did fired cartridge cases found on the floor come from the revolver with Daves printsor had Dave been framed? Charlie would have to tie the fired cartridge cases to the killer if he was to save his friend.
Another hitch: missing autopsy The Walsh case was hampered by various problems, including a missing autopsy report and a glitch in identifying the remains. -- The Miami Herald, March 28, 2010 From The Unsolved Murder of Adam Walsh, Book One: The Adam Walsh story you know: After 6-year-old Adam was found murdered, his father, John Walsh, channeled his unbearable grief into becoming an angry crime-fighting TV host. Yet this is the story you don’t know: For decades, officials had never revealed the file proving the child was Adam. Astonishingly, it showed that the ID of the dead child had never been completed. Why? Was it because the evidence was either inconclusive—or showed that the child likely actually wasn’t Adam? After Hollywood Police closed the case in 2008, not only was the police investigative file made a public record, so were the medical examiners' files in two districts. Harris asked to see all of them and realized this: As shown by his smile in the "Missing" picture, Adam's top front baby teeth were both gone. But the found child had a buck tooth -- a left top front tooth that was in "almost all the way," in the words of a state forensic anthropologist who the police had later consulted. When was the "Missing" picture taken? How long before Adam vanished? John Walsh wrote it was one week. Harris found it was actually about a month. He found Adam's last best friend, who said he saw him a week or two before he disappeared and remembered that he still didn't have any top front teeth. However, the police's last-seen-alive description reads that his top left front tooth was partially in. So within the week or two before Adam disappeared, his new tooth had erupted. Two weeks after Adam was gone, the child's head was found. The Fort Lauderdale medical examiner told the newspapers then that the child (Adam, he said) had been dead for possibly all of the 14 days he had been missing. Teeth don't keep growing after death. In just that week or two before he disappeared, could Adam's top left front tooth have gone from eruption to in "almost all the way"? That would be very unusual if not impossible. More likely, it would have taken months, maybe up to six, pediatric and forensic dentists and parents of young children told Harris. If indeed Adam's top left front tooth doesn't match the same one in the found child, there also should be other indicators that they don't match. To compare discovered, abandoned bodies with missing people, forensic dentists use the missing person's dental charts and dental X-rays. The upstate medical examiner who made the positive ID wrote that Adam's dental chart showed that he had a filling in a lower left molar that matched a filling in the found child. But that was only enough for a "presumptive ID," which is less than a positive ID. It was only one filling, and it was in a common place for children to have cavities. And the dental chart he used is missing from his file -- as well as the files of Hollywood Police, which originally handled it, and the Fort Lauderdale medical examiner, who the upstate M.E. said he gave a copy to. Further, none of the files mention ever getting or using Adam's dental X-rays for a comparison. Those would have made for a definitive match -- or a negative match. Nor is there a mention anywhere of a forensic dental consultation, ordinarily done in such circumstances to make positive IDs. Adam's dentist says he no longer has the original records, so the examination that should have been done then can never be done in the future. Even worse, there is no autopsy report. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy admitted in writing that neither he nor anyone else in his office ever wrote one. Detectives, prosecutors, and defense attorneys who work homicides told Harris they had never heard of that ever happening before. This is what it all means: As there never has been, there never can be a trial for the murder of Adam Walsh because prosecutors can never establish that the murder victim was Adam Walsh. Instead, this case is about something different: crimes, injustices, and horrors against likely two young children, their families, and their communities: A child close in age to Adam who has never been correctly identified, whose parents were never notified and whose murder was never investigated, and who was not buried under his (or her) correct identity; And also the kidnapping of a young boy in a shopping mall in Hollywood, Florida. Which leads to an incredible pair of questions: What ever happened to Adam Walsh? Could he still be alive?
Essential Forensic Biology is an introduction to theapplication of the science of biology in legal investigations.Focusing on the legal system in the UK, the book provides adetailed description of the decay process, and discusses the roleof forensic indicators - human fluids and tissues, including bloodcells, bloodstain pattern analysis, hair, teeth, bones and wounds.It also considers the role microorganisms, invertebrates and plantsplay within forensic investigations before considering futuredirections in forensic science. The book examines the study offorensic biology in cases of suspicious death, and also exploresthe organisms used in a range of legal investigations; from humanand animal neglect to food spoilage, structural damage, the illegalcollection/trade of protected species and bioterrorism. Essential Forensic Biology fills the gap for a resource,which provides information on the range of biological organisms;animals, plants and microbes used in forensic studies. Aninvaluable introductory text for all students taking forensicscience courses, the book features a fully integrated website thatcovers forensic entomology with additional material and figuresfrom the text to enhance student understanding. An introduction covering the essentials of forensicbiology Features a fully integrated website covering forensicentomology with additional material and self-test questions toreinforce student understanding Each chapter includes a series of questions and topics forfurther study Focuses on the UK legal system From the reviews: “…the numerous black and white photographs,drawings and tables within the book are clear and welldeployed.” TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION SUPPLEMENT, 23rdFebruary 2007
There is a wide held misconception that archaeologist dig up dinosaurs - we don't, we leave that to the palaeontologists. Archaeology is the study of the human past and there is an approximate gap of 64 million years between the extinction of the dinosaurs and human evolution. This book holds insights into what archaeologists from around the world really do in their work life, and why they chose archaeology as a career. Stories ranging from animals, the environment, sacrifice, human remains, community involvement and even fantasy related archaeology, this book in an insight into the many aspects of life in the interesting and diverse career of archaeology. Whether you are a student looking at studying archaeology, an armchair critic, someone who finds the subject interesting, or think that archaeology involves just three days of 'digging', this book will open up a whole new world of what is involved in the eclectic career of an archaeologist.
In its 114th year, Billboard remains the world's premier weekly music publication and a diverse digital, events, brand, content and data licensing platform. Billboard publishes the most trusted charts and offers unrivaled reporting about the latest music, video, gaming, media, digital and mobile entertainment issues and trends.
'It seemed simple at first - folding one lie over the next. She had become expert at feathering over the cracks to ensure her life appeared the same. But inside, it didn't feel fixed.' It happened the day of the Moon Festival. It could have been left behind, they all could have moved on with their lives. But secrets have a habit of rising to the surface, especially in small towns. Two couples, four ironclad friendships, the perfect coastal holiday town. With salt-stung houses perched like lifeguards overlooking the shore, Lago Point is the scene of postcards, not crime scenes. Wife and mother Abbi, town cop Blake, schoolteacher Hannah and local doctor Will are caught in their own tangled webs of deceit. When the truth washes in to their beachside community, so do the judgements: victim, or vigilante, who will forgive, who will betray? Not all relationships survive. Nor do all residents.
This is a guide to recommended practices for crime scene investigation. The guide is presented in five major sections, with sub-sections as noted: (1) Arriving at the Scene: Initial Response/Prioritization of Efforts (receipt of information, safety procedures, emergency care, secure and control persons at the scene, boundaries, turn over control of the scene and brief investigator/s in charge, document actions and observations); (2) Preliminary Documentation and Evaluation of the Scene (scene assessment, "walk-through" and initial documentation); (3) Processing the Scene (team composition, contamination control, documentation and prioritize, collect, preserve, inventory, package, transport, and submit evidence); (4) Completing and Recording the Crime Scene Investigation (establish debriefing team, perform final survey, document the scene); and (5) Crime Scene Equipment (initial responding officers, investigator/evidence technician, evidence collection kits).