The Killer Book of Cold Cases

by Tom Philbin

  “I looked into the four cases that Meyers had investigated—if I can even use that word—and was stunned by his lack of professionalism. In all four cases, he did little or no investigation and certainly didn’t take into consideration any victimology, which means he paid no attention in three of the cases to prior domestic violence, declaring it ‘insignificant.’

  “He disregarded the fact that two of the women who had been murdered had left their husbands, an act which often leads to homicide. (Consider O.J.) Meyers seemingly was obsessed with declaring key clues insignificant. In one of the cases, he regarded finding the driver’s license of a victim’s husband next to her body insignificant and declared unimportant the tip from a man who said the husband had tried to hire him to kill his wife.

  “I can’t help but think that Meyers had his own issues with women in general,” Geberth says “He was not only incompetent, but an arrogant misogynist. At any rate, in all four cases his investigations were so compromised and the facts and the evidence had become so contaminated that the cases could not be prosecuted.”

  How Many Cases Have Been Botched?

  It is difficult to say just how many cases have been botched, gone cold, or resulted in the conviction of the wrong person. The Innocence Project has freed more than a hundred people alone, and we’re sure thousands of people have been wrongly convicted. However, there is another reason why it happens, and that is because of ambitious, unfair, and, indeed, vicious prosecutors. A prime example was Mike Nifong, the prosecutor in Durham, North Carolina, who in 2006 tried to get three Duke students convicted for a rape they didn’t commit. Unfortunately, the author’s sense is that there are many more prosecutors out there like him.

  Accelerant—A flammable substance used in the commission of arson. A variety of materials are used as accelerants, including grease, wax paper, kerosene, charcoal lighter fluid, paint thinner, grain alcohol, and gasoline. Arson investigators say that grain alcohol is becoming the accelerant of choice because it is also used to freebase cocaine and is well known and easily available.

  Then again, as detailed earlier in this book, one of the most prolific arsonists who ever lived, Los Angeles-based John Orr, just used a cigarette, whose lit tip ultimately ignited three matches wrapped in lined, yellow paper. A rubber band held the simple but highly effective device together. Orr knew the device would work because it came into contact with foam, which quickly turned to liquid and ignited.

  Autopsy—An autopsy is required in all accidental, suspicious, and homicidal deaths to determine the cause of death. An autopsy is totally invasive, surgically speaking. After the body is cleaned, a Y-shaped incision is made in the chest, the breastplate is removed, and the heart and lungs are examined and weighed. Then the abdomen is opened up, and the organs are removed for examination. After that, the skull is sawed open and the brain is removed. Sections of organs are taken for toxicological examination, and complete blood work is done, including screening for poisons. Following the examination, the organs are returned to the body.

  It is important—and often required—that the main investigating detective (or “primary”) be present at the autopsy to answer any questions the medical examiner or coroner may have. The investigator’s answers may be helpful in determining a definitive cause of death. When the examination is complete, the ME issues a written report of the findings.

  Bag the hands—Encase the hands of a homicide victim in bags. This is standard procedure and helps preserve any trace material, such as skin or hair, that might be on the hands or under the fingernails of the victim. When a victim is fighting for his or her life, it is a natural reaction to defend with the hands by scratching or grabbing the perpetrator. Minute quantities of the material that may be found on the victim’s hands can be crucial in identifying the guilty person through DNA tests.

  Movies or television often shows the victim’s hands bagged in plastic wrap or a plastic bag, but real-life investigators prefer paper bags because plastic tends to speed up putrefaction, reducing the time for analysis. In addition, plastic does not allow the hands to “breathe,” and the lack of air may alter the trace evidence significantly.

  Blitz rape—Rape involving a sudden, unexpected assault.

  Blunt-force injuries—Injuries usually characterized by outward signs of lacerations and bruising, caused by a blunt instrument. Blunt-force injuries are normally delivered to the head and produce external signs of attack, but this is not an absolute. A person may receive a severe head injury and appear to be fine but may die later of internal bleeding. Sidney Weinberg, former medical examiner for Suffolk County, New York, once examined a deceased man who had been hit in the head but seemed totally intact. The autopsy revealed that the blow had turned the brain to virtual jelly.

  Blunt-force injuries on the side of the head are more likely to be lethal than those on the front. Injuries to areas other than the head can also be fatal. Injuries to the abdomen and pelvic area can cause internal bleeding, while bones may be cracked and pierce organs. Such injuries may also be useful in determining which direction the force came from.

  Blunt instrument—A weapon that has no sharp edges and produces blunt-force injuries. By far the most inventive blunt instrument was created by writer Roald Dahl in a short story, “Lamb to the Slaughter,” in which a woman beat her husband to death with a frozen leg of lamb. When the detectives came to investigate, she convinced them to stay and have dinner, and of course she served them the blunt instrument. They ate the murder weapon.

  Bomb dog—A type of sniffer dog used by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and other law-enforcement agencies to sniff out explosive devices. The ATF characterizes such an animal, in typical governmentese, as an “explosives detection canine.”

  Bomb squad—A police unit trained and equipped to deal with explosive devices.

  Bomber—Someone who constructs and plants bombs in violation of criminal law. Members of bomb squads say bombs usually are of simple design and that the technology and materials needed to make a bomb are easily available.

  Bombers send bombs for many reasons. Sometimes a bomb is a warning message placed where it is not likely to kill anyone. Some are sent for simple revenge. The most horrendous kind, those placed where many people are going to be gathered (such as on an airplane or in a building), are usually the work of terrorist groups.

  Undoubtedly, the worst example of an airplane bombing was that of the Pan Am flight that exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland. Hundreds of people were killed, all innocent civilians. That bomb was very sophisticated, having been on the plane eight hours before it was detonated. The bomber, released from prison because he was supposedly dying of cancer, recently found shelter in Libya, much to the chagrin of people who lost relatives on the flight.

  My two daughters had been on that same plane about six months earlier when they went to visit a friend in England. In another coincidence, my wife worked at a photo shop and knew a family who took photos of themselves in their seats on the plane. A friend brought the film to the shop to be developed. My wife had the sad task of giving the last pictures of their deceased relatives to the wife and mother who came to the store to get them.

  Busywork—The endless, repetitive task of examining material that may contain a clue to the perpetrator of a crime. For example, investigators who received a ransom note demanding $2,000 for the Weinberger baby in 1956 examined the huge volume of handwriting specimens maintained by the New York State Motor Vehicle Bureau, federal and state probation offices, schools, aircraft plants, and various municipalities.

  After examining and eliminating almost two million samples of writing in an operation reminiscent of the Mad Bomber case, on August 22, 1956, an agent at the U.S. Probation Office in Brooklyn noted a similarity between the writing in the ransom notes and writing in the probation file of Angelo LaMarca. He had been arrested by the Treasury Department for bootlegging and was charged with the kidnapping.

  Chain of evid
ence—Evidence collected and catalogued in a homicide; also called the chain of custody. Homicide investigators need to keep everything in logical, consistent order when establishing their cases. Ideally, a written record must be kept of everyone who handles evidence, and when.

  Cold case—As mentioned earlier, different cops have different definitions for this term. For example, some cops use a certain year, say 1990, as the cutoff so that any homicide committed prior to that date is classified as a cold case. Others may dub a case cold if a long time has elapsed since a person disappeared and that person is assumed to be a homicide victim. Perhaps the classic cold case was that of Judge Joseph Force Crater, who vanished on the night of August 6, 1930. His wife said he had received a phone call and then left the house, first commenting that he was “going to straighten those fellows out.” He was never seen again.

  Though many different definitions are used, the bottom line for a cold case is that a fairly long period of time has gone by and the original investigator has given up the investigation. Of course, there is no time limit on what constitutes a cold case. Decades can go by. Indeed, some cold cases have been solved after thousands of years.

  Also, while most people think of cold cases as only murders of long standing, that is not true. Kidnappings, rapes, and missing-person cases that have gone a long time unsolved can also be accurately characterized as cold cases.

  Contact wound—A wound that results when a gun is placed against a body and fired.

  Contusion—Bruising of the brain from a fatal fall. Without an autopsy, it may be difficult to tell if a deceased was the victim of a fall or a homicidal assault with a blunt instrument that produced blunt-force injuries. If the person has been murdered, the skull and brain will be contused on the side of the head that was struck. If a person dies from a fall, the contusions—which usually occur in the frontal and temporal lobes—occur in the brain directly opposite the point of impact. The reason is that as the head strikes the surface, the brain is jarred loose and impacts against the skull on the opposite side. This medical insight has resulted in the conviction of many murderers who have assumed that no one can tell whether a person was hit with a hammer or jumped headfirst out a window.

  Coroner—The official in charge of determining the cause of suspicious deaths. In some locales, the coroner is the same as the medical examiner (ME), and actually determines the cause of death. In other locales, coroners are strictly political appointees who move the body to a funeral home. In those cases the coroner is not personally qualified to determine the cause of death and hires a qualified pathologist to do so.

  DNA—Short for deoxyribonucleic acid, a nucleic acid found in every cell in the body that carries the genetic codes that control the function and structure of every component of the body. DNA technology is to crime investigation what the airplane was to travel: it has revolutionized it.

  When analyzed, DNA varies absolutely from one individual to the next. In a sense, it’s like a genetic fingerprint. These genetic fingerprints are in every cell of the body and therefore contained in blood, semen, and other material found at crime scenes. All that the “genetic engineer” needs to do is compare the DNA of the substance found with that of a suspect. The accuracy of DNA testing is mind-boggling—almost 100 percent. It is widely accepted by law-enforcement agencies.

  DNA has figured in innumerable sensational convictions and acquittals. Even if a DNA sample such as blood or semen is old, its genetic makeup can be discovered. Many convictions have been overturned because of DNA analysis. Gates have opened for people who had been in prison for more than ten years when DNA analysis of old evidence buried in a property room has proved them innocent. Although the science is unimpeachable, attacks are often made on the expert who interprets the DNA analysis.

  Fire triangle—Fuel, heat, and oxygen, the elements needed for fire, were called the fire triangle until the element of chemical reaction was added. Now the group of fire-starting elements is called the fire tetrahedron. Vapor is needed to start a fire. Indeed, you could stick a lit match into liquid gasoline and the gas would extinguish the flame like water would.

  Flashover—Fire is propelled by the phenomenon called a “flashover” when carbon in the smoke is hotter than 1,000 degrees and makes everything in its path explode into flame.

  Hesitation marks—Cuts on the wrists or neck of a suicide victim indicating that the person who committed suicide hesitated before making the fatal cut or cuts. Such marks do not always reflect suicide. As Vernon Geberth points out in Practical Homicide Investigation, “an assailant who is knowledgeable about these [marks] might leave similar markings to cover up a homicide.”

  Incendiary device—A device designed to start a fire.

  Lividity—Lividity is an asset to investigators because it can indicate the approximate time of death and whether or not the body was moved. Lividity occurs because the heart has stopped pumping blood to various parts of the body. Since the blood is not moving, gravity causes it to settle in the body. This usually starts within thirty minutes of death, and the process is complete within eight to ten hours. Lividity can help investigators determine whether a body has been move because after the blood has settled, it stays put. It does not “resettle” when the body is moved. If the body has been moved, the blood will not be in a logical position.

  ME—Common abbreviation for medical examiner, the physician who determines the cause of death. By law, the ME must be at the crime scene of deaths due to suicide, accident, or homicide; any death under suspicious circumstances; sudden death when health was good; and convict deaths. The ME takes charge of any crime scene he or she is called to, and the body may not be removed without the ME’s permission. The body is then taken to the morgue, where an autopsy is performed.

  Mirandize—To warn a suspect before questioning that he or she has the right to speak with a lawyer and has protections against self-incrimination. The term was named for Ernesto A. Miranda, a man who was arrested in 1963 without his rights being read to him. He filed suit against the state of Arizona, and he was ultimately victorious in the U.S. Supreme Court, where his case was linked with four others. The decision has had a profound effect on law-enforcement procedures. Before making an arrest, every officer is now required to read the suspect his rights under the Miranda ruling, and if the suspect is not properly Mirandized by the officer—which sometimes happens—the suspect is sure to be set free by the courts.

  Point of origin—The point at which fire investigators determine a fire started. John Orr, the arsonist in Fire Lover, wrote a novel called Points of Origin.

  Post—Short for postmortem examination, or autopsy. The resulting report is called a protocol.

  Postmortem—After death.

  Pour patterns—Patterns along the path a fire takes that may indicate the use of an accelerant and arson. Arson investigation is a sophisticated job that requires lots of experience. After a fire, investigators look for details like pour patterns. For example, if they see evidence of a fire on one side of a room, no evidence of it in the middle, and evidence of fire on the other side, they will ask, “How did the fire get from one side of the room to the other without burning the middle area?” The obvious answer is that an accelerant was poured on one side of the room and then on the other to ignite two separate places.

  Probable cause—Reasonable assumption that someone committed a crime.

  Psychopathic personality—Vernon Geberth defines this type of person as “a person whose behavior is largely amoral and asocial and who is characterized by irresponsibility, lack of remorse or shame, perverse or impulsive (often criminal) behavior, and other serious personality defects, generally without psychotic attacks or symptoms.” That would seem to perfectly describe Jack Gilbert Graham, who blew up a plane on which forty-four people, including his mother, were traveling.

  Psychotic killer—A person who is driven to kill.

  Pyromania—A deep-seated behavior disorder that allows an arsonist to handle emo
tions such as anxiety, anger, a feeling of powerlessness, and revenge. The arsonist believes that fire gives him power.

  Rigor mortis—A term describing how the body goes rigid after death. Investigators use rigor mortis to identify time of death because the body goes stiff at a certain rate.

  S and M—Referring to sadism and masochism, although on a broader scale, the term relates to sexual interactions featuring sadistic and masochistic activities with one person the M and the other the S. John Robinson, the serial killer discussed in Chapter 5, was into this activity, but one can be sure he was quite vicious. The most famous practitioner of sadism was the Marquis de Sade, for whom this practice was named.

  Serial murder—The FBI defines serial murder as three or more killings with an emotional cooling-off period between the deaths. In the author’s opinion, some killers can be classified as serial killers even with just one or two murders behind them. The reason is that they have the potential for killing many more.

  Serology—Screening evidence for biological stains to determine if they are blood, saliva, semen, or other bodily fluids. Serology units apply enzymes, proteins, and antigens as a way of distinguishing biological samples from different people. In most crime labs, serology screenings are used to describe the steps taken before DNA testing is done.

  Torch—A professional arsonist. He or she can start a fire and burn a place down so that even the most sophisticated fire marshal won’t be able to tell the blaze was set on purpose.

  Trace material—The physical minutiae that are exchanged or deposited when two objects impact. The word derives from the sense that traces of material are deposited when objects meet with some force. For example, when a car hits someone, there typically is physical evidence from the victim, such as fibers and hair, on the car and physical evidence from the car, such as paint and lens material, on the victim. Such evidence can be very important because it is physical and missing sections can be fit into gaps. Many state and local departments do not have forensic labs large enough or sophisticated enough to analyze trace material so they call on the FBI, which has state-of-the-art equipment and well-trained technicians.