Crime & Forensics

The Daily Beast asked me to list what I consider to be the best books in the true crime genre, and I obliged. Many offerings are what you’d expect – IN COLD BLOOD, THE EXECUTIONER’S …

When I read Lisa Reardon’s THE MERCY KILLERS some years ago, I felt like I was in the company of a writer whose work matched my general tastes. The writing was spare yet evocative, the story …

Rodney Alcala has been in jail for almost as long as I have been alive. And yet it took three tries and three decades to get the death penalty to stick: a technicality tossed the verdict, rendered in …

So Howard Unruh is finally dead. I think I’ve been waiting for the news all year, ever since his longtime lawyer, James Klein, informed me some time ago that Unruh’s health was in very bad …

It’s been two days since Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland and I still can’t let go of the subject. The firestorm of comments and opinions has been understandable. A 43 year old …

Newsweek has a smorgasbord of stuff related to real-life crime, starting with Walter Mosley’s essay on why America has a long-running obsession with all things illegal, criminal and murderous: …

As children, Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio were among many who scared others and themselves with an urban legend given fictional life with the name of Cropsey – a maniac living in the …

Saturday night on CBS, “48 Hours” will air a segment on the ongoing trial of 21-year-old Amanda Knox, who stands accused of murdering her roommate Meredith Kercher on November 2, 2007 in …

Yesterday the National Academy of Sciences issued a lengthy report, two years in the making,on the current state of forensic science. It should not come as a surprise, that they found “serious …

(Editor’s note: Howard Unruh died on October 19, 2009 at the age of 88, about nine months after I wrote this piece.)

On September 6, 1949, Howard B. Unruh, 28 years old, a mild, soft-spoken …

So earlier this week, police in Hollywood, Florida closed the Adam Walsh case. 27 years after the six-year-old was abducted from a shopping mall and murdered (though only his head was found, a couple …

It even has third-act plot twists:

PORTLAND, Ore. – When Susan Kuhnhausen

returned home from work one day earlier this month, she encountered an

intruder wielding a claw hammer. After a …

The LA Times runs what it wants to think of as a serious investigative piece on the reliability of current DNA testing practices. And while there’s plenty of investigation, it’s also …

The town of Gerald, Missouri was one of many small towns struggling to overcome the scourge that is methamphetamine. So when a stranger with a Federal badge came to town, the higher-ups welcomed him …

But lo, it happens in real life, too:

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) — A Macedonian journalist jailed on

suspicion of murdering at least two women in crimes he wrote about for

his newspaper has been …

The Washington Post Magazine’s Laura Wexler has written an excellent profile of Jody Arlington, an accomplished DC career woman whose childhood trauma, under her birth name Jody Gilley, is being …

The Joseph Fritzl case in Austria is a horrifying train wreck that I can’t stop reading about. But today’s story takes the cake, what with Fritzl complaining about poor media coverage from …

This week’s big true crime story is highly speculative: could a nationwide gang of psychopathic serial killers, linked by a “signature” of smiley face graffiti, be responsible for …

The AP has an extended piece on the Doe Network, whose mission since its inception in 2001 is to highlight missing and unidentified persons and do their best to resolve such cases:

Today the Doe …

Three years ago I blogged about “Joseph Newton Chandler III”, an elderly gentleman who shot himself in 2002 and left behind a slew of troubling questions when the name he lived under for …

It would be rejected on the grounds of sheer unbelievability.

In this week’s issue of Time Out New York I bring up one of the city’s most notorious killers, Albert Fish, whose cannibalistic exploits in the 1920s and 30s added a macabre twist to the …

Forgive the cringe-worthy title, but this story, set off Gabriola Island in British Columbia, is rather indescribable in its potential for mystery:

Should a fourth human foot float ashore here in …

I am starting to come to the conclusion that Patricia Cornwell is the Upton Sinclair of the criminal justice system. Because whatever the opinion is on her current books, there’s no question …

About a month after a three-part series on DNA and Ethics, NPR now goes back to the forensic science well. This time they focus on the FBI’s crime-solving efforts, beginning with DNA, moving to …

The answer to the whereabouts of arguably America’s most notorious female serial killer is quite simple: she’s either buried in LaPorte, Indiana, the victim of a house fire on April 28, …

Gothamist points to the story of a bank robber so compulsive he robbed the same banks over and over again:

A man held up two banks on a street near his

home four times in the last week, including …

NPR’s Ari Shapiro continues his weeklong series on DNA, its forensic applications and ethical concerns. Check out:

• Legal limits on discarded DNA
• Using DNA to track suspects through family
• The …

Else how to explain this Phoenix-like tale?

For more than five years he had been missing, presumed dead, after last

being seen paddling his red kayak out into the North Sea in front of

the home he …

Actually, the goodbyes to this forensic technique began in 2005, when the FBI announced that, after extensive study and consideration, it would no longer conduct the examination of bullet lead, but a …

Long a fan of Laura James’ true crime blog CLEWS, I’ve been waiting for this news for a while. Now, here it is:

Attorney, true crime historian, and founder of CLEWS: The True Crime

Blog …

For years, Russia claimed Andrei Chikatilo as its most prolific serial killer. That “honor” has now been superceded, at least unofficially:

MOSCOW, Oct. 24 — A former supermarket worker, …

To New York Magazine’s Geoffrey Gray’s credit, he never out and out says that Kenneth Christiansen, who died of cancer in 1994, was the notorious hijacker immortalized in many a song and …

For ninety-seven years, Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen has been known as one of England’s notorious murders. Even as recently as this year, the Crippen case took center stage in Erik Larson’s …

Last week, while I wasn’t paying attention, Michael Devlin plead guilty to a slew of charges against him in the aftermath of the kidnappings of Shawn Hornbeck and Ben Ownby. The plea was a few …

And as always, no preamble required:

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) — An aspiring horror novelist was

arrested after police discovered his girlfriend’s torso in his closet,

a leg in the …

So remember the case of the Polish author who’d been arrested for murder based on the book he’d written? Now he’s been convicted of the crime:

Truth, it seems, really is stranger …

We’re still recovering from the drive down. Cricket spent the morning mixing Bloody Mary’s and I spent it swimming; there’s no pool scooping thing here (we figure it’s a rich …

The Times’ Roger Boyes reports on what looks to be Poland’s “trial of the century” and I have to say, this is mighty weird:

An author leafing through a newspaper comes across …

If you write crime fiction, want to write crime fiction or have ever entertained even the briefest notion of writing crime fiction, then you must see this interview (followed by parts two, three, four …

..and you might get something like this:

BOSTON, Massachusetts (CNN)  — Peter McGlothin didn’t know what to think when he first got the e-mail with a bounty on his head. …

In March 2006, Doug Preston found out what happened to those who upset the apple cart by looking into the tortured, tangled mess that is the Monster of Florence case. Now he and his co-author, Mario …

Twenty-five years ago today, a French-Canadian model was brutally murdered in her Gramercy Park apartment. The story played in the tabloids for a few days thereafter, and the New York Times mentioned …

I was wondering when Lionel Shriver would write something about Virginia Tech, and her essay on Monday’s horrendous crime appears in today’s Guardian:

Why do they happen? If it does not …

Of course this story bothers me. The worst mass murder in American history is going to bother almost everyone (and for those not bothered, well, I bloody well hope they don’t see today’s …

The San Mateo County Times profiles San Mateo County Deputy District Attorney Al Giannini, who has provided legal advice and guidance to John Lescroart for 17 years and almost 19 books:

For 17 …

With David Fincher’s movie ZODIAC, based on Robert Graysmith’s book, due in theaters this weekend, the publicity machine is in overdrive. The Washington Post talks to the author about his …

I’m trying hard not to keep a close watch on the latest developments of the Shawn Hornbeck/Ben Ownby case, but it’s difficult. The news is to be expected, but it’s no less shocking …

And at the moment, it’s no fun living in Fago, Spain:

It is a whodunnit that could have

come straight from the pages of an Agatha Christie novel – the village

where every single …

If not for understandably mitigating circumstances, I probably would have spent the entire holiday weekend clicking refresh at Steve Huff’s True Crime Blog to find out the latest on what’s …

Like most everyone I’ve been paying some attention to the horrifying poisoning death of former KGB/FSB spy Alexander Litvinenko. Will it be solved? I suspect not, but if Raelynn …

While Jan Burke is away on tour promoting her newest novel, KIDNAPPED, she’s given me the keys to the Crime Lab Project blog until the end of this week. It’s a chance to indulge the …

But despite the news that John Mark Karr’s DNA is inconsistent with DNA found on JonBenet Ramsey’s body, wanna bet the freakshow will live on for a little while longer?

Sigh. What a sorry …

It’s Thursday, that means it’s me once more. I thought about staying off the blog but then I heard about the big story of, well, the rest of the week, if not longer:

CNN) — An …

It’s a critical time for the Coverdell Act, a government initiative passed to give grant funds for increasing the amount of time, money and attention on forensic science laboratories, and Jan …

The headline pretty much says it all, as does the opening paragraph:

FORT LAUDERDALE – Truth proved to be stranger than fiction for a

high school criminology class investigating a fake crime …

You know how it goes: do a little web surfing, come across a news story, and the significance hits you like a big bolt of lightning. In my case, it was finding this news story and realizing, …

For whatever reason I forgot to link to this yesterday, but S.J. Rozan had an excellent article in Sunday’s NYT about iconic cases in New York in the wake of Imette St. Guillen’s murder: …

A few weeks ago, bestselling thriller writer Douglas Preston went to Italy on vacation with his family. The trip served an additional purpose, as he was also visiting Mario Spezi, a former crime beat …

So it looks like the once-beloved comedian might have his dirty laundry aired in court:

A federal judge ruled yesterday that comedian Bill Cosby – in

response to a sexual-assault suit – …

Meet 48-year-old Juana Barraza, recently arrested in Mexico on suspicion of being the “Little Old Lady Killer”:

The suspect, identified as Juana Barraza, 48, told reporters at the

scene …

Last night I went to see THE ARISTOCRATS, a movie I have been dying to see since word got out about how good it was last January, at the Sundance Festival. And after watching it, I believe the …

Normally I try to keep the PSA quotient here low, but when Jan Burke sent word of the current status of the Crime Lab Project, it was a no-brainer to do what I could to help by spreading the word: …

So all I will say is that my thoughts and prayers are with the city of London on this horrible day.

And the Scary Prescience award goes to Greg Rucka.

Is it me, or are notorious criminals making an even bigger name for themselves than they used to? There was Dennis Rader — BTK of course — confessing his crimes with relish in open court. …

Frequent readers will know how obsessed I have been over the years about BTK. Imagine my shock — but not necessarily surprise — to read that he’s plead guilty to ten counts of murder …

Looking for crime reporting with a healthy dose of snark? Then check out Blottered, featuring an assortment of shady types casting their net over the murky world of criminals of every type. I’ll …

I’ve lost track how long Houston’s Police Laboratory has been in trouble.  Certainly since my grad school days, when we students were silently warned to ignore any job ads originating …

Gwenda points to this article in yesterday’s Washington Post, which picks up on what’s become a rather disturbing phenomenon in the judicial process: jurors expecting forensic evidence to …

Which, as I am wont to do, I’ll let speak for itself:

Saying he believes the man presumed
responsible for most of the 29 Atlanta-area murders of boys, young men
and two girls between 1979 and …

I cannot think of any worse fate than to die without a name, without anyone knowing who you are — or worse, for people not caring enough to step forward and identify you. It’s all the …

I love stories like these. They illuminate darkly lit corners of the human condition, and demonstrate the infallibility of humans. Or something:

LA CROSSE, Wisconsin (AP) — A man told
police …

When area writer Christa Worthington was killed in Cape Cod 3 years ago, it launched much speculation, nastiness and even some books (most notably one by novelist Maria Flook.) But now it seems that a …

A few weeks ago, I chanced across the story of a man calling himself Joseph Newton Chandler III. It was a very strange tale; he’d shown up in the vicinity of Eastlake, Ohio around 1978, …

So I’ll let it speak for itself:

In what may be a first-of-its-kind case, it was
revealed yesterday that a New York woman charged with murdering her
86-year-old mother had killed before — as a …

Dennis Rader’s arrest on the charge that he is the notorious BTK killer has led to much speculation, rumination and reflection. When I got word that author Alafair Burke used to live in Wichita, …

Since he’s been all over the television flogging his soon-to-be finished book on BTK, and lo and behold, he’s beaten to the punch:

NYT bestselling author Carlton Smith’s …

Well, that’s a misnomer — there’s no personal connection between Dennis Rader and myself, though I did have the horrendous sense of deja vu when I stumbled across the cached version …

It’s slow. I’m sure there will be more lit stuff tomorrow, but for whatever reason — my brain is mush, the Paris Hilton hacking story is so incredibly over, you name it — I …

I don’t know why I love stories like these, but I think it’s because real life is often so much more fantastical than the best fiction. Read on about the curious case of the murdered …

Keeping with today’s apparent crime & justice theme, Court TV analyst Jonna Spilbor writes a thought-provoking essay about why Amber Frey’s new book pisses her off — and the …

I read this story yesterday and I’m still banging my head against the wall:

A 35-year-old murder mystery deepened Friday as a State Police

scientist testified that DNA from two people was …

Matthew Cox studied art at the University of South Florida, went into insurance, and wrote a novel called THE ASSOCIATES. The problem is, as federal agents are finding out, the manuscript served as a …

REDWOOD CITY, California (CNN) — A jury recommended Monday that Scott Peterson, the former fertilizer salesman whose case grabbed national headlines, be sentenced to death for killing his …

Remember Scott Peterson? Granted, lots of other things have taken precedence of late, but his murder trial has gone to the jury, and they’re having just a bit of trouble:

**REDWOOD CITY, …

Since I live in Scotland, I thought I’d start off by talking a bit about Scottish crime fiction. As well as the king of Tartan Noir himself, Ian Rankin, quite a wide variety of crime fiction writers …

In yesterday’s post about the Melbourne Writer’s Festival, the topic naturally turned to the age old question of whether the PI genre is dead and what’s allegedly replacing it. …

Figured this was in the offering, even if I hadn’t had any prior knowledge:

Former NYC chief medical examiner Michael Baden and criminal defense attorney Linda Kenney’s REMAINS SILENT, a …

The saga continues, as dethroned Brooklyn prosecutor turned acclaimed crime writer Rob Reuland faces off against his former boss, Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes, in court. (For the background, read this …

A 15-YEAR-old schoolboy has become the first person in Britain to be convicted of inciting somebody to murder him.

The boy, who may only be identified by the pseudonym John, invented a cast of …

Thankfully, the missing novelist has turned up in Niagara Falls, where she’s been known to haunt previously:

Missing novelist Helen DeWitt turned up Wednesday in Niagara Falls, N.Y., after …