Murder Call

The FBI model classifying offenders as disorganized, organized, or mixed was only the beginning of an effort to classify serial killers. Part of the problem is that there is no precise definition of insanity—doctors define insanity differently from courts of law. The insanity plea has existed in English jurisprudence since the reign of Henry III (1216–1272), when the king could commute a death sentence of an insane criminal if it was demonstrated that irrational behaviour was not unusual for the person in the past. In such cases, the prisoner would often end up being confined in a monastery. In the next century the plea was moved into the regular appeals process, no longer requiring the king’s authority. In 1581 legal authorities were arguing what a test of insanity should consist of in law, settling upon “knowledge of good and evil” as the test. In 1843, English jurisprudence developed the concept of insanity as a defense against charges of murder. A mentally ill m...

In regard to choice of weapons, handguns are used more often than rifles or shotguns. Traditionally, the preferred method used by women was an overdose of drugs. While most suicidal gunshot wounds are contact wounds, a small (1 to 3%) but significant number are of intermediate range. Most people who commit suicide with a firearm, like suicide victims in general, do not leave a note; notes are only left in approximately 25% of all suicides. Therefore, the absence of a note does not indicate that a death was not a suicide. In firearm deaths, the individual may attempt to make the suicide appear to be an accident. This generally takes two forms. The first of these is the “gun cleaning accident.” The individual is found dead of a gunshot wound with gun cleaning equipment neatly laid out beside them. The proof that one is dealing with a suicide and not an accident is usually the nature of the wound — contact. An individual does not place a gun against the head or chest and then p...

The correct handling of a death from gunshot wounds begins at the scene. Here valuable evidence on the body can be lost or altered and bogus evidence may be inadvertently introduced through mishandling of the body. Before a body is touched, its position and appearance should be documented photographically and diagrammatically. The most important rule at the scene is to handle the body as little as possible so as not to dislodge trace evidence that may be clinging to garments or to the body surface. Hands should never be pried open, and fingerprints should never be taken at the scene. Fingerprint ink can either mimic or obscure powder soot as well as introducing contaminating materials that may render subsequent examination of the hands for primer residues of questionable validity. Manipulation of the hands is of even greater potential danger if it is done by a police officer who, theoretically, can transfer primer residues from his hands to those of the deceased....