Crime Reporters Pick Their Favorite Crime Stories of 2013

From Slate, a collection of 2013's best crime stories, including...

1. Baltimore Sun: “Faces of Summer Violence.” Justin Fenton and I tried to capture the toll a violent summer left on Baltimore by looking for anecdotes that reached across all spectrums of the population so everyone could feel the magnitude of lives lost. I think it turned out better than we hoped.

2. Baltimore Sun: “Stick-up boys.” My colleague Justin Fenton delves deep into a murder mystery that exposes a small, deadly niche of Baltimore's chaotic and thriving drug trade.

...and more! Find the full list here.

JFK single-bullet theory probed using latest forensics tech

CBS News - Father-and-son team Luke and Michael Haag have used the latest technology to re-examine the idea that one bullet hit President John F. Kennedy and Texas Gov. John Connally. The duo is featured on the PBS series "Nova" in a documentary called "Cold Case JFK."
 
Using 3D laser scanners -- a technology that's come into play in forensics in recent years -- the Haags documented the crime scene of Kennedy's assassination and their proposed trajectory of the single bullet in an effort to debunk popular conspiracy theories, such as the Grassy Knoll shooter theory, that have persisted in the case.

"(We can envision) crime scenes more thoroughly, more completely than we ever have had the capability to do. So we walk away from the crime scene with more information and we can then examine the crime scene over and over again later on, on a computer. So as we get new hypotheses, things about -- people talking about where a shooter might have been at a new revelatory type place, we can go in to that software, take some calculations, take measurements, angles, and it's all right there," Michael Haag said.

Read more here.

When Crime Scene Evidence Crawls Away

From WIRED Magazine

Regular watchers of CSI and other forensic shows might be surprised to learn that forensic entomology is actually a branch of applied ecology. Decomposition is a critical ecosystem service that humans get for free and often take for granted.

Necrophagous animals are critical to the Earth’s healthy functioning. Because of necrophages’ hard work, we aren’t clambering over dead dinosaurs and spelunking past deceased relatives in a world covered with layer after layer of corpses.  A carcass is an empty bit of habitat waiting to be colonized.

Adult blowflies have an astonishing sense of smell for putrescine and cadaverine, molecules¹ that signal a delicious bucket-kicking has occurred. A dead body is conveniently pre-packaged baby food for fly eggs. Flies arrive in large numbers within minutes after someone begins their dirt nap. It’s rather like when a pizza delivery is made to a dorm; undergraduates magically appear out of thin air, summoned by the yummy aroma.

Read more here.

A day in the life of a clinical director of forensic psychiatry

An interview with Mark Earthrowl, from the guardian's 'Day in the Life of' series:

My day begins with a 6.30am rise, when the chaos of a typical morning sets in thanks to our three young boys and hyperactive dog. I wake up to Radio 4 – it's always enjoyable to hear someone getting a roasting from John Humphrys. My commute to work is only a short trip through rural Norfolk; the scenery on my journey contrasts with that of New Zealand, where I recently worked for several years, navigating the aftermath of an earthquake and the tension caused by daily earth tremors.

I normally reach my desk by 8.30am and, as with many roles in the health sector, each day is different. I have an early meeting with the team to go over the previous day's events. As a team, we formally review patients' care plans on a weekly basis, but mornings see me touring the wards, engaging with patients and making assessments.

Lunch is generally snatched at my desk, or not at all: an unhealthy habit but a time-saving one. By that point, if I've caught up on my clinical duties, I will address the managerial aspects of my role which include the strategic development of the service, quality control, governance and liaison with stakeholders including our regulators and commissioners, the patients' local services and their families.

Read the rest of Mark's interview here.