Forensic Sciences: Medical Detectives Part 4

When Darlie Routier awoke during the night to find herself confronted by an intruder and two of her children dead of multiple stab wounds, she roused her husband and called the police. In this program, detectives, a medical examiner, and an FBI agent use wound and blood spatter analysis, "amido black" and luminol testing for eradicated blood stains, behavioral profiling, and computerized analysis of the 911 call Darlie made to determine that the crime was actually an "inside job" and that Darlie herself was the murderer. (Instructional DVD 26 minutes)

The first notice that Scott Dunn’s father had of his son’s disappearance came via a call from Scott’s live-in girlfriend. Although a forensic investigation did indicate that foul play had occurred in Scott’s bedroom, without a body or a weapon the case stalled—until Scott’s father got in touch with the Vidocq Society of Forensic Scientists, which he’d learned about on an episode of 48 Hours. This program demonstrates that evidence of fatal blood loss gathered through luminol testing and blood analysis for DNA, spatter, and volume can constitute a "body" for the purpose of an indictment for murder. (Instructional DVD 26 minutes)

When the mansion of Dr. Debora Green and her separated husband burned to ashes, killing two of their three children, arson was immediately suspected. In this program, police investigators apply pyroanalysis, hair analysis, and old-fashioned questioning to link Debora to the crime—and toxicology to determine that she had been slowly poisoning her unfaithful husband with deadly castor beans as well. Faced with probable conviction, Debora confessed to all charges. (Instructional DVD 26 minutes)

Winnipeg police were both shaken and baffled when the horrifically mutilated body of Shirley Andronowich was discovered near a bar she and her husband had visited, her head crushed by a cement block and her body bitten. In this program, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and forensic specialists apply the principles of geology and odontology, along with DNA testing and fingerprinting, to refute her husband’s murder confession—and to convict her real killer, a dubious character who happened to be in the wrong place at the right time. (Instructional DVD 26 minutes)

When five-year-old Melissa Brannen disappeared from a Christmas party, the police immediately began tracing and questioning every guest. By the time they got to Cal Hughes’ house, it was 1:00 a.m., but they found him awake—and washing his clothes. In this program, detectives and forensic experts scrutinize the fiber evidence found in Hughes’ car, comparing it to an outfit identical to the one worn by Melissa and, as a control, to many other fiber samples. The results proved conclusive and Hughes, in the absence of the victim’s body, was sentenced to 50 years in prison for abduction with intent to harm. (Instructional DVD 26 minutes)

The wife of Robert Curley cumulatively poisoned her husband with thallium over the course of a year and nearly got away with murder—until an alert physician correctly identified Robert’s true condition, overturning an initial diagnosis of Guillain-Barré syndrome. In this program, doctors, police investigators, and forensic scientists apply toxicology and chemical analysis to a crime as clever as it was vicious, which led, five years later, to a plea-bargained conviction. (Instructional DVD 26 minutes)

Who was the sexual offender that murdered two adolescent boys in Nebraska? The key was the "junk rope" he used to tie his victims—rope made of odd scraps and mill sweepings. In this program, the police and the FBI use rope analysis, psychological profiling, forensic odontology, and even hypnosis to narrow their search to John Joubert, bringing a 116-day manhunt to a close. But the trail did not end there; the junk rope also tied him to a previous murder in Maine. Joubert was executed for his crimes. (Instructional DVD 26 minutes)

When Lori Keidel-Romaneck was five, she secretly witnessed her father burying her mother, Dianne, in a backyard grave, but was too frightened to tell the police until 29 years later. In this program, a police detective; a geophysicist from Necro Search International, a nonprofit investigation group; and a forensic anthropologist use ground-penetrating radar to locate the fossilized skeleton—hidden beneath a huge slab of concrete—and a photographic overlay of Dianne’s face and skull to identify the remains to within a 99.9 percent certainty. (Instructional DVD 26 minutes)

When Janice Johnson was found lying in a pool of blood at the foot of her basement stairs, the tragedy was ruled an accident—until circumstantial evidence caused the case to be reopened, leading to the imprisonment of her husband for murder. In this program, attorney James Lockyer, of the Association in Defense of the Wrongfully Convicted, calls in pathologists who postulate that Janice really did accidentally fall down the stairs—and prove their theory by having the scenario painstakingly reenacted by a young actress wearing a transom harness. (Instructional DVD 26 minutes)

Only one day after Mark Fair and his fiancée Karla Brown moved into their new home, Karla was found brutally murdered. This program focuses on the techniques applied by an FBI criminal profiler and two forensic odontologists: Dr. Homer Campbell, a computer imaging pioneer, and Dr. Lowell Levine, of Ted Bundy trial fame. They use forensic psychology to define the killer, image enhancement technology on a crime scene photo to reveal bite marks on the victim’s body, and forensic odontology to link the couple’s new next-door neighbor to Karla’s death. (Instructional DVD 26 minutes)

While her husband was out jogging, did Julie Thigpen Post really fall in the hotel bathtub, yanking a metal towel ring out of the bathroom wall, and drown? In this program, a skeptical homicide lieutenant, an industrial testing laboratory, an accident reconstructionist, an expert in metallurgy, and a medical examiner known as Dr. Death prove that the incident was really staged by her husband, Ed, who then took a fall of his own—for first-degree murder. (Instructional DVD 26 minutes)