Case Study Project: Ashley Nicole Smith’s Murder

Assessment of the Crime Scene 

The law enforcement officers must ensure that they seal and secure scenes of crime to prevent anyone from tampering with the evidence before conducting investigations. PFC. Malcolm has the responsibility of securing and maintaining the crime scene, as he is the first officer to respond to the emergency call. PFC. Malcolm receives assistance from other uniformed officers to prevent unauthorized individuals from interfering with the investigation at the crime scene as the officers waited for other investigators and specialist units. The investigating officials must start by assigning tasks to individual officers and adopting a plan of action for the investigation (Dutelle, 2016). In Ashley Nicole Smith’s case, Sgt. Schickner put D/CPL. Case in charge of the investigations into the events surrounding the victim’s murder and the culprits involved. 

Since the crime scene technicians had already initiated the investigation procedures and were almost through with their work, D/CPL Case focused on assessing the collected evidence and reports from the forensic examiner. Planning prior to conducting a full investigation into a homicide is vital in ensuring that the investigating team does not overlook any evidence that might assist in identifying the culprits. The location of objects, bloodstains, and positioning of the victim’s body helps providing clues on how the murder occurred. Some of the physical evidence collected by the investigators at the scene included the two dew rags from the suspects as well as several photographs and videos of the victim. An initial assessment of the secondary crime scene reveals that the murderers had killed the victim in the parking lot and dragged her body to the embankment. The presence of the large puddle of blood and small drops of blood that probably trickled from the victim while being hauled to the embankment support this observation. 

The positioning of Ashley Smith’s head and hands indicated that her murderers had dragged her on the ground by her ankles or feet after killing her. Thus, the investigators had a possible source of DNA to use in identifying the perpetrators of the crime. The fact that the victim’s eyes were shut indicates that Ashley Smith had died in a lot of pain and was helpless during the attack. A quick inspection of the body revealed that the victim had several stab wounds to her abdomen and neck. The stab wounds to her throat and upper back could have possibly incapacitated Ashley Smith and made her unable to defend herself from the attackers. Moreover, the absence of stab wounds to her upper extremities could suggest that someone held her hands back during the stabbing or the initial stab wounds had paralyzed her completely. The additional stab wounds inflicted on the victim after rolling up her shirt could have occurred after she had died or was too weak to fight back. The absence of the victim’s pants and shoes also indicate that someone had sexually assaulted Ashley Smith prior to the murder. 

Implementation of the Investigative Steps in Solving the Case

The first procedure when conducting a crime scene investigation is securing and protecting the area before the public or media interfere with the victims or evidence. Each law enforcement officer responding to a murder scene must focus on protecting and preserving the site of the homicide to avoid losing any evidence that might help in identifying the victims and perpetrators of the crime. In the current case, PFC. Malcolm has the responsibility of ensuring that the crime scene remains intact. The responding officer also has the duty of restricting movement into or out of the crime scene as well as interviewing any witnesses available at the scene or the persons who notified the police about the incident. The first people to question in Ashley Smith’s case would have been William Birmingham and Irvin Fornoff who saw the body before anyone else. However, the fact that Ashley Smith’s body and puddle of blood appeared to have been in the area for some time implied that the two drivers could not be considered persons of interest in the investigation. Thus, PFC. Malcolm could not retain the drivers for longer than was necessary. Another role of the first responding officers at the homicide scene is to initiate the process of solving the crime by contacting various authorities such as the crime scene investigators, forensic experts, and coroners. 

The second step in collecting the initial evidence from the crime scene is to conduct a preliminary survey of the area. However, the initial survey should not interfere with the available evidence at the scene of the crime (Dutelle, 2016). The investigators could begin by searching for any object or item that would help in revealing the probable identities of the felons. For example, the presence of the two dew rags suggests that the murderer was a man of Hispanic or African American background. The primary premise for such a hypothesis would be the fact that the number of African Americans and Latinos who wear the dew rags is greater than that of Caucasians, Natives, or Asian Americans. Thus, the presence of such evidence is vital in the preliminary investigation process. Other vital clues when conducting a walkthrough of the crime scene include the positioning of the victim’s body and the presence of any visible injuries to the body. Additionally, scrutinizing the surrounding area helps D/CPL Case in identifying that the killers murdered Ashley Smith in the parking lot and transported her body to the area. The photographs and videos of the crime scene are also important to D/CPL Case in solving Ashley Smith’s homicide. 

The third step in assessing the crime scene is determining physical evidence possibilities to determine when the murder occurred, how the murder happened, and the type of evidence expected from the area. For example, the investigators could scrutinize whether a struggle occurred during the crime, presence of footprints in the area, and the presence of a murder weapon. For instance, the presence of the blood puddle in the parking lot showed D/CPL Case someone killed Ashley Smith in a car or somewhere else before dumping her body in the embankment. As a result, the investigating officer has the necessary information that would allow him to retrieve vital information from Scott Jones during the later stages of the investigation. Additionally, the Chief Medical Examiner determined that the wounds on Ashley’s body resulted from a small knife as shown by the autopsy results. The information allowed D/CPL Case and the other officers to focus on identifying the knife used in the attack as a way of apprehending the suspects. Nonetheless, the National Center for Policing Excellence (2006) suggests that the investigators should not attempt to identify the victim by searching for identification documents from the body as this could destroy the needed physical evidence for the investigations. A vital assumption during the process of collecting evidence from the crime scene is that every item in the area can serve as potential evidence during the investigative process. 

The fourth step is preparing developing a narrative of the crime scene to serve as reference in the future. The crime scene investigators must understand that the notes registered in their logbooks are a crucial component of the physical evidence gathered from the crime scene. Prosecutors and defense attorneys can use the recorded information during trial, and this implies that the notes must take into account everything that the crime scene investigators observe at the murder scene. Consequently, the investigators should avoid any form of bias or speculation while taking the notes unless physical evidence is available to support their observations. For instance, the crime scene investigators can use photographs and video to record the murder scene and any possible physical evidence of the area. 

The fifth step in the investigative process is the preparation of rough crime scene sketches for use in preparing the detailed sketches in the later stages of the homicide investigation. Such sketches are helpful in recounting the events before, during, and after the homicide. The process involves collaboration with assistants and other law enforcement agencies at the crime scene to ensure that each physical evidence and measurement is accurate and verifiable. This helps in avoiding any questions or doubts that could invalidate trials in the future. Thus, the crime scene investigators must collect, package, and mark the retrieved evidence to avoid confusion. For example, Jones later provides samples of his head and pubic hair for comparison with the samples retrieved from Ashley’s clothes to determine if he had raped her. The investigators must use appropriate storage containers and avoid mixing the amassed physical evidence. The crime scene investigators should perform a final appraisal of the crime scene to ascertain that the investigation is complete and no container carrying evidence remains behind before leaving the scene or allowing other individuals to access it. After completing the process of evidence collection, D/CPL Case engaged in identifying the victim and notifying her next of kin about her demise. 

Information from the Witnesses and Suspects

Discussions with the victim’s mother suggest that Mrs. Smith had little control over her daughter and could not accurately monitor whom Ashley interacted with each day. For example, Mrs. Smith does not make sufficient inquiries into Ashley’s whereabouts when she goes missing the first time. Mrs. Smith does not take it upon herself to determine the truth in Ashley’s allegation when she says that she slept at Kristen Williams’ place. Furthermore, Mrs. Smith assumes that her daughter would come back the last time she goes missing. Mrs. Smith also could not identify the individuals who her daughter spoke to late at night over the phone. However, a background check on the calls received at Mrs. Smith’s premise by D/CPL Donovan helped in implicating Scott Jones as a possible suspect in the case. 

The interviews with Heather Thomas reveal that she is insincere about the information she offers D/CPL. Donovan and D/CPL. Case throughout the investigation. Crying during the first and second interviews could suggest that Heather knew what had happened to Ashley, but she was too afraid to inform the investigators. Heather demonstrates an unwillingness to disclose the identity of “Jay” who is a person of interest in the homicide investigation. The Voice Stress Analyzer Exam during the third interview with the investigators revealed that Heather was dishonest in her response. 

Jason Phelps does not offer adequate information that would have enabled D/CPL. Donovan and D/CPL Case in their investigations, as he seemed confused over several details. Mr. Richard Wayne Myers’s contribution of submitting the knife used in the killing helps in facilitating the progress of the investigation and the identification of the culprits. Additionally, the anonymous calls to the Howard County Police Department assisted the investigating team in identifying Frederick Johnson and Scott Jones as persons of interest in the probe. The callers proved helpful as their information confirmed the physical evidence collected from the crime scene. Nonetheless, the call made on 11/26/00 was misleading as Ms. Martin accused Michael Stewart of being the murderer simply because he was at the party that Ashley attended before she died. 

Scott Jones’s inconsistencies during his interviews with the investigators showed that he had something to do with Ashley Smith’s murder. For instance, Scott initially stated that he had only interacted with Ashley once and that he had never had any sexual relationship with the deceased. Scott also tries to remove his sister, Crystal Jones, from the investigation by arguing that she was not acquainted with Ashley. Scott also reveals that Ashley had died due stab wound in the stomach although the investigators had not made such information available to the public. Jones also denies that Ashley had been in his car in the recent past. However, he immediately changes his stance when he become aware of an impending search of the car he drove when the victim died. Frederick Johnson’s interrogation was brief because his DNA was consistent with the samples obtained from the dew rags and semen on Ashley’s body. Additionally, Frederick did not appear remorseful for his involvement in the homicide. 

Challenges and Counter Defenses

The preliminary evidence gathered at the murder scene indicated that the victim succumbed to knife wounds. The victim also appeared to have had sexual contact with an individual or people before her assailants killed her. For example, the victim’s clothes had semen while the collected dew rags had head hair samples useful in identifying the suspects in the case. Currently, the DNA testing is one of the most accurate forensic procedures for identifying suspects in a crime in which biological evidence is available and retrievable. Consequently, the investigating officer focused his efforts on retrieving foreign DNA samples from the victim’s body for the purpose of corroboration with samples from suspects. I believe that D/CPL Case and his team had properly and had legally obtained the DNA evidence from the victim and all the suspects in the homicide case. The use of the DNA evidence is acceptable during the admissibility hearing, and D/CPL Case can use the findings to prosecute the two suspects successfully. However, the crime laboratory personnel should offer clear reports that explain their supporting data and conclusions from the DNA testing (Butler, 2012). 

The knife evidence is admissible during trial of the two suspects because chief medical identified the injuries on the victim’s body as being knife wounds. It would be impossible to conduct a serious trial such as a homicide without including the weapon used in killing the victim. I believe that the investigating team legally obtained the knife because it was handed over Mr. Richard Wayne Myers who reportedly picked it up from the streets. The DNA samples from Mr. Myers do not match any from the victim’s body, and this indicates that Myers had nothing to do with the killing. Finally, the investigating team also legally obtained the confessions from witnesses and suspects while conducting their probe. D/CPL Case and his team commenced the investigation by identifying possible persons of interest in the case, and they went ahead with systematically interviewing these individuals to understand the nature of the murder. The investigators also encouraged members of the public to submit information that could help in apprehending the suspects. This resulted in the arrest of Scott Jones and Frederick Johnson adversely mentioned by different callers. Thus, I believe that the collected evidence would not cause any constitutional conflict during the trial of the two suspects. 

Modern Scientific Investigation Techniques

Some of the scientific investigation techniques used in examining violent crimes include forensic dactyloscopy or analyzing the fingerprints, DNA testing, and Voice Stress Analyzer Exam. Law enforcement agencies extensively use fingerprints or forensic dactyloscopy because the fingerprints do not change throughout an individual’s life and the fingerprints are unique to each person (Newton, 2008). DNA testing is amongst the most popular technique in forensics, and many law enforcement agencies use it across the world to identify victims and perpetrators of violent crimes. Nonetheless, one of the major drawbacks of the DNA testing as compared to forensic dactyloscopy is that DNA testing is quantitative and probabilistic whereas using fingerprints is categorical (Taupin, 2013). This implies that results from fingerprints either match the suspect’s fingerprints or not while the accuracy of the DNA testing depends on the quality of the testing procedures adopted in the laboratory. The process of ruling out similarities between collected samples from the victims and suspects is usually easier than determining similarities between the samples. The Voice Stress Analyzer Exam focuses on the variations that arise in the human voice in response to psychological stress from various questions. The premise of this exam is that voices can betray information on the psychological and physiological state of an individual taking the test.

References 

Butler, J. M. (2012). Advanced topics in forensic DNA typing: Methodology . Walthan, MA: Elsevier/Academic Press.

Dutelle, A. W. (2016). An introduction to crime scene investigation . Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. 

National Center for Policing Excellence. (2006). Murder investigation manual . Bedfordshire: Centrex. 

Newton, D. E. (2008). DNA evidence and forensic science . New York: Facts on File.

Taupin, J. M. (2013). Introduction to forensic DNA evidence for criminal justice professionals. Boca Ranton, FL: CRC Press.