Behind the Yellow Tape: On the Road With Some of America's Hardest Working Crime Scene Investigators (31 page)

“Just think about it: real-time forensic investigation,” Jeff enthused as we began to wind down our interview. “Why
not
provide forensic evidence during the first forty-eight hours?” Even we had not thought about how little forensic science actually helps in locating—rather than prosecuting—a suspect. We guess, like everyone else, we just took it for granted that DNA takes six months to run, and other analyses will get done when they get done. And no one questions it. Sometimes it just takes someone like Jeff to ask, “Why not?” before people begin to think about it differently and to take action.

We said our good-byes to our friend, who was headed to a lab in South Dakota to begin yet another installation of The Beast. After that, he’s off to Australia. It seems that he can now begin his international leg in the quest to visit the most forensic laboratories. Jeff is one of our closest colleagues and by all accounts a genius, though some would probably argue that his revolutionary ideas make him more of a kook—at least that’s what an F.O.G. might say. But ideas are what drive the wave of change, and without them, things become stagnant. Jeff and his ideas remind us a lot of the ubiquitous PC versus Mac television commercials. Jeff, of course, is the Mac. We’ll let you guess who the PCs are.

When the academy first began, we heard stories of forensic researchers who were interested in developing a device that could record past sounds from a crime scene well after the crime had occurred. We have no idea how such a creation would work, but they were seeking funding for it. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But then, maybe it’s not as crazy as it seems. Who could have forecasted the advent of DNA, and the technology to analyze it, a mere twenty years ago? At one time, the fingerprint brush was the most advanced tool an investigator had at his disposal. And now look where technology is today and where it is headed for tomorrow.

Many things that we take for granted were discovered by accident, by sheer happenstance. Alexander Fleming wasn’t looking for penicillin when his petri dish molded. Young Frankie Epperson just wanted a soda drink back in 1905, but forgot about it and left it on his back porch overnight, freezing the concoction solid. Eighteen years later, he remembered that childhood event and invented what some people claim to be one of the most important inventions of the twentieth century—the Popsicle.

Forensic science has not been without its research gaffesturned-epiphanies either. The cyanoacrylate fuming process, better known as superglue-fuming, was accidentally discovered by the Japanese police when a fingerprint was inadvertently found on the underside of the lid of a jar of superglue. Ultraviolet (UV) photography, used by forensic investigators to detect old bruising beneath the skin invisible to the naked eye, was discovered by a police photographer who was just finishing off a roll of black-and-white film while he was taking pictures of a child.

You just never know where things may go or how things may turn out—serendipity can be a powerful forensic tool. Who knows what will be discovered in the future? Perhaps collecting of air samples at crime scenes and analyzing them for microscopic DNA particles, cologne, or some other piece of evidence that we cannot as of yet see with the naked eye or detect with the human nose. A large part of the current research funding is going to nanotechnology (science on the atomic and molecular scale). Eventually, that will probably be a reality one day too. But it doesn’t really matter what
will
happen. The point is that a lot of technology exists
now
that can allow forensic science to be done faster and better and to be more of a vehicle in solving crime, not just in its prosecution. And it doesn’t take a trip in a time-traveling DeLorean to realize that allowing it to go unused is a travesty.

Lewis and Clark traveled four thousand round-trip miles on their journey to discover the American West. We traveled just over three times that many miles on our cross-country journey to discover the American CSI. Some may argue that Lewis and Clark had it much harder than we did, but that argument would be moot, particularly considering that Lewis and Clark never had to deal with the metal-detector-wielding officers of the Transportation Security Administration. Twenty lip balm confiscations later, our journey was complete.

Dozens of audiocassettes, hours of video recordings, and thousands of pieces of paper were collected every step along the way, all of which were used in writing this book. We encountered many more stories that we did not use—peripheral tales too fleeting to chase. Not to mention the other colorful characters who crossed our paths unexpectedly. Maybe those stories and characters can make it into another book. It’s truly difficult to write about people and things that are in the present because nothing stays the same. Before all of the
i
’s were dotted and
t
’s crossed, things had already begun to change.

Texas Ranger John Martin retired from his Rangerdom and moved into the corporate world. In New Jersey, Sergeant Melissa DeFilippo was promoted to lieutenant; and in Tennessee, Lieutenant Jeff McCarter was promoted to captain. In Duluth, Sergeant Eric Rish was promoted to lieutenant and moved to patrol. Sheriff Bruce Montgomery of Sevier County, Tennessee, the man too ornery to give in to cancer, finally lost his battle. Even we have moved on to brighter pastures, leaving the academy behind. And New York CSI Sergeant Larry Walsh—well, he still loves his Spanish women. Some things never change.

In the end, all one can really hope for is to be a vehicle for change, and it became very apparent that we had done so in our time at the academy, even if just on a small level. We and the NFA clearly touched the lives of each of the real CSIs whom we visited on our trip across America. They approach their jobs differently, their departments think of them differently, and each one stood up and proudly said that more than anything else, he or she was more confident in working crime scenes. Confidence is a priceless thing and not something that can be gained overnight. And sometimes, having confidence is more important than having the latest forensic tool.

Overall, it was an amazing experience, our 13,500-mile odyssey of sorts, during which we were completely immersed in a world we had previously viewed only from the outside. It’s a world not meant for most, no matter how much Hollywood continues to overglamorize it. Spending more than four hundred hours behind the yellow tape, with those hardworking men and women who pour their lives into their jobs, proved many things to us beyond a shadow of a doubt. For one, if many of the CSI wannabes could see and smell what we have seen and smelled, we are sure that applications into the forensic field would plummet. Second, no one can be a successful crime scene investigator if he or she acts as smug as that guy Horatio Caine on
CSI: Miami
. And finally, what stood out most was that no matter whether the killer says
y’all
or
ay’
or
howdy
or
yo
, if he says it in the cities and counties we visited, he’ll be saying it from a ten-by-ten room, behind a cold set of steel bars.

AFIS
is the Automated Fingerprint Identification System used to match found fingerprints with a database of known prints.

The
area of convergence
is the area in three-dimensional space where the violence or bloodshed took place. To determine the area of convergence, an investigator must first determine the angles of impact of significant stains using trigonometry.

Bluestar
is a chemical used to detect blood. Crime scene investigators typically use it to detect cleaned-up blood at a crime scene. A unique characteristic of Bluestar is that it will fluoresce at the presence of blood in the daylight.

CODIS,
the Combined DNA Index System, is the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s software database of criminal DNA profiles. The database contains local, state, and national profiles of convicted persons, missing persons, and other evidence from unsolved cases.

Crime scene mapping
is the technique investigators use to sketch a crime scene. Crime scene mapping can be done by hand by measuring the crime scene and drawing it on graph paper, or it can be done on a computer with mapping software.

Dental stone
is a gypsum-based powder that is mixed with water and used as a casting material. The most common use of dental stone in crime scene work is in casting footwear impressions.

Dye stain
is a chemical used to enhance cyanoacrylate-fumed (superglue-fumed) latent prints. The dye stain is fluorescent and used in conjunction with a forensic light source. Common dye stains are Ardrox and Basic Yellow.

Epithelial cells
make up the outermost layer of skin cells, which are typically found in latent fingerprints. Latent prints are made by the deposition of the fats and oils found in the skin.

A
forensic light source (FLS)
is also known as an
alternate light source (ALS)
. The FLS is a lamp, either fixed or portable, that contains the UV, visible, and infrared light spectrums. The FLS can be tuned to specific settings depending on the item that is being examined.

Liquid glove
is the generic term for an antibacterial skin protectant that, when put on the skin and allowed to dry, acts as a barrier against germs for several hours. Narcotics officers have been known to use this product to protect themselves from the germs commonly found on illegal drugs.

Lividity,
also known as
livor mortis
, is the postmortem pooling of blood within the body due to gravity that causes skin discoloration. This discoloration can indicate what position a body was in, and for how long, after death.

Luminol
is a chemical used to detect the presence of blood. It will fluoresce when blood is detected. Crime scene investigators typically use it to detect blood that has been cleaned up at a scene. As opposed to Bluestar, luminol will fluoresce only in complete darkness.

A
mitochondrial DNA profile
can determine the maternal inheritance from a DNA sample. Because mitochondrial DNA is passed through the mother’s DNA to her offspring, this type of profile can identify mothers, offspring, and siblings. This technique is often used when a full DNA profile cannot be obtained, such as during hair analysis. If the root of the hair shaft is not available, then a mitochondrial DNA profile can be run on just the shaft of the hair.

Rehydrating a print
is sometimes necessary when a cyanoacrylate-fumed (superglue-fumed) print needs to be made visible. When the fumed print is sprayed with a dye stain such as Ardrox, the print will fluoresce, making it more visible to the naked eye.

Ridge detail
describes the specific, individual characteristics of a fingerprint.

Stringing a bloodstain
is a method of visualizing how blood has spattered, using lengths of string to determine the area of convergence of bloodstains. A trained investigator determines how the blood traveled using mathematical equations to find the angle of impact. After the angle of impact has been calculated and the area of travel determined, a string is placed from the bloodstain to a fixed object. Typically, stringing is done on walls and floors.

Superglue-fuming
is a method used by investigators to develop a latent fingerprint. Superglue, or cyanoacrylate, when heated to a certain temperature, begins to gas, or fume. When latent fingerprints are exposed to these fumes, the reaction causes the prints to turn white, thus making them more visible.

A
total station
is an instrument used by investigators to measure a crime scene. It measures angles and distances between two points.

First and foremost, I’d like to thank my wonderful family. I’d like to thank my wife, Kolloia, for putting up with my sometimes insufferable moods. I know I wear you out. And to my daughters, Kaylie and Jetta, I want to thank you for putting up with my obsessing over your every move and know that you are and will always be Daddy’s Little Girls. I love you all very much!

I’d also like to thank my parents, brother, uncle, and other relatives and friends for supporting me through all of my endeavors, and I’d like to thank my co-author, Amy Welch, for her friendship and hard work in seeing this project to completion.

I would like to thank my amazing husband, Steve, once again for supporting me throughout the writing of this second book. You are amazing, and I couldn’t have done it without you. I love you very much!

I want to tell my family that they rock! And I want to thank all of them for always supporting me. My parents, Garry and Sara Mick, are the best parents anyone could hope for. My big, little brother, Adam Mick, and my sister-in-law, Nicole, added to our family this past year in my perfect niece, Rylee, who will probably be reading by the time this book is published. And my nan, Minnie Arbaugh, asks me about the book every time I talk to her. I think she’s more excited than I am. I also know that my papa, the late Don Arbaugh, is watching over me every step of the way. I love you guys so much!

I also want to thank all of my friends for supporting me throughout this process. And thanks to my co-author, Jarrett Hallcox, not only for having another good idea but also for your friendship throughout our crazy cross-country crime scene adventures.

It takes a village to write a book, and without that village, we would have been lost this time. First, we’d like to thank Berkley Books for taking on this project and to all of those who contributed to it becoming a reality. A special thanks goes to the president and publisher of Berkley, Leslie Gelbman, for her willingness to take on another one of our projects, and to our editor, Shannon Jamieson Vazquez, for persevering through to the end. We’d also like to thank our agent, Laurie Abkemier, from DeFiore and Company for being our sounding board and also our shrink.