www.justiceforchandra.com

[rd]

from RR via email. This is very interesting, I should drop by and talk to these folks sometime. There was a post in the past somewhere on the group mentioned in here. These are former FBI, I had read that Chandra's case was given to the FBI's Cold Case team. Never heard a peep more about them doing anything. Maybe these guys have an opinion.:

from ModBee (fair use)

Comments from sregor drahcir:

This might be worth putting on your site somewhere ... maybe their services are being used
on CL case.
------------------------------------------------------------


Swamped police get help with cases gone cold

Published: Saturday, September 6th, 2003

By VICKI SMITH, Associated Press

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) - Some of the nation's best, but little known, forensic scientists will offer free or discounted help to short-staffed police departments faced with mounting cold case loads.

About 200,000 murders have gone unsolved in the United States since 1960, and crime statistics show that each year cold cases grow by about another 6,000.

Max Houck and colleagues with the newly formed Institute for Cold Case Evaluation aim to slow that accumulation, providing police with free or discounted assistance from at least two dozen of the country's top behind-the-scenes forensic scientists.

'They're not publicly known names,' Houck said Thursday. 'They spend more time in the lab than in front of the camera, but these are the people who really do the work.'

Police often get recognition from victims' families, while the lawyers get recognition at trial, Houck said. But it's the scientists who often get what's needed to nail a conviction.

Houck, a forensic anthropologist who worked at the FBI crime lab in Washington, D.C., created the nonprofit ICCE through a business incubator program at West Virginia University, where he now teaches.

The institute will begin seeking clients next week in Las Vegas at a convention of the International Association of Homicide Investigators, eventually pairing them with experts who review cases.

Though more police departments are forming cold case squads, most of the nearly 18,000 nationwide still lack the manpower. Those that have squads have varying resources, Houck said.

In some, several officers work full-time on unsolved cases.

'At other agencies, they just take the last retiree, hire him back as a contractor and give him a desk and a phone because that's all they have,' he said. 'Then they put a stack of files in front of him ... with no resources.'

Often, an investigator develops a new lead, identifies a suspect and gathers evidence 'through sheer pluck and determination,' then gets it to a lab, Houck said.

However, 'This is not going to be high on the lab's list of priorities,' he said. 'This just goes into the queue.'

The ICCE can help by recommending another expert or a private lab to examine physical evidence.

'We have a very broad stable of experts to choose from,' with expertise in everything from firearms and pathology to entomology, Houck said.

The institute also has a Web site and information center, with a free electronic newsletter and secure chat rooms where investigators can swap stories and suggestions.

'They're not talking to each other now, mainly because they don't know each other exists,' Houck said.

The Web site also will let the public search through cases and make donations that will help fund the investigations to solve them.

Business Director John Paul Jones said the ICCE is similar to the Philadelphia-based Vidocq Society, an exclusive group of experts that meets monthly to tackle an unsolved case at no charge.

But the ICCEE is more ambitious, hoping to handle at least 10 cases a month instead of one or two, Jones said. As demand grows, the institute will likely add more experts, all with carefully evaluated credentials.

end quote

[fallout]

RD and Sir Sreg!

ICCE and the Vidocq people are wonderful indeed but there is still something we can contribute even if it not based on experience with police investigations.

There is room for the opinions of independant-minded civilians with an interest in finding out the truth.

Please bear in mind that we are the wild cards in any of these investigations; from Chandra to 9/11, Anthrax, Laci Peterson or the death of David Kelly ( who was an instructor at the symposium in England from which Steven Hatfill was accused of sending a fake Anthrax letter).

There's so much more that the guilty guys don't want us to know.

Please take a look at the current issue of Vanity Fair in which two articles about George Bush and the Bin Ladens and the Anthrax Case appear. The Anthrax Case article misses and then misrepresents several facts and tries to pin it all on Hatfill. The Bush/Bin Laden article tells us nothing substantive beyond what is generally known. They have both been "Dumbed Down" for fear of retribution. A magazine needs its money. We don't! Well, at least we don't need to get money from advertisers.

On the weekend before the anniversary of 9/11 we were offered the Showtime movie about the "heroics" of GB on 9/11.

Reserving judgement until the Tivo kicks in!

Cheers to y'all independant minded folks. Don't let 'em fool ya.

James

[benn]

I got this from one of these articles.

ON THE NET

Institute for Cold Case Evaluation: http://www.wvu.edu/icce/

West Virginia University: http://www.wvu.edu/forensic/index.htm

Also this came from a pdf booklet USING DNA TO SOLVE COLD CASES...


>>>The older a case is, the more difficult it
may be to locate witnesses. However,
early identification of victim and witness
availability may ultimately save significant
resources. Consultation with prosecutors
is mandatory when considering whether a
witness would be necessary at trial.

all criminal investigations, chain-of-custody
issues are critical to maintaining the
integrity of the evidence. In all cases, the
ultimate ability to use DNA evidence will
depend on the ability to prove that the
chain of custody was maintained.
Statutes of limitation
One of the first issues to address when
reviewing an unsolved case is whether
the statutes of limitation on a case have
run out. Several considerations arise when
addressing a statute of limitation issue.
the crime. Exceptions also exist for cases
in which child victims are assaulted by a
family member, which can be valuable in
the context of a current investigation.
Victim and witness
considerations
Another important consideration to be
made early in the process is the willing-ness
of victims and witnesses to proceed.
Although many victims may continuously
monitor the progress of their It should not be
assumed that
victims and wit-nesses
are still
interested in pur-suing
the case.
Whenever pos-sible,
enlist the
aid of victim
service providers.<<<

Hummmm wonder if California has some cold case dna workers in the vicinity of Modesto...

benn

[benn]

Neither one of those urls work. Maybe they were printed prematurely, and will start working soon.

benn

[rd]

I guess the article did say it was newly formed. mayland missing http://www.marylandmissing.com has a cold case section. Maybe the ICCEE will register here as a user also. Great to have them all aboard to participate.

rd