The evidence against Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing was overwhelming specifically the forensic evidence. Forensic investigators recovered McVeigh’s fingerprint from a receipt for two thousand pounds of a basic explosive ingredient called ammonium nitrate (Saferstein, 2015). Furthermore, investigators located PETN residue on the clothes McVeigh was wearing on the day of the bombing, and PETN is a component of detonating cord (Saferstein, 2015). The forensic evidence was vital in the conviction and execution of McVeigh, but the piece of evidence that lead investigators to McVeigh was located underneath the rubble of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building. Consequently, as investigators were sorting through the destroyed federal building, they located the rear axle of the Ryder rental truck used to transport the 4,800-pound bomb (Gorman, …show more content…
The Ryder truck’s rear axle possessed a vehicle identification number, which was traced to a location in Junction City, Kansas, where the truck was rented under McVeigh’s alias Robert Kling (Saferstein, 2015). Also, the rental agreement and McVeigh’s driver license both used the address of McVeigh’s co-conspirator Terry Nichols (Saferstein, 2015). The body shop’s employees and the FBI generated a composite drawing of the suspect, who was quickly identified as Timothy McVeigh (FBI, n.d.). Also, approximately ninety minutes after the bombing, McVeigh was arrested eighty miles north of Oklahoma City, which coincides with the bombings timeline (FBI, n.d.). The forensic evidence coupled with the circumstantial evidence and eyewitness accounts were more than ample to implicate McVeigh as the mastermind of this horrendous
In unit six we learned about anthropology and entomology and how forensic scientist use it different cases. Even though entomology was not that useful in The Oklahoma bombing case, anthropology was extremely useful for identifying the victims. Since it was an explosion, Forensic anthropologist had to study different remains of the victim's body and use different techniques (such as examining bone development) to identify who they were. For example, the death toll was originally 169 people (one person higher) than it is now because of an unidentified left leg was found and they couldn’t find the body it originally came from. Later, medical examiners compared the size of the tibia of the leg to other victims right leg. Finally forensic found
Even though the prosecution presented evidence to the court, the only clear-cut hard fact the prosecution had against Anthony was that she failed to file a report for her missing daughter Caylee and that when she finally did a month after her daughter had gone missing, she proceeded to lie profusely to the authorities on the events that took place. The prosecution focused highly on the forensic evidence of decay located in the trunk of Casey Anthony’s car. The use of a cadaver dog to search the vehicle led investigators to be able to determine that a decomposing body had been stored in the trunk of the car. The forensics department used an air sampling procedure on the trunk of Casey Anthony’s car, also indicating that human decomposition and traces of chloroform were in-fact present. Multiple witnesses described what they considered to be an overwhelming odor that came from inside the trunk as it where the prosecution believes Caylee’s decomposing body was stowed. Several items of evidence were ruled out to be the source of the odor, as experts were able to rule out the garbage bag and two chlorine containers located in the trunk as the source. The prosecution alleged that Casey Anthony used chloroform to subdue her daughter and then used duct-tape to seal the nose and mouth of Caylee shut, inevitably causing her to suffocate. Based off the
McVeigh to the crime…” (LA Times). This evidence includes a pair of ear buds recovered from McVeigh after he was detained for operating a vehicle without a license plate and possession of a concealed weapon. It is the intent of the prosecution to show that the ear buds contained trace amounts of pentaerythritol tetranitrate which is often found at the site of bombings as well as nitroglycerin and ethylene glycol dinitrate, which are used in high explosives and the production of dynamite (LA
Embar-Seddon, A., & Pass, A. D. (2009). World Trade Center Bombing. In Forensic science (3rd ed., pp. 1028-1031). Pasadena, California: Salem Press.
The Process of Identification The eyewitness in this article, Mr. Gauci, was first questioned on 1 September 1989, about 9 months after the purchase, and was shown the clothing that was in the suitcase with the explosive in the plane. The shopkeeper recognized the pattern of the clothing and remembered there had been a man who came into the store sometime in the winter of 1988 and bought several pieces of clothing. He described the event and said that after the man was done shopping, he went out and opened an umbrella because it had been raining and then the shopper and the man took the things out to a taxi. Mr. Gauci mentioned how the man was about 6ft tall or more and spoke Libyan.
Crime is a common public issue for people living in the inner city, but is not limited to only urban or highly populated cities as it can undoubtedly happen in small community and rural areas as well. In The Real CSI, the documentary exemplified many way in which experts used forensic science as evidence in trial cases to argue and to prove whether a person is innocent or guilty. In this paper, I explained the difference in fingerprinting technology depicted between television shows and in reality, how DNA technology change the way forensics evidence is used in the court proceedings, and how forensic evidence can be misused in the United States adversarial legal system.
Mr. Rahami, age 28, was at the incident on that night. He was reported, holding a duffel bag. Authors of the CNN article states, “Surveillance video shows a man believed to be Rahami dragging what appears to be a duffel bag with wheels near the site of the West 23rd Street explosion about 40 minutes before the blast, according to multiple local and federal law enforcement sources. About 10 minutes later, surveillance video shows the same man with the same duffel bag on West 27th Street, multiple law enforcement sources said. In the video, the man leaves the duffel bag where police later found the unexploded pressure cooker. After he leaves, the video shows two other men removing a white garbage bag believed to contain the pressure cooker from the duffel bag and leaving it on the sidewalk, according to a senior law enforcement official and another source familiar with the video”(Perez, Prokupecz, Grinberg, Yan 2-3). Reporters claimed he was the one carrying all of the ‘bombs’. The bag contained 5 explosives. In the New York Times newspaper, the author states, “The location is about a half-mile from where Mr. Rahami lives”().That means he doesn’t live too far from where the bombing took
On Thanksgiving evening, November 27, 1992, Sergeant Kenneth Mathison and his wife Yvonne drive their 1988 tan Ford van along Route 131 in Hilo, Hawaii. The rain is pouring down and before he knows it, Kenneth Mathison is awaiting police assistance as he cradles his wife’s dead body in the back of their van. Mathison, a sergeant of 25 years with the Hilo Police Department was allegedly informing his wife, a maternity nursing professional at the Hilo Medical Center, that he was being investigated in his second paternity suit. According to Mathison, when Yvonne heard the news, she jumped from the passenger side of the van. While he was looking for her in the blinding rain, Mathison purportedly ran over his wife. He then carried the body into the van and secured it with yellow rope in the back before attempting to find help. Will the forensic evidence support Mathison’s account of that fateful evening?
On Wednesday, November 16, 2011, Katherine Stang, Aresh Kabirnavaei, and Andrew Roller, all students in the Master’s of Forensic Science program gave thesis presentations to the Forensic Seminar Class. The following paragraphs will summarize each topic.
Jonsson, P. (2013, May 10). Unexpected twists in case of deadly blast at Texas fertilizer plant.
Rape, murder, theft, and other crimes almost always leave a devastating mark on the victim. More often than not, it would be impossible to identify the perpetrator a crime without forensic science and the technology it uses. Forensic science allows investigators to unmask the secrets of the crime scene. Evidence gathered at the crime scene helps to identify the guilty party, murder weapon, and even the identity of the victim (Harkawy, 1991: 276). The new technologies enables the forensic experts to have better and faster access to accumulated information, to be more accurate in the identification of victims or delinquents, and minimizes the possibility of wrongful accusations. New technology has improved the methods and techniques that forensic scientists and law enforcement investigators use, in order to provide a safer environment for other people. Information technology is one of the most important aspects in forensic science. It is very important for the forensic experts to receive the undisturbed evidence, such as fingerprints left at the crime scene, as quickly as possible, for more accurate readings. Thus using space technology, such as satellite communication, enables the forensic experts to "gather and digitize evidence at the crime scene, enter it into an on-site computer, and beam the data to a crime lab for swift analysis" (Paula, 1998: 12). Therefore, due to the use of this technology, forensic experts in laboratories can examine the evidence in short time, and the possibility of damage or unlawful manipulation of the evidence before the trial is minimal (Paula, 1998: 12). More often than not, "criminals" wear gloves at the time of the crime, thus to obtain a fingerprint...
In today’s time, modern Crime Scene Investigation has increased rapidly. From throughout the late 1900’s and in the early 2000’s (Taylor 1). For all of the evidence that they find, a solid foundation has formed over the thousands of years of Crime Scene
Andrus, R., Bailey, J., Sprague, T., Springer, F., Tulleners, F., Wiersema, S., et al. (n.d.). Crime Scene
Gaensslen, R. E., Harris, H A., & Lee, H. (2008). Introduction to Forensic Science and Criminalistics. New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. .
Forensic science has now been recognized as an important part of the law enforcement team to help solve crimes and cold cases. The advances in technology are being used each day and we must continue to strive to develop better advances in this field. The recent discovery of using DNA in criminal cases has helped not only positively identify the suspect, but it has helped exonerate hundreds of innocent individuals. “With new advances in police technology and computer science, crime scene investigation and forensic science will only become more precise as we head into the future.” (Roufa, 2017) Forensic science and evidence helps law enforcement officials solve crimes through the collection, preservation and analysis of evidence. By having a mobile crime laboratory, the scene gets processed quicker and more efficiently. Forensic science will only grow in the future to be a benefit for the criminal justice