Murder Investigations

When you read the account of a murder – or, say, a fiction story based on murder – you usually begin with the murder itself. That’s all wrong. The murder begins a long time beforehand.
Agatha Christie, Towards Zero.

Murder investigations follow a standard procedure unless the crime has unusual suspects. There are specific steps that need to be in place to ensure the success of the procedure. The first stage of a murder investigation involves responding to the call. The stages have to be followed to the later as it is the recommended steps as per the book. Efforts from members of the investigations unit are precious to ensure the smooth running of the whole process.

The responding officer plays a pivotal role in ensuring the preservation of the crime scene. Once the crime department has been informed about the crime, the responding officers are mandated to respond immediately to the crime scene safely and diffuse any situation that will interfere with investigations. The responding officer sets off and assess the environment and evaluating the condition of the victim. While assessing the environment, details about the setting of the scene should be documented as they are. The location of the victim, objects found within the environment, individuals present at the scene, the weather condition and the time of arrival. All these details are considered vital since they can change the evaluations of the murder. The responding officer is also responsible for securing the crime scene. The crime scene is susceptible to various interruptions such as suspects, unattended weapons and fire, chemicals, electrical wires and any dangerous interference. Responding officers are subjected to scanning the area and discover these potential risks. After establishing these risks, if help is required, responsible people are requested to attend to the matter.

It is expected of the responding officer to save a life if an emergency situation presents itself. Medical assistance should be provided to an injured victim or suspect at the scene. Once the crime scene is secured and the scene declared safe, Investigations team set off to begin the investigations. At the department critical analysis and planning has to be to ensure the process unfolds successfully. Confidentiality is mandatory as matters of the case should only be disclosed to relevant parties to the case. The investigations department is required to ensure privacy. Information about the progress of the case cannot be given to any individual. In the matter of interviews, specific parts are disclosed to witnesses and suspects during questioning but not the whole case information. The department is also responsible for arranging protection measures for the victim’s family members and also the neighborhood. This is due to reasons of continued harassment and retaliation from the masterminds behind the murder. This step is necessary to avoid the occurrence of similar cases in the area.

The investigations department decides on various investigators who are fit to handle the case. A specific guideline is used to pick the best investigators as everyone is not equipped to conduct murder investigations to their best. The investigator must have competencies such as attention to detail and should not be biased in work. The ability to critically analyze witness feedback should also be among the skills as one can discover a loophole in their statements.With the right to the team to begin the investigations, the head of the department consequently prepares a viable plan that will be followed. The plan comprises the witness names, the potential suspect and the sample questions that will be used during the interview. This layout of ideas gives investigators an idea of what the next step should be. It also helps in the organization of work among the investigators. The sample interview questions, enable the investigator in charge of the task to prepare before the session with the suspects and witnesses.

“Crime scene investigation and reconstruction , suggests that documenting the crime scene takes place from the beginning when the responding officer reached the crime scene. This is very critical to a murder case as the documentation is presented in court to ensure the investigations were not altered in effect to doctor the results of the crime. The document referred to as the Murder Book is composed of steps followed by investigators on the crime scene. Findings are also recorded. A sketch of the crime scene in its initial state and after is also recorded in the book. Details regarding the witnesses and suspects statements is included. Consequently, records of photographs and videos are added in the murder book to enable transparency in the interpretation of the crime scene.

The timeline of events is significant during investigations. The already available witnesses provide the police with information on how events occurred before the murder. The aim of detectives is to get it right which would lead to solving the crime. Hence, the team should make use of suspects and witnesses information so as to open the avenues and not close the avenues for further investigation. Information to be included on the timeline includes the victim’s life during her last days. This ensures the investigator has familiarized with the deceased hence some understanding. The detectives need to know the friends and relatives of the victim as well as those she was last seen with. The habits of the victim are also crucial during the investigation. Hence, in the case of Teresa Sievers, the investigators have to know the professional life of the victim. This follows by meeting the family members and in this case the husband.

During the investigation, everything at the scene has to be considered as evidence. This is why a team of professionals has to be hired. The deceased body as a whole to the position of furniture in the scene are treated as evidence. The scene has to be processed systematically to determine the crucial evidence which are items belonging or not part of the scene. This is the first step in solving the crime since it involves the collection of fingerprints and DNA from the murder weapons. This step includes determining the placement of objects.

Once the evidence has been collected, proper preservation methods have to be considered to avoid contamination of evidence. A murder case can last up to ten years before the problem is solved or can last a mere 48 hours. Therefore perseverance is also vital. In solving murder cases, time is a major factor .Despite the 48 hours rule during a murder case, longer time periods can influence the investigation of a murder case. However, the availability of technology has proven to be useful during investigation despite the time issue. In a case where DNA is unavailable, the suspect can either be included or excluded in the investigation which occurs years later since the technology can help out. Again, time is a factor since as years go by relationships and friendships tend to end hence conscience grows and loyalties change. Cold case detectives are well aware of this since they interview their witnesses 10 to 20 years later after the crime occurred. This has proven to yield astounding results. For some cases, investigators get a hint of what happened years later. Witnesses can also gain the courage to provide information later on after regaining their conscience on wanting to help out in solving the case.