investigation

Whodunnit, and why? All about criminal investigations and the forensic methods used to search for clues and collect evidence to get to the bottom of the crime.

The Villisca Axe Murder House
When I was a child I lived not too far away from Villisca, Iowa. And growing up we always heard the stories from way back in the day. Even if a decade had passed, the tragedy of what had occurred between June 9th and June 10th, 1912 still haunted the town of Villisca as well as pretty much every single town that surrounded. Ghost stories spread among the children about what happened during those days. And parents would use the stories as a form of getting their children to behave. Well here is what really happened…
By Alyssa Horn8 years ago in Criminal
Murder Files: JonBenet Ramsey Part 1
In this Murder File we look into the life and brutal death of JonBenet Ramsey. Basic Info Name: JonBenet Ramsey. Born: August 6th 1990.
By Silence Unhinged8 years ago in Criminal
The Chilling Mystery of the Black Dahlia
The Black Dahlia is one the most highly publicized unsolved crimes in US history. Over the years, there's been more than 200 suspects and more than 60 false confessions, and yet we still don't know for sure who killed Elizabeth Short.
By Joseph Farley8 years ago in Criminal
Change Blindness and Eyewitness Identification. Top Story - November 2017.
Change blindness impacts eyewitness identification. Defining change blindness Change blindness is a striking phenomenon, one that revealslimits on conscious awareness and accentuates the discrepancybetween what we see and what we think we see (Simons & Ambinder, 2005, p.48).
By Monica Panait8 years ago in Criminal
Unsolved: The Murders That Haunt the Lizzie Borden House
Some murder investigations have the craziest endings, with finales that offer a cathartic resolution proving the existence of justice beyond a reasonable doubt. Others are left more or less tied up in a bow from their initial opening, closed at the onset of an abrupt confession, or the inevitable discovery of a specific piece of evidence.
By Ryan Epps8 years ago in Criminal
Darlie Routier: Innocent or Guilty?
Rowlett, Texas. On February 4, 1997, Darlie Routier was sentenced to death by lethal injection for allegedly murdering her 5 year old son Damon (her other son, Devon, was also killed, but it never reached trial). She says they were attacked by an intruder, and she indeed had a hospital stay. Still, due to certain forensic experts, she was convicted for the alleged murder.
By Wade Wainio8 years ago in Criminal
Repressed Memory in Sandusky Case
In a former case, Jerry Sandusky, a college football coach, was said to have sexually abused children. He was found guilty of sexual abuse and sentenced to 30-60 years away. Though he without a doubt sexually abused many individuals, there was a part of the case that not many people are aware of. Some of these allegations were based on the idea of repressed memory that was uncovered after many years of therapy. Repressed memory is the idea of memories being unconsciously blocked due to stress or trauma while burying them in your thoughts. The memory may not be able to be uncovered for many years but can ostensibly be affecting them consciously. These memories that occur to the individual way later into their lives can also be false or imaginative. Memory works in three precesses; encoding, storage, and retrieval. Many times, when therapists try to come forth with repressed memory, they are trying to reconstruct your memory so that a specific memory is received. This part of the confessions were not known to the public when exposed. Instead, they focused more on the act itself, which is completely understandable but the process in which the stories were uncovered is fascinating.
By S.girl8 years ago in Criminal
The Stoneman Murders
Let's play a game. Suppose you are a homeless person of the late 1980s. Just suppose! (..And forget that you still own a laptop/PC/smartphone to read this post in that time.) You are a homeless person and you are begging and trying to be alive to see the next morning. You struggle for food and other life crises and you go to that same corner of the street at night to sleep. What could you have possibly done wrong to someone that, while you are sleeping, some psychopath comes and crushes your head with a big stone? How horrible that is even to imagine! You might or might not have heard/read this story before, but it always runs a chill through my spine when I read it.
By Hitarth Raval8 years ago in Criminal
Sociology: Strain Theory
Strain Theory: Robert Merton’s Social Experiment In 1957, Robert K. Merton developed the Strain theory. It is a sociological and criminological term that primarily suggests that those who cannot hope to achieve some kind of “American dream” will receive the constant burden of not necessarily being rejected for not achieving their goals, but not having the resources that others were granted, to achieve the goals themselves. Therefore, people, specifically adolescents, resort to committing crimes. Today, Strain theorists acknowledge that this is not always the case, but instead that it is only for some but not most individuals. Ryan E. Spohn’s article, published in 2012 regarding criminogenic strain and influence on peers, searches to explain in what conditions and environments tend to result, specifically, the adolescent populace into deviant adaptations.
By Nathaniel Reidhead8 years ago in Criminal
The Tragic Murder of JonBenét Ramsey
It’s been nearly 21 years ever since JonBenét Ramsey was murdered on December 25, 1996. To this day, people are still questioning the unsolved murder case of this young girl. While there's multiple evidence in the murder scene, none of them seem to be connected with each other — resulting to different suspects. With this, the question continues to haunt us: Who murdered JonBenét Ramsey?
By Jacqueline Hanikeh8 years ago in Criminal
Down The Rabbit Hole
1600 people have gone missing in the National Parks and forests of the United States. 1600 people that went hiking, skiing, or out for a simple picnic with their family. 1600 people that disappeared without a trace. 1600 families left without answers.
By Taylor Mcdonald8 years ago in Criminal
The Mysterious Death of the Boy in the Box
In the world of criminal investigations, unidentified people are a rare but very possible occurrence. These people, often called John or Jane Doe by investigators, are people that no one recognizes.
By Ossiana Tepfenhart8 years ago in Criminal