Read Online The Forgotten Killer: Rudy Guede and the Murder of Meredith Kercher (Kindle Single) by Douglas Preston, John Douglas, Mark Olshaker, Steve Moore, Judge Michael Heavey, Jim Lovering, Thomas Lee Wright - Free Book Online
Authors: Douglas Preston, John Douglas, Mark Olshaker, Steve Moore, Judge Michael Heavey, Jim Lovering, Thomas Lee Wright
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science. Yet, they did not attempt to prove their theory by having the glass tested. Why not? They knew that such testing would destroy the story of the “staged break-in.”
Forensics
The Italian forensic investigators, to their credit, created an approximate two-hour videotape of the crime-scene investigation. Although later, they likely wish they hadn’t.
There are certain occupations whose personnel look so impressive and professional in their gear and uniforms that they appear infallible, impressive, and largerthan life. A surgeon in scrubs, an airline pilot in his headset and microphone, and an astronaut climbing into his spacecraft come quickly to mind. Their very appearance inspires awe and trust. They calm and reassure us. Forensic investigators in their “bubble suits” with their exotic equipment are just such people. “They’ve got tweezers and fluorescent lights—they
must
know what they’re doing!” But in reality, astronauts make the occasional mistake. Pilots make errors, doctors lose patients who might have survived, and forensic “experts” sometimes simply aren’t.
After watching the video of the Perugian forensic investigators, I can tell you that they
looked
like they knew what they were doing, but to the knowledgeable, they could have been the Keystone Kops. It would serve very nicely as a cautionary training film on how not to process a crime scene. Maybe even a comedy.
During the two hours, I witnessed investigators stepping in wet blood, then walking around and out of the house. This is the very definition of cross-contamination. I watched in amazement as they handled multiple pieces of crucial evidence without changing gloves. Again, cross-contamination.
Samples were collected and stored improperly. Wet blood was stored in airtight vessels against all current forensic standards. Multiple samples were collected with the same pair of tweezers, creating more cross-contamination. Very likely, more evidence was destroyed by this team than was collected.
When Is a Crime Scene Not a Crime Scene?
Something ceases to be a crime scene when:
1. All the potential evidence within it has been recovered, or
2. Itno longer has any evidentiary value and no longer contains admissible or valid evidence.
3. When the evidence tape goes down, and noninvestigators enter the site, it becomes a “former” crime scene. Nothing in that area can be considered admissible in a court of law anymore.
Yet Perugian police, six weeks after releasing the crime scene, returned to pick up items inexplicably uncollected by forensic “experts.” Things they failed to collect were mind-boggling: the victim’s purse with the killer’s handprints on it in blood. A scrap of the victim’s bra, apparently ripped off during the assault. That these were not collected during the first crime-scene processing is inconceivable and shakes one’s confidence in their basic skills.
The Interrogation That Never Was
When is an interrogation not an interrogation? When the “interrogator” is not really interested in obtaining information. This was the case when Amanda Knox’s final ordeal at the hands of the Perugian police began.
The word
interrogation,
ironically, comes from the Latin root word
interrogatus,
which means
to ask.
At no time in Amanda’s “interrogation” was she truly
asked
anything or was any
information
truly solicited. This interrogation was simply planned coercion to force her to say what the police needed her to say. No true interrogation took place. What took place bore more resemblance to the Inquisition than to an interrogation.
The 40-Hour Interrogation Week
How many hours do you work a week? If you’re like almost everybody, you work 40 hours in five days. In the five days after the murder of Meredith Kercher, detectives interrogated Amanda Knox for 43 hours. Think
Forensics
The Italian forensic investigators, to their credit, created an approximate two-hour videotape of the crime-scene investigation. Although later, they likely wish they hadn’t.
There are certain occupations whose personnel look so impressive and professional in their gear and uniforms that they appear infallible, impressive, and largerthan life. A surgeon in scrubs, an airline pilot in his headset and microphone, and an astronaut climbing into his spacecraft come quickly to mind. Their very appearance inspires awe and trust. They calm and reassure us. Forensic investigators in their “bubble suits” with their exotic equipment are just such people. “They’ve got tweezers and fluorescent lights—they
must
know what they’re doing!” But in reality, astronauts make the occasional mistake. Pilots make errors, doctors lose patients who might have survived, and forensic “experts” sometimes simply aren’t.
After watching the video of the Perugian forensic investigators, I can tell you that they
looked
like they knew what they were doing, but to the knowledgeable, they could have been the Keystone Kops. It would serve very nicely as a cautionary training film on how not to process a crime scene. Maybe even a comedy.
During the two hours, I witnessed investigators stepping in wet blood, then walking around and out of the house. This is the very definition of cross-contamination. I watched in amazement as they handled multiple pieces of crucial evidence without changing gloves. Again, cross-contamination.
Samples were collected and stored improperly. Wet blood was stored in airtight vessels against all current forensic standards. Multiple samples were collected with the same pair of tweezers, creating more cross-contamination. Very likely, more evidence was destroyed by this team than was collected.
When Is a Crime Scene Not a Crime Scene?
Something ceases to be a crime scene when:
1. All the potential evidence within it has been recovered, or
2. Itno longer has any evidentiary value and no longer contains admissible or valid evidence.
3. When the evidence tape goes down, and noninvestigators enter the site, it becomes a “former” crime scene. Nothing in that area can be considered admissible in a court of law anymore.
Yet Perugian police, six weeks after releasing the crime scene, returned to pick up items inexplicably uncollected by forensic “experts.” Things they failed to collect were mind-boggling: the victim’s purse with the killer’s handprints on it in blood. A scrap of the victim’s bra, apparently ripped off during the assault. That these were not collected during the first crime-scene processing is inconceivable and shakes one’s confidence in their basic skills.
The Interrogation That Never Was
When is an interrogation not an interrogation? When the “interrogator” is not really interested in obtaining information. This was the case when Amanda Knox’s final ordeal at the hands of the Perugian police began.
The word
interrogation,
ironically, comes from the Latin root word
interrogatus,
which means
to ask.
At no time in Amanda’s “interrogation” was she truly
asked
anything or was any
information
truly solicited. This interrogation was simply planned coercion to force her to say what the police needed her to say. No true interrogation took place. What took place bore more resemblance to the Inquisition than to an interrogation.
The 40-Hour Interrogation Week
How many hours do you work a week? If you’re like almost everybody, you work 40 hours in five days. In the five days after the murder of Meredith Kercher, detectives interrogated Amanda Knox for 43 hours. Think
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