Post by SoulTrainOz on Jul 26, 2006 20:05:24 GMT -5
Solving Crimes
Gunfire early Sunday morning killed one man and injured another on Interstate 65 near Seymour. Hours later, gunshots hit 2 vehicles on Interstate 69 near Muncie. No one was injured.
Indiana State Police say they're following up on more than a dozen leads as they search for a suspect and investigators are now looking through evidence that might connect the shots fired. Laboratory evidence has become crucial in this kind of crime-solving.
Forensic scientists are at work at the Indiana State Police crime lab in Indianapolis. In the lab they can determine if bullets used in several crimes came from the same gun. That's the kind of information that might prove helpful in the interstate shootings investigation going on right now.
In October of 2002 when John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo were arrested in connection with the sniper shootings in the Washington D.C. area, it was a rifle that gave them away. Investigators were able to link the rifle found in their car at a Maryland highway rest stop to most of the fatal shootings that terrorized drivers during a 3-week period.
Both men are now in prison. Muhammad is on death row.
"In the Malvo and Muhammad case, it wasn't known immediately that there were 2 people which is fairly unusual for serial offenses, very unusual actually. Most serial offenders commit the acts they do themselves. The nature of secrecy requires it," says I-Team 8's Doug Garrison, a former FBI agent.
In Ohio it took much longer for authorities to pick up the man they
thought was responsible for months of shootings around Columbus and eventually in other areas of the state. A man called a task force hotline just days after Charles McCoy Jr. was identified as a suspect. He recognized him in Las Vegas. Lab tests showed that bullets from many of the shootings, including the one fatal attack, were fired from the same gun.
"What the bureau can certainly help offer all of the law enforcement agencies involved because you've got different counties, state police is some understanding of how people who commit these offenses like these work. Because the behavioral scientists in the FBI have interviewed so many serial offenders and so much research of people who commit crimes of this sort," says Garrison.
Indiana State Police are asking for the public's help without revealing much about the four interstate shootings. If investigators can connect them, and more than likely firearms examinations are going on right now, it would mean they have a serial killer to find.
"Firearms aimed into oncoming traffic run huge risks of killing people. These are not pranks. These are much more serious than that. They're probably motivated by somebody who wants to do it. Knows what he's doing and likes it," Garrison says.
Harry Trombitas, the FBI special agent in charge of the sniper shootings investigation in Ohio, spoke with I-Team 8. He was in Indiana all day Monday to assist authorities. He told us in the case of Charles McCoy Jr. it was the 5,444th lead in the case that led to the arrest and conviction of McCoy. Trombitas said he hopes it doesn't take that many leads here in Indiana.
(source: WISH-TV)
Gunfire early Sunday morning killed one man and injured another on Interstate 65 near Seymour. Hours later, gunshots hit 2 vehicles on Interstate 69 near Muncie. No one was injured.
Indiana State Police say they're following up on more than a dozen leads as they search for a suspect and investigators are now looking through evidence that might connect the shots fired. Laboratory evidence has become crucial in this kind of crime-solving.
Forensic scientists are at work at the Indiana State Police crime lab in Indianapolis. In the lab they can determine if bullets used in several crimes came from the same gun. That's the kind of information that might prove helpful in the interstate shootings investigation going on right now.
In October of 2002 when John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo were arrested in connection with the sniper shootings in the Washington D.C. area, it was a rifle that gave them away. Investigators were able to link the rifle found in their car at a Maryland highway rest stop to most of the fatal shootings that terrorized drivers during a 3-week period.
Both men are now in prison. Muhammad is on death row.
"In the Malvo and Muhammad case, it wasn't known immediately that there were 2 people which is fairly unusual for serial offenses, very unusual actually. Most serial offenders commit the acts they do themselves. The nature of secrecy requires it," says I-Team 8's Doug Garrison, a former FBI agent.
In Ohio it took much longer for authorities to pick up the man they
thought was responsible for months of shootings around Columbus and eventually in other areas of the state. A man called a task force hotline just days after Charles McCoy Jr. was identified as a suspect. He recognized him in Las Vegas. Lab tests showed that bullets from many of the shootings, including the one fatal attack, were fired from the same gun.
"What the bureau can certainly help offer all of the law enforcement agencies involved because you've got different counties, state police is some understanding of how people who commit these offenses like these work. Because the behavioral scientists in the FBI have interviewed so many serial offenders and so much research of people who commit crimes of this sort," says Garrison.
Indiana State Police are asking for the public's help without revealing much about the four interstate shootings. If investigators can connect them, and more than likely firearms examinations are going on right now, it would mean they have a serial killer to find.
"Firearms aimed into oncoming traffic run huge risks of killing people. These are not pranks. These are much more serious than that. They're probably motivated by somebody who wants to do it. Knows what he's doing and likes it," Garrison says.
Harry Trombitas, the FBI special agent in charge of the sniper shootings investigation in Ohio, spoke with I-Team 8. He was in Indiana all day Monday to assist authorities. He told us in the case of Charles McCoy Jr. it was the 5,444th lead in the case that led to the arrest and conviction of McCoy. Trombitas said he hopes it doesn't take that many leads here in Indiana.
(source: WISH-TV)