Criminology

A call came into my office on January 25, 2010 at 1550 hours.  The call was from dispatch with advisement that a death occurred at 2285 Lone St., Nowhere, Texas.  Officers are at the scene, and awaiting my arrival to start the investigation.  Upon my arrival at the scene, I was provided the following information from responding Officer Jacob Dade.

Officer Dade informed that the victim was one Jackson Moneax, and it appeared the cause of death was from a single gunshot wound to the head.  The actual cause of death will be known after the Medical Examiners report.  An eyewitness, and friend of the victim, Roman Gibra gave an account of what happened.

According to Roman, he and the victim were standing in the driveway talking outside of Jacksons home.  Two white males approached and one of them confronted Jackson telling Jackson to give him the gold chain which he wore around his neck.  Jackson refused to do as requested and a struggle between Jackson and the unknown assailant ensued.  The assailant produced a gun, and during the struggle the gun was purported to have gone off.  The assailant and the other white male then fled the scene on foot.  Roman then advised that using his cell phone he immediately called 911.

Officer Dade pointed out Roman Gibra and I walked over to him, introducing myself and told him Officer Dade had informed me of what hed said.  I advised Roman that I would need for him to repeat what had occurred as I wanted to ask him some pertinent questions.  Roman repeated to me the story that he had told to Officer Dade.  I asked him to show me exactly where he and Jackson were standing when the two white males approached them.

Roman re-enacted the scenario, acting as himself, Jackson, the assailant and the other white guy, in clarifying the position and actions of each.  I asked him if he had seen the gun enough to describe it.  Roman stated, I saw it clearly.  It was a 45, silver in color with a black handle.  I asked Roman how he knew what kind of gun it was  Roman stated, I am familiar with guns and I recognized it was a 45.  I thanked Roman for the information and advised I may need to contact him to ask him some more questions.  I also left him my card and advised for him to contact me if he remembered anything else.

I commenced to walking the crime scene.  The victims body had been removed from the crime scene by the medical examiner prior to my arrival.  I taped off the area starting from the sidewalk and proceeded in securing the capacity of the front and side of the yard, including the entire driveway. Taking my evidence kit, I donned a pair of gloves and proceeded to collect evidence at the scene.

I started off by taking snapshots of the surrounding area, starting in the street I snapped photos of both directions leading to the house, marking them in numerical order.  I proceeded in this manner as I took photos from the street of the yard, using several angles in accordance to the driveway and yard.  I took photos from the yard behind the crime scene towards the street and continued taking photos working within a 360 degree perimeter.

I took photos of the area surrounding where the body had lain, zooming in for added magnification.  The gold chain was lying approximately 10 feet from where the victims body had lain.  I zoomed in on the area around the chain taking photos and then took photos from several angles of the chain itself.  As I completed labeling the photos I logged them and jotted down a mental note of the gold chains position.  It was lying in the driveway and was spread out neatly which I thought was peculiar, as the position should have presented as a bunched up appearance if it had been dropped.  To prove my theory, I removed a pair of tweezers from my evidence kit.  I picked up the gold chain with the tweezers and dropped it on the ground.  It landed in a bunched position.  I took photos of this position and then dropped it again, but this time tossing it slightly.  It skittered on the ground and came to rest in a bunched position.  I took photos of this position as well and marked all photos accordingly. Lastly picking the gold chain up with the tweezers I lay it on the driveway lengthwise as I had originally found it.  I took photos of this event marking them and logging them.  I then made a mental note of my findings.  I then bagged the gold chain, marked it, and logged it.

Working out from where the body had lain I began snapping photos of the grass.  Roman had advised in his story that the two white males had fled the crime scene on foot, pointing in the direction of the grass east of the driveway towards the street.  On examining the grass using a high beamed light, there was no evidence of broken or pressed down blades.  I took more photos of the grassy area, then marked and logged them.  I bagged all of the photos, taking a cursory look around the crime scene. CSI (2000) advises that There is even evidence that you can not see that can be brought to life by the use of forensic evidence.

Changing my gloves, I took tape and began to apply it to the area around where the body had lain and directly where the body had lain in hopes of picking up any fibers.  I took more photos of each area the tape was applied to, marking each and bagging them separately, and logging them.  It is very important when collecting forensic evidence that extreme care is taken so that the evidence is not compromised.  The process must be to an exact science in correlating with the documentation.

After completion of collecting the evidence I spoke with the lead Detective to ensure that the names of all police, detectives and witnesses who had been at the crime scene were documented.  He assured me that the names were documented and that a copy would be sent to my office.

I made a note that the gun shell was not found and that upon following up with the MEs office, the Medical examiner confirmed the bullet wound was the result of a gunshot wound and was made by a large caliber hand gun.  In examining the wound he spoke in detail of velocity and distance in relation to tissue damage, explaining that the evidence confirms that the gunshot wound was not received close up to the body, He advised that the bullet appeared to have traveled from within 100 feet before hitting its target.  I thanked the ME and he advised he would send his completed report of his findings to my office.

Ramon was asked to participate in a line up of suspects in regard to the homicide of Jackson.  In viewing the suspects, Ramon could not identify any of the suspects as being the ones who committed the crime.  It is this investigators conclusion that of the evidence collected pursuant to the case and the information gathered, that a likely suspect in the case is Ramon Gibra friend and witness of the victim.  In light of these findings I am requesting Ramon Gibra undergo testing for gunshot residue.  It is still within 48 hours of the homicide and by using laser induced spectroscopy gunshot residue can be detected up to 5.27 days after the shooting has occurred.

Once the gunshot residue testing has been completed I will be turning over all evidence and information gathered to the prosecuting attorneys office for appropriate follow up.