Homicide Case Study

Introduction

Homicide is the act of one individual killing the other one. There are various categories of homicides crimes, including justifiable homicide and manslaughter. A case study of homicide case that entails crime scenes sketches, various evidence at the scene and the end results of the particular analysis. It also contains photos of the scene initial and follows up investigative results and a list of investigative contact and suspects. A report was obtained on date 11/3/00 at 0530 hours in 9170 old Annapolis Road Columbia, MD 21045. The victim of the crime was called Ashley Nicole Smith. In addition, there were two suspects of the crime, namely Scotts Jory Jones and Fredrick James Johnson. The main aim of this report is to address the issues and challenges of the analysis, evidence and the investigative contacts and suspects.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The incident of the crime is a homicide crime, which occurred on date 11/3/00 at 0530 hours. The venue of the crime was at Old Annapolis Road in Columbia. The name of the victim was Ashley Nicole Smith. There were two individuals who were suspected to have committed the crime, namely, Scott Jory Jones and Fredrick James Johnson. The deceased was found by two truck drivers in a wooded place behind old Annapolis road in Columbia. The first patrol officers confirmed the victim was dead o9f deceptive stabs. The officers established a tip on anyone who would give information about the where about of the suspects. For a period of two weeks, the investigators conducted a series of the investigation so as to obtain a led to the actual suspects of the crime.

Towards the end of that particular month, three tips were received that led the investigators to two suspects who were residents of the grand senior community. Once the suspects got into the police custody, they were asked several questions which lead to each of them being charged with a different level of crime. One of them was charged with the first degree of murder while the other was charged with a second degree of murder but later on, he was charged with first-degree murder. Concerning the crime scene, it was clear that the police officers were notified at 1046hours and at 1051 hours they arrived at the scene of the crime. The entire crime act took place at the woody area behind the parking lot of pizza hut restaurant, which was located on Bendix Road.

The names of the officers were as follows; primary investigator was called Glen Case, the secondary investigator was Brook Donovan, the CID supervisor was by the name David Schickner, the crime lab technicians were; Dough Reed, Jim Roeder, and Steven Swann and finally the people who reported were two and their names were, William Joseph and Invin Louse. The initial patrol response stated that, as the Howard patrol units were in their usual patrol they remitted to a woody area behind Old Annapolis Road, for the disclose of a female and she appeared to be dead. Police officer Malcolm responded immediately, thereafter he met with Fornoff and William who were truck drivers for standard medical imaging.

The truck drivers reported that in an attempt to make U-turn in the parking lot behind the building, they saw a large red puddle which the first impression was fresh blood. Later on, they discovered a partially clothed victim lying in the woods. As such, Malcolm was led to the scene and he discovered the body was of a white woman who was partially clothed. The face and the neck of the victim were covered in blood. Immediately a crime parameter was established by the officers and various investigative measures were carried out. A good number of investigators, forensic technicians, and the mobile command post responded to the scene with the immediate effect. Malcolm maintained the crime scene security with the help of a barrier tape and other police officers who were in uniforms.

Furthermore, several investigative steps and strategies followed thereafter. On 11/03/00 at 1330hours, the investigative officer who was on duty at that particular time was contacted by Prozeralik who advised on the incident. The senior investigator arrived in good time and at 1445 he had arrived at the scene, where they found Schickner and Fishers from the violent and crime section. Their conclusion on the case is that the victim had not yet been identified, this called for patience as more investigative measures were being administered. Besides, they observed that the technicians were not yet done with the examination and administering through processing of the scene. A police helicopter was used to record a video and take photos of the crime.

It was clear that there were several evidence materials which had been collected from the scene which included, two black caps, which were reported to have been found around the victim's body. Also, the body of the victim had been re-examined by the forensic examiner D masters who was from the office of the chief medical examiner. The department of the criminal procedure law assigned Schicker as the basic investigator of the incidence. In addition, they also gave him direction to where the crime had taken place, it is in this place where the victim's body lied. They observed a pool of blood which was observed to be fresh. The blood had spread over a large area. Besides, they found, two drag masks from the paddle of blood. The victim was a young white lady who was found lying on the ground and she had been stabbed on the arm.

Following the lawful measures, her body had already been reserved and there was the presence of rigor but it was not fixed. After the department examined her body, there were several stabs on her neck and abdomen. Further examination on the deceased revealed that she had been stabbed once in her upper back. The victim was wearing a blue bra, with a light blue t-shirt which was rolled up. Further examination, revealed that only two stabs penetrated through it. One of the stab cut through the upper back and the other one through the collar at the tip of the throat. As such, the victim's shoes and pants were not located at the scene of the crime. Further, they found two neoprene skull caps which were tied together. The caps lied in a stone throw away distance from the victim's body.

Furthermore, there was a thorough search at the area of crime in search of the weapons but none was found. The weather at the scene and the entire discovery process was clear and mild with an average temperature of the 50s. So far, there was no form of victim identification, as such, an attendance register for the local high schools was conducted. The youth section recalled a report that said Crystal Smith had lost her daughter Ashley Smith, who had snuck from her house the previous night. She reported that she found Ashley missing when she went to wake her for school the following morning. After thorough interrogation of the victim's parent. Later on, fingerprints were taken from Ashley's bedroom and they revealed that Ashley Smith was the victim.

An interview was conducted in order to obtain some information from Mrs. Smith who was the mother of the deceased. For the reason of being her distressed, a brief interview was conducted. She made it clear that Ashley had run away from home on that morning of 11/2/00, where afterward she found her in the afternoon and she brought her home. Mrs. Smith advised that they went to the respective bedrooms at 23hours. The following morning Ashley's mother found her missing and she took an act of calling. The report of Ashley missing was taken by Brocolino, who took the report but they all assumed she would come back as usual. This resulted in her failure to make a formal missing person report to the nearest police station.

Mrs. Smith reported that they had been living in their townhouse with her daughter. Moreover, Mrs. Smith had a son and she had separated with her husband three years ago and the divorce had been finalized. Besides, Mrs. Smith informed on Ashley's best friend who was called, Heather Thomas. She added that Ashley and heather came from school together every day and her parents would pick her from her house later. As such, she guided that Heather probably would know who Ashley was with before she met her death. She advised that Ashley's boyfriend lived in the area too. Mrs. Smith added information concerning Ashley's other friends who she was aware of. As a result of Ashley's recent misbehaviors, she had been prohibited from using the telephone.

In the events of interviewing Mrs. Smith, one of the officers from the criminal procedure law requested Donovan to record every incoming and outgoing call from their home telephone. They documented a number of everyone who had called, names, dates and the times of every number that called prior to the discovery of the incident. Mrs. Smith reported that after discovering Ashley was missing the previous time, she began looking for her and later on she found her with a white boy by the name Kyle. She immediately lends Ashley into the car and they drove back to home. When she asked her daughter of who the boy was and where she had been for the night, she said that they had gone for a walk and later on they walked to the home of a friend, where she fell asleep suddenly and she decided to spend the night.

An interview was conducted with Heather Thomas who was the best friend to Ashley. The interview took place at her home in Rika road in Elkridge. However, the parents of Heather were present during the interview. In order to obtain clear information from her, she was not told whether Ashley had passed on nor had her name been released to the social media. The investigating detectives, questioned her as if they were questioning for a runaway report. Due to serious disturbance from Heather's younger sister, the venue of the interview was changed to the northern district police station. Before being ferried to the station Heather smelt a rat and that when the detectives revealed to her that her best friend Ashley had died. This made her break into tears. The interview was tape recorded and Heather revealed that Ashley had been hanging out with her new friends, Kristen Williams, and Jason Phelps.

The criminal procedure law officials were advised that there was a reckless vehicle which was seen leaving the scene of the crime in that particular evening before the incident. Inside the car, were two young black men; additionally, other friends of the victim were interviewed, after that, the victim's mother was interview, and she gave the order in which the events took place before the death of Ashley. Heather the best to Ashley was interview once again, and she provided some information which was fundamental for the search of the suspects. Phelps was Ashley's boyfriend, and he was among the suspects, he voluntarily presented himself to the district of criminal procedure law. After several questions from the detectives, he denied having been involved in Ashley's murder. Investigators began a thorough search and later on they discovered a knife on Bendix road. Later on, a DNA test was carried to identify the owners of the knife.

In a tip which had been offered, someone called and gave the information on Fredrick and Scott Jones, besides she gave the direction and the location of the two suspects. After severe investigations, the two suspects were charged with first-degree murder. There are various things I have learned in class and were applied in the homicide case - for example, factors and measures to consider when searching and examining the major case crime scene. The detectives and the investigators at the scene have lawfully utilized those factors like they never moved nor altered the position of the body. In any crime scene, the investigators must be accompanied by a photographer, which was applied to the latter by the detectives and the investigators at th...