Office 6; Investigation ReportGlasgow Caledonian University

University of West Florida2012

MURDER AT JEFFERSON FALLS

INTRODUCTION• Following the discovery of two bodies (Kate Castle and Jack Booth) at Jefferson

Falls, a team of Police Officers were brought together to solve the murder case.

• Throughout the weeks of the project, various tasks were issued to the team via Muster reports, which, once carried out, helped the team solve the case.

• Individual tasks and group tasks were issued on a weekly basis.

• The team distributed the roles and a Senior Investigating Officer was nominated to over see the completion of each task.

• Office 6 consisted of 5 students from Scotland, 2 from Florida, 1 from Michigan and 1 from Illinois.

TEAM ROLES• Senior Investigating Officer (SIO): responsible for supervising the team and making sure the work

for each week is completed. If an agreement on a matter can’t be made, then the SIO will make the final decision. The SIO is also responsible for submitting weekly reports to the Chief of Police. Officer: Nikki Raeside

• Forensic Team: responsible for examining photos of the crime scene to determine what evidence the crime scene contains. This role is important because the investigation depends on the quantity and quality of the evidence collected. Officers: Karen Ferguson and Rachel Thomson

• Public Relations: gathering information about a particular matter and deciding what to inform the public about. Officer: Emma Fulton

• Medical Examiners: examining the photos of the victims and deciding the cause of death, as well as, determining the type of weapon used if possible. Officers: Debbie McGlinchey and Taylor Duncan

• Internal Affairs Division: investigate complaints against law enforcement personnel and take action if appropriate. Officer: Brad Bly

• Investigation Team: responsible for determining which suspect committed the crime. This team will work closely with the forensics team and medical examiner to gather needed information in determining which suspect is responsible for the crime; interviewing witnesses is also part of this role. Officers: Micheal Higgins and Stacey Moskal

WEEKLY TASKS• Week 1: Individual Responsibility-write an introduction/share a bit about yourself.

share a case study from your local region Group Responsibility-nominate Senior Investigating Officer (SIO)

• Week 2: Individual Responsibility-share legal definition of murder, homicide and manslaughter from your own region Group Responsibility-examine the crime scene and write a descriptive paragraph about the Forensic Team’s initial observations

• Week 3: Individual Responsibility-fulfil role Group Responsibility-Investigating Team evaluate victim information and Medical Examiner’s complete medical examiner reports Public Relation’s respond to journalist’s questions

• Week 4: Individual Responsibility-fulfil role Group Responsibility-Internal Affair’s Division construct internal affairs report Public Relation’s design a press release to calm the public

• Week 5: Individual Responsibility-fulfil role and contribute to final Powerpoint demonstration Group Responsibility-write a final report on your investigative findings to tell the story of what happened at Jefferson Falls

THE VICTIMS JACK BOOTH KATE CASTLE

• Male, aged 32• Has meager wealth tied up

in rental properties• Known for being a pillar of

the Jefferson Falls community

• Lived and worked in the community his whole life

• Married 10 years to Angela Booth, one adolescent child

• Aside form two driving convictions, no criminal history

• Secret gambling addiction often results in significant debt

• Female, aged 31• Has lived and worked in

the Jefferson Falls community her whole life

• Never married and no children

• Angela Booth’s best friend

• Currently works in Human Resources at the local hospital

• Aside from speeding citations, spotless criminal record

• Has secretly been having an affair with Angela Booth

THE SCENE

FORENSIC TEAMKAREN FERGUSON AND

RACHEL THOMSON

• There are two cars in the driveway. There is no sign of forced entry into the house, this suggests that the perpetrator knew the victims in order to gain entry.

• In the bedroom there is a wine glass on the bedside table, on the other side another glass which appears to have lip stick on it. The significant amount of alcohol could indicate that those involved in the incident were intoxicated. It looks as though two people had been sitting in the bedroom as the bed covers were ruffled at the bottom of the bed.

• In the bathroom it looks as though there was a struggle, the toilet paper handle is broken. Mr Booth’s body was found partly clothed in the bath. There is only one bullet casing in the bathroom, and only one visible wound on Jack Booth, this could imply that he was in the bathtub when he was shot. Another explanation to support that he was the bathtub when he was shot is the blood coming from his mouth. The bullet likely pierced the left lung/bronchi, creating a ‘sucking chest wound’ and as a result, he probably would have been aspirating blood. The left lung is functionally useless because it can’t create negative pressure for it to operate. He probably would have been breathing (inadequately) and coughing up blood, which would also explain the random bits of blood along the side of the bath. There is no trail of blood to the bathroom to suggest he was placed there. Both victims have no cuts or scratches on their hands, suggesting no struggle with the attacker before they were shot. The shot wound on Mr Booth appears to be deep, suggesting he was shot within close range.

• Ms Castle was lying on her front, with a significant injury to her head. She sustained two gunshot wounds to her back, suggesting she was attacked from behind or was running away from someone. There was a separate spill of blood pictured although this isn't near her body – however after analysis the blood was found to belong to a female Ms Castle appeared to be wearing make-up including lipstick which could account for the lipstick on the glass in the bedroom. There is also what appears to be a wedding ring on her finger which is unusual as she had never been married. Ballistics will be able to conform the type of gun used and if all bullets came from the same gun. DNA analysis will be used to confirm who drank from the wine glasses. Fingerprints, fibre traces and blood analysis will also have to be carried out. There was a bullet found in bathroom, another found by the bedroom door, one found on the window ledge and a bullet found below the window. However there appears to be only three gunshot wounds to the victims.

INVESTIGATING TEAM

MEDICAL EXAMINER’SDEBBIE MCGLINCHEY AND

TAYLOR DUNCAN Analysis of the body of Kate Castle

• Preliminary Report of Investigation - Main Findings

1. Body Temperature 73 F/ 22.7c – Core 79.5F/26.4c

2. Rigor – stage 3 throughout body

3. Livor Colour – Purple

4. Weapon used – handgun (9mm caliber)

• Two possible causes of death - Gunshot wounds; abdomen (lower left of back) and shoulder (top right of back), - Head wounds (top right) blunt instrument used.

• Other findings - Time of death could be roughly between 7-9pm on 3 February 2012 based on the body temperature. - Possibly dead for around 12-14 hours before being found. - It is unclear if Kate was killed from gunshots or from being struck with a blunt instrument. - It is possible that the head injuries played a part in her death.

There were no weapons found at the crime scene and the blood found beside this body is inconsistent with victims blood.

MEDICAL EXAMINER’S DEBBIE MCGLINCHEY AND

TAYLOR DUNCAN Analysis of the body of Jack Booth

PUBLIC RELATION’S

INTERNAL AFFAIRS DIVISION

OFFICE 6: FINAL FINDINGS

INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS; NIKKI RAESIDE

• Initially with the wiki project, I put myself forward to be part of the Forensic Team. However, after lengthy discussion and putting myself forward for the role, I became the nominated Senior Investigating Officer (SIO). For me, the project overall has been an excellent and rewarding experience since I have never took part in such a task.

• I have really enjoyed working with all the team in Office 6 and thought we all got on well when carrying out each task. As well as this, since students from Florida, Illinois and Michigan were part of the team, I learned new things like legal definitions from their respective jurisdictions and got to read a case study from each place.

• Working with students from America and my own university enhanced my communication skills and I feel the project has significantly developed my leadership skills since it was my responsibility to oversee and make sure each weekly task was completed by the deadline. I enjoyed having direct contact with the police chief and passing on the positive comments from the chief to my team to let them know their hard work was helping solve the case. My time management skills have been further enhanced since the meeting of deadlines for each task was challenging due to time differences in Scotland and America.

• The thing I enjoyed the most was encouraging the team to fulfil their roles and meet deadlines, allowing me to then submit my weekly reports, which was a good feeling each week! My team never failed to let me down! I learned to take charge in what I would describe as a professional way and if an answer to an issue was needed, I’d like to think I provided one.

• What I found most challenging was the time differences between Scotland and America. As well as this, it would seem that some students are not in their final year of study, hence the completing the tasks to the highest standard possible was not as important to those in their final year of studies.

• Overall, I thoroughly enjoying completing the murder investigation and could not have been placed with a better team!

INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS;KAREN FERGUSON

INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS;RACHEL THOMSON

INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS;EMMA FULTON

INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS;DEBBIE MCGLINCHEY

INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS;TAYLOR DUNCAN

INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS;BRAD BLY

INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTION;MICHEAL HIGGINS

INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTION;STACEY MOSKAL