Golden State Killer Caught, Authorities Say

17 hours 52 min ago
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by Seth Augenstein
DNA
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DNA off Spent Shell Casings a Matter of Getting in the Nooks and Crannies
Getting DNA off spent shell casings, that of whoever loaded the firearm, is not a given. Getting a genetic profile from swabbing alone off this most crucial piece of evidence is a forensic challenge. Enter the Bardole Method: what some are calling a...
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by Seth Augenstein
Senior Science Writer
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@SethAugenstein
4.25.2018
12:22pm
Firearms
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JFK Was Not Shot From the Grassy Knoll, Suggests New Research
The long-held conspiracy theory that John F. Kennedy was shot by a second gunman on the grassy knoll is wrong, according to a new analysis of video footage of the shooting, published in the journal Heliyon.
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by Elsevier
4.25.2018
11:59am
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Police Procedure
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Inmate: Prison Officers Complicit in Cellphone Problem
South Carolina prison officials have for years blamed cellphones for contributing to inmate violence. Gov. Henry McMaster issued an executive order Monday easing hiring rules for new corrections officers. But some who have spent time in and around the...
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by Meg Kinnard, Associated Press
4.25.2018
11:08am
Firearms
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More Students Report Carrying Guns in Chicago Than New York or Los Angeles
More students report carrying guns in Chicago than in New York or Los Angeles, a new Northwestern Medicine study shows. The findings provide historical background for Chicago’s 2016 spike in gun violence, which occurred mostly among youth and young...
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by Northwestern University
4.25.2018
10:53am
Evidence Collection
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Photography, Fingerprints, DNA Lead to Arrest in 1986 Slaying of Retiree
After stabbing Richard Finney 31 times in an Escondido apartment, the assailant made off with about $300 and some rather unusual items, including a robe, a mustache trimmer and bars of soap. Decades later, technology—starting with high-quality...
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by Teri Figueroa, The San Diego Union-Tribune
4.25.2018
10:34am
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Forensic Anthropology
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Idaho State University Forensic Anthropologists, Law Enforcement Team up for Forensic Training
On Tuesday, April 24, ISU anthropology faculty and students gathered with law enforcement officials on a non-descript plot of land on ISU’s Red Hill next to I-15 in a patch of sagebrush and mixed grasses. The group was examining three plots being used to...
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by Idaho State University
4.25.2018
10:20am
Crime Scene
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Danish Inventor Convicted of Reporter's Murder, Gets Life
Danish submarine inventor Peter Madsen was found guilty Wednesday of torturing and murdering Swedish reporter Kim Wall before dismembering her body during a private submarine trip. He was sentenced to life in prison.
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by Jan M. Olsen, Associated Press
4.25.2018
9:52am
Biometrics
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Jurors Trust Expert Testimony and Match Probabilities Equally—Up to a Point
There is little difference in the weight of an expert’s testimony and the use of quantifiable statistics, according to a new paper in the Journal of Forensic Sciences. The catch: far-flung random match probabilities also did not sway the jurors, add the...
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by Seth Augenstein
Senior Science Writer
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@SethAugenstein
4.24.2018
12:51pm
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Sexual Assault Investigations
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Meditation Plus Exercise Helps Women Recover From Sexual Violence
In new research, scientists have demonstrated that a combination of meditation and aerobic exercise—done for one hour twice a week over a six-week period—significantly reduces trauma-related and ruminative thoughts in victims of sexual assault, in...
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by Michelle Taylor
Editor-in-Chief
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@ForensicMag
4.24.2018
12:51pm
Firearms
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Stricter Gun Control Could Stop Violent Men Killing Their Partners and Themselves, Researchers Say
Researchers drew on 10 years of data on intimate partner homicide to determine the role guns play in murder-suicides.
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by Springer
4.24.2018
12:04pm
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Unsolved
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Investigators Probe Possible Link Between Severed Heads Found in Houston and Louisiana
Investigators are probing possible links between two macabre discoveries 150 miles apart, one on Lake Houston and the other on Calcasieu Lake in Louisiana, where the severed heads of two women were found in plastic bags near lakes and RV parks.
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by Jose R. Gonzalez, Beaumont Enterprise
4.24.2018
11:27am
Crime Scene
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Van Plows Into Toronto Sidewalk, Killing 10 and Injuring 15
A 25-year-old in a rented van plowed down a Toronto sidewalk crowded with lunchtime strollers Monday, killing 10 people and injuring 15 in what appeared to witnesses and the city's police chief as a deliberate attack. The driver was quickly arrested in a...
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by Charmaine Noronha, Associated Press
4.24.2018
10:54am
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Firearms
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Waffle House Slaying Suspect Arrested After Massive Manhunt
The mentally unstable gunman suspected of killing four people in a late-night shooting at a Waffle House restaurant was arrested near his apartment Monday after hiding from police for more than a day, authorities said.
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by Sheila Burke, Associated Press
4.24.2018
10:49am
DNA
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DNA Links Same Unknown Rapist to 4 Penn State Attacks
The DNA evidence from a rape on the street last summer has been linked to three similar attacks from 2010 and 2011. The serial rapist’s genetic profile has not had a hit in any databases—and he remains at large, authorities said Friday, amid warnings to...
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by Seth Augenstein
Senior Science Writer
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@SethAugenstein
4.23.2018
12:17pm
Biometrics
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Cops Used Dead Man's Finger in Attempt to Unlock His Phone
After 30-year-old Linus F. Phillip was shot and killed by a Largo police officer last month, two detectives showed up at Sylvan Abbey Funeral Home with his phone and tried to unlock the phone by holding the body's hands up to the phone's fingerprint...
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by Kathryn Varn, Tampa Bay Times
4.23.2018
12:04pm
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Firearms
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Guns Used in Cross-border Crimes Originate from States With More Lax Laws
Guns used in states with stricter gun laws typically flow from states with weaker laws, according to a new study from Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) researchers.
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by Boston University School of Medicine
4.23.2018
11:48am
Sexual Assault Investigations
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Actress Arrested in Sex Trafficking in 'Guru to Stars' Case
A television actress best known for playing a young Superman's close friend pleaded not guilty Friday to sex trafficking after federal prosecutors said she worked as a slave "master" recruiting unsuspecting women to a cult-like group led by a man who...
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by Colleen Long and Deepti Hajela, Associated Press
4.23.2018
11:44am
Medical Examiner
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Breakthrough Research Says Famous Dodo Was Shot in Head
Using revolutionary forensic scanning technology and world-class expertise, researchers have discovered surprising evidence that the famous Oxford Dodo was shot in the neck and back of the head with a shotgun.
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by University of Warwick
4.23.2018
11:09am
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Firearms
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Waffle House Suspect Remains on the Run, May Be Armed
A half-naked man suspected in the slayings of four people at a Waffle House remained on the run Monday, and authorities said he may be armed with one of the guns seized from him last year after he tried to enter the White House to see President Donald...
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by Sheila Burke, Associated Press
4.23.2018
10:52am
Firearms
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School Shootings Death Toll in 21st Century Already Exceeded 20th C. Body Count
The Columbine school massacre in Littleton, Colo. on April 20, 1999, exactly 19 years ago, was the final deadly mass school shooting of the 20th century in the United States. But the death toll in the 21st century, in just the first 18 years of its...
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by Seth Augenstein
Senior Science Writer
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@SethAugenstein
4.20.2018
1:06pm
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Woman Suspected in Minnesota, Florida Deaths Caught in Texas
A tip-off led to the arrest in Texas of a woman who investigators believe killed her husband in Minnesota then fled to Florida, where she fatally shot her doppelganger with the intention of assuming her identity, an official said Friday.
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by Associated Press
4.20.2018
11:46am
Death Penalty
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Alabama Mail-bomber the Oldest Executed in US Modern Times
An Alabama man convicted of sending mail bombs during a wave of Southern terror has been executed for killing a federal judge, becoming the oldest prisoner put to death in the U.S. in modern times.
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by Kim Chandler, Associated Press
4.20.2018
11:40am
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Crime Scene
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Police Say Teen Who Searched for Missing Pal Was His Killer
A 16-year-old who was part of a search party looking for a missing high school sports star led the group to discover the boy's body but investigators suspect he was the person who fatally stabbed his longtime friend and left his body in bushes near a...
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by Michael Balsamo, Associated Press
4.20.2018
11:35am
Toxicology
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Prince's Death: Superstar Didn't Know He Was Taking Fentanyl, No One Charged With a Crime
Music superstar Prince died two years ago because he thought he was taking the common painkiller Vicodin when, unbeknownst to him, it was laced with deadly fentanyl, authorities said Thursday. Just short of two years after Prince's death, authorities...
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by Maria Puente, USA Today
4.20.2018
11:04am
DNA
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Five Years On, Will MIX13 DNA Study Be ‘Bombshell’ Paper?
The results of a NIST DNA mixture study showed that, as DNA sensitivity has grown by leaps and bounds, interpretation of those tiny clues has not kept pace. But those results were reached five years ago—and the study has not yet been published in a peer-...
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by Seth Augenstein
Senior Science Writer
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@SethAugenstein
4.19.2018
12:52pm
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Death Penalty
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Lawyers: Inmate Set for Execution Should Be Resentenced
A man set for execution next month should be resentenced because he wouldn’t get the death penalty if he were sentenced today, his lawyers argued in a court filing Wednesday.
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by Kate Brumback, Associated Press
4.19.2018
11:53am
Forensic Psychology
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Nanny Who Killed Kids While Parents Away Convicted of Murder
A once-trusted nanny who butchered two children in her care while their parents were away was convicted of murder by a jury that didn't believe her claims she was too insane at the time of the crime to be held responsible.
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by Colleen Long, Associated Press
4.19.2018
11:44am
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US Judges Should Do More Than Simply 'Apply the Law' When It Demands Cruel Sentences, Law Experts Argue
In a paper published by the Virginia Journal of Criminal Law, experts argue for strategies to help judges resolve conflicts between their morals and the letter of the law. The paper uses mandatory minimum sentences as a case study of one key context...
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by University of Surrey
4.19.2018
10:39am
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Firearms
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Largest Maker of Bump Stocks Will Stop Accepting Orders
The largest manufacturer of bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic weapons to fire rapidly like automatic firearms, announced Wednesday that it will stop taking orders and shut down its website next month.
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by Michael Balsamo, Associated Press
4.19.2018
10:34am
Witness Testimony
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Can Estimates From Forensic Handwriting Experts Be Trusted in Court?
Scientific and forensic institutions increasingly ask handwriting experts to state the likelihood that a specific handwriting feature will occur in handwriting in the general public. Following a new study, researchers are now advising courts to take a...
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by Springer
4.18.2018
4:46pm
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Police Procedure
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Former Jail Guards Who Falsified Records Sentenced in 2015 Inmate Dehydration Death
Two former Island County, Washington jail guards were sentenced Tuesday for their roles in what many are calling a systemic failure by Island County Jail staff that led to the 2015 dehydration death of a 25-year-old inmate.
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by Denver Pratt, The Bellingham Herald
4.18.2018
11:36am
Exonerations
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California Death Row Inmate to Be Freed; No Retrial Planned
A man who spent nearly 25 years on California’s death row for raping and killing a toddler before his conviction was overturned won’t be retried and could be freed within days, authorities said Tuesday.
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by Associated Press
4.18.2018
11:21am
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Unsolved
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Wanted: This Gambling Grandmother Who Impersonated a Look-alike — Then Killed Her, Police Say
For the past three weeks, police say, 56-year-old Lois Riess has led them on a nationwide pursuit—from the Minnesota worm farm where they found her husband shot to death last month; to Florida, where they think Riess befriended and killed a woman who...
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by Avi Selk and Lindsey Bever, The Washington Post
4.18.2018
11:14am
Crime Scene
News
Sheriff’s Department to Review California Mansion Death
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department will review the death of a woman found hanging inside a mansion after a lawsuit verdict contradicted investigators’ findings that she committed suicide.
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by Associated Press
4.18.2018
11:07am
Death Penalty
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Killing of Police Officer Renews Calls for Death Penalty
The killing of a Massachusetts police officer has some Republicans calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty for the murder of law enforcement officers.
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by Steve LeBlanc, Associated Press
4.18.2018
11:03am
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Witness Testimony
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Cops Didn't Read 'Helpful' Witness His Rights. Turns Out He May Be a Serial Killer
Khalil Wheeler-Weaver was a "calm," even "helpful" witness, during the investigation into 19-year-old Robin West's murder, detectives said. But prosecutors say it turns out that Wheeler-Weaver was the one who killed West, strangled two more women and...
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by Thomas Moriarty, NJ.com
4.18.2018
10:44am
Crime Lab
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Second Lab Scandal in Mass. Leads to 11,000 Case Dismissals: ACLU
The second widespread forensic laboratory scandal in Massachusetts will bring more than 11,000 dismissed convictions, according to the state’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
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by Seth Augenstein
Senior Science Writer
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@SethAugenstein
4.17.2018
11:41am
Biometrics
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Army Develops Face Recognition Technology That Works in the Dark
Army researchers have developed an artificial intelligence and machine learning technique that produces a visible face image from a thermal image of a person's face captured in low-light or nighttime conditions. This development could lead to enhanced...
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by U.S. Army Research Laboratory
4.17.2018
11:34am
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Witness Testimony
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Mother Testifies That Boyfriend Killed 3-year-old Kansas Boy
A 3-year-old Kansas boy whose body was found encased in concrete last year sometimes was forced to stand naked in the basement of his home with his hands behind his back and a belt around his neck, and he was taunted and slapped while he screamed and...
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by Associated Press
4.17.2018
11:31am
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Louisiana Takes Aim at Jim Crow-era Jury Law
Louisiana is one of only two states in the country allowing a non-unanimous jury to convict a defendant of a felony, and a Louisiana lawmaker says it is time for the practice to end.
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by Anthony Izaguirre, Associated Press
4.17.2018
11:21am
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