CSI: Crime Scene Investigation The Paperboy Case

1
CSI Crime Scene Investigation - The Paperboy
Case

• By Robin Brown
• Debra Jones

2
To Progress Through This Case

• Use the forward and back arrow buttons
  below to progress through the case.
• Select the button at any time to take you to
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3
Objectives

• Given a factual murder case, students are to read
  information about the crime scene and evidence,
  and apply logic and reasoning skills to determine
  the best procedures to use to solve the murder
  case.

4
Rules

• As you work through the case, you will be asked a
  series of questions that will help you progress
  through 10 experience levels to the head of the
  CSI Dept.
• If you select the most appropriate answer, you
  will move up a level.
• Answers that are not the best decision will take
  you down an experience level.

5
Introduction

• You are a newly hired crime scene investigator
  and your first job is to investigate a thirteen
  year-old paperboy who was murder while delivering
  his papers. You will collect and analyze
  evidence from a crime scene. You must use logical
  thought processes and scientific inquiry skills
  as you trace the steps of the crime and determine
  whether or not the science accurately explains
  the crime.

6
The Paperboy

• It was early on a fall morning in Bellevue,
  Nebraska, a few miles south of Omaha, on
  Sunday, September 18, 1983. Thirteen-year-old
  Danny Joe Eberle had arisen early, around six,
  and was delivering the Omaha World Herald
  newspaper to seventy of his neighbors. He'd left
  his home on Valley Drive on his bike, with the
  intent of getting done and getting back as
  quickly as possible. So when he failed to come
  home from his job, his parents began to worry. It
  wasn't like him to not let them know if he was
  going somewhere. And there was an added concern
  The route supervisor had roused Mr. Eberle from
  sleep to let him know that Danny Joe had not
  finished the job. People were complaining.

7
The Paperboy, Contd

• The Eberles called around to people who knew him,
  but no one had seen him. That made them
  apprehensive, so they went outside to see if he
  was around and just hadn't told them. But Danny
  Joe was nowhere to be found and his brother, who
  also had a paper route, had not seen him,
  although he recalled having been followed
  recently by a white man in a tan car. He had no
  idea if that was connected.
• The events of that morning would rock the small
  town of just over 30,000 residents. They would
  soon learn that there was a killer in their
  midst who could strike during the day without
  anyone noticing.

Danny Joe Eberle
8
The Search

• Danny Joe had gone out without his shoes, which
  was his preferred way to travel, and had picked
  up his papers at a convenience store and rolled
  them there in a parking lot to place into his
  delivery bag. He had then set off to start his
  route but made just three stops that morning.
  When Danny Joe's absence was investigated, his
  bicycle was located at his fourth stop, inside
  the gate of the cyclone fence around a dentist's
  home. Folded newspapers, undelivered, were there
  as well, in his bag. But not Danny Joe. It
  appeared that he'd arrived, been distracted, and
  then abducted. But there was no sign of a
  struggle.

9
The Search, Contd

• The Eberles
  notified police and
  instigated a manhunt around the
  immediate area, going to
  each person on
  Danny Joe's route, and to other areas
  that may have attracted him,
  but nothing turned up that day. They continued
  with the search, going from building to building,
  house to house, but no one had seen Danny Joe
  with anyone. He had simply vanished. In all,
  Pettit says, some 130 officials made up the
  search team. Despite this impressive response, no
  clues were found, and day became evening, so when
  darkness fell, the search was called off.

10
In such a situation, when the initial search
produces no results, the police should
Regroup and consider a strategic search.
End the immediate search and wait to see if the
boy showed up.
Keep searching, no matter how long it took.
1
2
4
Request federal assistance.
3
Click on one of the figures to select your answer.
11
Correct you have gained an experience level!

• The best answer is 2). Searching at night may
  cause the searchers to miss something or risk
  contaminating a crime scene. Once the all-out
  search of the immediate area fails, its better
  to come up with a plan. The police may call the
  FBI, but not until its clear that theres been a
  kidnapping or murder. In addition, since Danny
  Joe had not shown up the entire day, its
  unlikely that hed just come wandering home the
  next day, so a search should continue, but with a
  clear plan.

12
Found

• The next day, the police went over a large area
  in town and fanned out into the fields around
  town. Monday went by, and then Tuesday, with no
  progress. No one came forward to say they'd seen
  something, and nothing else belonging to Danny
  Joe had been found. They could only hope he
  hadn't been killed and tossed into the river, for
  then they might never find him. On Wednesday,
  they finally had a break. One of the searchers
  called out that he'd found "the package" a code
  word to investigators.

Arial view of where body was found.
13
Found, Contd

• Danny Joe's body was located off a gravel road
  about four miles from where he'd left his bike.
  He was clad only in his underwear. He'd been
  stripped, killed, and dumped into some weeds that
  were tall enough to have barely hidden him. He
  had been stabbed nine times, front and back, and
  his ankles were bound with rope. There was
  reason to believe that before he'd died, he had
  been tortured. He had likely been alert for
  several minutes before he bled to death and knew
  that he was being killed.
• Because there were impressions from pebbles on
  the body, but not many where it had been dumped,
  it seemed that Danny Joe had been moved from one
  spot to another. Police officers got busy with
  the crime scene.

14
What is the first thing investigators should do?
2
Look for potential witnesses.
Search for Danny Joes missing clothing.
1
Remove the bindings.
4
Take photographs of everything.
3
Click on one of the figures to select your answer.
15
Correct you have gained an experience level!

• The best answer is 3). The first order of
  business, once it's clear that a victim is dead,
  is to photograph everything for documentation. If
  the team is large enough, others may be sent to
  seek witnesses or look for evidence, but the
  crime scene must be preserved on film before any
  alterations occur.

16
Profiler
Clothes of victim discovered.

• The investigators documented the scene, looked
  for evidence in the surrounding area, and
  searched for Danny's clothing. That this child
  had come to such a terrible end depressed them
  and they were determined to find the perpetrator.
• Because the murder involved a child, and because
  President Reagan had recently put murders and the
  kidnapping of children under federal
  jurisdiction, the local police called the FBI
  office in nearby Omaha. They responded by sending
  Special Agent John Evans to the scene. He also
  referred the case to the FBI's newly formed
  Behavioral Sciences Unit. The unit had known some
  success with assisting local jurisdictions with
  multiple murders, including providing some ideas
  that helped to close the case on the Atlanta
  child murders in 1980. But they were largely an
  unknown to police departments, and behavioral
  science was itself suspicious to hardened cops.

17
Profiler, Contd

• Special Agent Robert Ressler traveled to Nebraska
  to talk with the authorities there. He'd been on
  his way to a homicide seminar when he got the
  call and went immediately to Omaha. From the few
  details he heard about a missing newsboy, he was
  reminded of another case a missing newsboy in
  Des Moines from the year before, who had never
  been found. He wondered if there was a
  connection.

18
Profiler, Contd

• It's always important to understand the town
  demographics when such incidents occur. Bellevue
  was a Midwestern small town, largely reliant on
  employment from the nearby Offutt Air Force Base,
  where the Strategic Air Command was situated.
  Danny Joe's father had once been in the Air
  Force. It was a tight-knit community where
  people normally felt safe.
• What Ressler particularly liked about being
  involved in the investigation from the start was
  getting to see things firsthand. That way, he
  could decide which items were important and which
  items might just complicate the process. When he
  arrived in Omaha, he went to see the site where
  Danny Joe's body had been found. He was looking
  for specific clues.

19
What about the crime scene might give Ressler
clues about the perpetrator?
The out-of-the-way location.
2
The long grass.
The proximity to a major city.
1
4
A crossroads that led to a river.
3
Click on one of the figures to select your answer.
20
That is not the best answer. You have lost an
experience level.

• The best answer is 3). The first two are too
  general to be of much use, but the fact that the
  perpetrator did not take advantage of using the
  river as a means of disposal indicated that he
  was not strong enough to carry the body and/or he
  did not realize there was a river that close to
  the crime scene. Because Ressler believed that
  the perpetrator was familiar with the area, he
  must have therefore been slight of build.

21
Initial Impressions

• There were a number of signals that the killer
  was not overly concerned with concealment, which
  indicated compulsive behavior, or something he
  could not easily control. Ressler thought it was
  significant that the perpetrator had left Danny
  Joe's body in a place where he might have been
  seen. It was a dead-end road, but not far from
  an area where people would have been driving. In
  addition, the offender had picked Danny Joe up
  during the early daylight hours, and he hadn't
  bothered to take his prey further down the road
  to dump him in the river. To the offender, the
  body could be found fairly quickly, and his
  behavior indicated that he did not care. Even if
  it had still been dark when he left the body
  there, someone passing by could easily have
  spotted him or his vehicle in that spot. It was
  high-risk behavior.

22
Initial Impressions, Contd
Rope used to tie victims hands.

• The news reports the next day indicated that
  Danny Joe had been stabbed, but Ressler said it
  was worse than that. He lay face-down in the
  weeds, his hands and feet bound behind his back
  with a rope. His mouth had been closed with
  surgical tape, which was also used around his
  ankles and wrists. His clothing, except for his
  undershorts, had been removed, and he'd been
  stabbed multiple times. He'd also been hit in
  the face and his neck was slashed. Under the
  tape over his mouth, according to the medical
  examiner's report, a pebble had been found. That
  indicated that the boy had been a captive for a
  short time somewhere other than where he was
  found rather than killed quickly at this site.
  In that case, it seemed most likely that he'd
  been murdered shortly before he was found. While
  it appeared to have been a sexual crime, there
  was no evidence of outright sexual assault before
  or after death.

23
Initial Impressions, Contd

• Other boys, including Danny Joe's brother,
  reported that a man in a tan car had followed
  them in the days before the abduction. He'd
  never approached them, but in light of these
  circumstances, it now appeared to be suspicious.
  He might have been scoping out the area and
  making his selection.
• Investigators got busy trying to find the source
  of the pebble found in Danny's mouth. If they
  could identify an area that contained such
  pebbles, they might be able to find more
  evidence, and possibly the missing clothing. They
  did locate a potential source, but around the
  same time, the ME admitted that he'd made a
  mistake in his report. He had mixed up Danny
  Joe's case with another one, and no pebble had
  been found in Danny Joe's mouth. That was both
  disappointing and frustrating for investigators.
  They had thought they were closing in on a
  potential lead.

24
Such a mistake has serious consequences for
investigators. Why?
It wastes investigators' limited time and
resources, which could be applied to something
more productive for the investigation.
2
1
It routes resources toward a specific type of
investigation.
4
It undermines the autopsy report.
It erodes confidence in the investigative process.
3
Click on one of the figures to select your answer.
25
That is not the best answer. You have lost an
experience level.

• The best answer is 2). The most serious
  consequence is that the pebble appeared to be a
  clue and the police spent a week looking for
  similar pebbles when they could have been doing
  something more productive for the investigation.
  It doesn't undermine the autopsy report, since
  the documentation of wounds did not yet provide
  leads, and would not undermine confidence in most
  of the task force members. Mistakes are made,
  which does not indicate that the person making
  them is inept or corrupt. If the ME had a good
  record, it's just a mistake, but in this case it
  cost precious time. Decisions about the type of
  investigation to use does not rest with the ME's
  findings but with task force leaders, and they
  would likely not just select one lead and follow
  only that.

26
FBI Report

• Given all the information what little there was
  Ressler put together a preliminary report of
  his impressions. The Behavioral Sciences Unit had
  an approach that had not often been tested, but
  Ressler felt confident that, from his long
  experience with the Army's Counter Intelligence
  Department and his investigative years with the
  FBI, he could give a fairly accurate idea of the
  type of offender the task force, composed of the
  local and county police and the FBI, might be
  looking for.

27
FBI Report, Contd

• Given the witness reports from the boys, Ressler
  knew that he ought to be on the lookout for a
  white man in a tan car. He added, based on his
  knowledge of sexual predators, that the man was
  probably young, in his late teens to early
  twenties. Danny Joe had been abducted from a
  white neighborhood, and no one had reported a
  suspicious stranger, which seemed unlikely if a
  black, Asian or Hispanic male had been hanging
  around. Ressler believed that the lack of a
  report confirmed his instincts that this had been
  a white man. It seemed possible, since there was
  no sign of resistance or a struggle, that the man
  was either friendly and non-threatening or that
  Danny Joe had known him and felt safe.

28
FBI Report, Contd

• There was also reason to believe that the
  perpetrator was not experienced with killing. In
  fact, Ressler ventured to say this was his first
  time "I thought it had to be his first murder."
  It might also be the case that there had been
  more than one male operating together one to
  lure the boy, one to hold him down during an
  assault. The method of dumping suggested panic
  rather than experience, but the perpetrator was
  more than likely familiar with the area, because
  he knew abut the dead-end road. Ressler did not
  believe that Danny Joe had been bound while held
  captive.

29
Why might Ressler believe the perpetrator was
familiar with the area?
His behavior, while apparently high-risk, could
also indicate that he believed the area was
isolated and lightly traveled.
The crime bore the signs of a quick hit
opportunity such as a transient passing through
town might commit.
2
He knew how to get out of town.
1
3
4
He realized that the state line was only a few
miles away.
Click on one of the figures to select your answer.
30
Correct you have gained an experience level!

• The best response is 2). The area was a dead-end
  road, which meant the perpetrator believed he
  could bring a victim there and kill him without
  much chance of getting caught. No one knows if he
  "got out of town" or went right back in, and the
  crime bore the signs of someone who had spent
  some time with the body, so he was not in a
  hurry. The crime also looked somewhat planned
  rather than a crime of opportunity. The state
  line seemed irrelevant to the behavioral
  analysis, because it would have been better to
  have committed the crime over the state line to
  confuse the jurisdiction.

31
FBI Report, Pt. II
Final Score

• Besides being local, the perpetrator was thought
  to be in possession of no more than a high school
  education. He was likely employed in a job that
  required few skills. While the crime had likely
  been preplanned, it seemed to lack
  follow-through, as if only one part of the
  fantasy had been worked out which showed a lack
  of intelligence and experience. Because it seemed
  to have been a sexual crime without penetration,
  it seemed likely that the perpetrator was driven
  by fantasies but not by experience, except for
  some forced molestation of younger children when
  he was a child. He was probably single and
  likely had a mental imbalance or emotional
  problem that had long been part of his life. He
  was deviant, to be sure, but it was not
  altogether clear in what manner.

32
FBI Report, Pt. II, Contd

• In terms of what to look for, Ressler thought
  that, given the possibility that Danny Joe was
  held captive somewhere for a couple of days, the
  perpetrator might have missed some time at his
  job, if he was employed. "This last
  characteristic I suggested because of my
  interviews with murderers," Ressler wrote. "Many
  such as David Berkowtiz had told me that the
  right time around the murder was quite important
  to them, so that they had absented themselves
  from their usual routine before and after it." In
  addition, the perpetrator might try to inject
  himself into the investigation, ostensibly to
  assist, but actually seeking information. In
  that case, if a drawing was made, it should be
  kept within the law enforcement community.

33
FBI Report, Pt. II, Contd

• The fact that he'd been out that early in the
  morning suggested that he might have been up all
  night drinking, and that he had no one to report
  to. Substance abuse might have empowered him to
  actually commit the crime. Ressler thought that
  he'd considered dismembering the body, but had
  decided instead to dump it. His killing seemed
  tentative and spontaneous rather than clearly
  planned. The killer had also made some unusual
  wounds on Danny Joe's leg and shoulder, possibly
  to conceal a bite mark.
• Ressler delivered his ideas in a round-table
  format to the core group of investigators. He
  indicated that the perp was probably a loner with
  latent homosexual tendencies who worked in some
  capacity that brought him close to children, such
  as a coach or Boy Scout leader. He did not
  believe the man was a serial killer.

34
FBI Report, Pt. II, Contd

• The task force put surveillance on the dump site,
  Danny Joe's grave, and the general neighborhood
  from which the boy had disappeared in the hope
  that the killer might show up to relive the
  experience. Shortly after the funeral service,
  says Pettit, a man called the Eberle home to ask
  if Danny Joe could come outside and play. (There
  is no mention of that call in any source.) Danny
  Joe's mother did not recognize the voice and
  there was no way to trace the call. Nothing
  else occurred and no one was arrested. Danny
  Joe's grieving family was left to wonder if
  someone would be made to pay for what had been
  done.
• The bindings and the rope used on Danny Joe were
  sent to the FBI lab for analysis, as were some
  strands of hair that appeared to be from a source
  other than Danny Joe. The rope proved to be
  unique and difficult to identify.

35
In what way might this difficulty assist the
investigation?
It would prove to the community that they were
doing everything possible to follow leads.
It would keep them focused on the right evidence.
2
It would more easily be linked to rope in the
possession of the perpetrator than would more
ordinary rope.
It would broaden their knowledge about ropes.
1
4
3
Click on one of the figures to select your answer.
36
Correct you have gained an experience level!

• The best response is 3). The point of following a
  lead is not to prove anything, but to find
  evidence that will assist in the prosecution of
  the crime. If they can show how unique the rope
  is and also link it to the perpetrator, they have
  a good circumstantial case.

37
A Suspect

• A week after the murder, a young man was picked
  up for molesting two young boys. Pettit uses the
  pseudonym Alvin. The case against Alvin looked
  pretty good He failed a polygraph, lied about
  his alibi, a sample of his hair was consistent
  with the hair found on Danny Joe, and he had
  suspicious items in his home, such as a rope,
  tape, and a knife. To the task force, he seemed
  to match the kind of person they were looking
  for, but Ressler, who had watched him being
  questioned, believed he was not the guy.

38
A Suspect, Contd

• The task force was in a tough position, because
  they just weren't certain. They did not want to
  get the wrong person, but they also wanted
  justice for Danny Joe and his family, as well as
  closure for the community and a restoration of
  the feeling of safety. In the end, thanks to
  sparse evidence, they decided against charging
  Alvin for the crime.
• They then questioned known pedophiles in the
  area, including an Air Force major who liked
  cruising for boys and a gay man who persuaded
  boys to undress for photographs. They checked out
  one person after another, but found nothing to
  incriminate any of them in the case. The lack of
  evidence was frustrating and eventually, the
  murder of Danny Joe Eberle became a lower
  priority. It seemed that whoever had done this
  had managed to slip away. He might not even be
  from the area. They could only hope that, whoever
  he was, he would not strike again. But that was
  too much to hope for.

39
Second Strike

• Newton describes the second incident. On
  December 2, two and a half months after Danny Joe
  Eberle was murdered, Christopher Walden was
  walking to school when he disappeared. At least
  two witnesses had seen him get into a tan sedan
  with a white male. Walden, 12, had lived in
  Papillon, Nebraska, which was in a different
  town, but only three miles from where Danny Joe
  had been found. He was the son of a military
  officer at Offutt. While the FBI had decided
  there was no connection between the newsboy
  missing from Des Moines (who still had not been
  found) and Danny Joe, this new incident appeared
  to have more similarities. Almost at once, when
  Chris could not be found, they believed that the
  same killer had struck twice.

40
Second Strike, Contd

• The witnesses, both
  women, were put
  under hypnosis to try to get more details
  about what they might have
  seen. They offered
  descriptions of the man with
  Walden, saying he was of similar build,
  short, thin, and
  young. One person remembered that
  he'd also been wearing a woolen cap,
  pulled down over his
  forehead, although the other
  recalled no cap. One had seen the
  license plate, and
  with her memory more focused in a
  trance, she offered the first seven
  digits. But that gave the detectives the task of
  checking out over a thousand vehicles in Nebraska
  with those numbers. It could be a time-consuming
  task, with no guarantee that she had even
  recalled the numbers correctly. Hypnosis is not
  perfect, and it later turned out that both women
  had gotten several key details wrong.

41
When using hypnosis, investigators must keep all
of the following in mind except
Be cautious about suggestive questioning.
Be aware of court cases involving hypnotically
refreshed testimony.
2
1
Use and experienced professional.
Dont tell the witness what information was
provided in a trance state.
4
3
Click on one of the figures to select your answer.
42
Correct you have gained an experience level!

• The answer is 3). There are court-sanctioned
  guidelines for the use of hypnosis with
  eyewitnesses, including documentation and the use
  of a professional. The reason is that people who
  are inexperienced with hypnosis and eager to
  solve a case might suggest things that the
  witness will then accommodate subconsciously.
  Anyone who uses hypnosis must be aware of the
  state guidelines for legal proceedings, and
  nothing demands that the witness not learn what
  he or she said in a trance state.

43
Grim Discovery

• Two days later, two pheasant hunters came across
  Christopher in the woods, in a dense area five
  miles from town. They recognized his photo from
  the papers and called the police. He was clad
  only in his underwear and had been repeatedly
  stabbed. In addition, after death, his throat
  had been cut so deeply that it had nearly removed
  his head. There was also a strange mark on him,
  a figure of some kind carved into his torso.
  Some called it a star pattern, and in court
  documents later it was referred to as resembling
  a plant. Clearly the boy had been aware of what
  was happening to him as he bled to death from
  seven stab wounds. If this had been done by the
  same killer, and there was good reason to believe
  it had, then he was escalating in his violence.
  Two sets of footprints going to the site and one
  leaving indicated a sole offender. After an
  examination, it was found that there had been no
  sexual penetration.

44
Grim Discovery, Contd

• Ressler received the call once again. John Evans
  told him that another boy had been abducted and
  murdered in the Omaha area. When the crimes were
  compared, it was found that the two boys had been
  similar in height and build, so they might have
  attracted the offender by appearance. Ressler
  revised his profile to indicate that the killer
  was probably in his twenties and said again he
  was likely not very large. Both boys had also
  been abducted and taken away in a vehicle. Both
  were forced to strip, and neither were sexually
  assaulted. Ressler viewed this as "a killer's
  anger with himself" and a denial of his
  homosexuality. In his book, he says that he went
  out on a limb to say that it could be an enlisted
  man who does mechanical work and is not
  intellectual. He reiterated that this person
  would likely be involved in some occupation
  dealing with children.

45
Grim Discovery, Contd

• Yet there were differences, too. Ressler thought
  that Danny Joe had been held captive and then
  killed, while it appeared that Christopher had
  been taken and killed immediately, right there
  were his body was left. Danny Joe had been left
  in a fairly visible place near a road, while
  Christopher's body had been better concealed.
  Danny Joe's clothing had been taken, while
  Christopher's was piled near the body. Danny Joe
  had been bound with rope and tape, but
  Christopher had not.

46
The differences between the two crime scenes
might most likely indicate
One was a statement to society the other was for
the killers private satisfaction.
The likelihood that the killer was getting better
at it.
2
An indication that the first crime had been
planned but the second one had not.
1
Proof that there was more than one killer.
4
3
Click on one of the figures to select your answer.
47
Correct you have gained an experience level!

• The best response is 2). The fact that the second
  boy was not bound indicated that the killer felt
  more confident of his ability to restrain the boy
  and overpower him without binding him. As to
  proof, there was no proof of anything yet, and it
  was not possible to interpret the killer's actual
  motive, or the killer's level of planning in each
  crime.

48
Rope

• Ressler and Evans decided to tell the media to
  warn parents and children about someone lurking
  around schools and churches any place where
  child-ren might congregate. A warning might
  make people extra cautious, because both FBI
  agents believed that the killer might strike
  again during the holidays, when more children
  were out playing. The task force practiced a
  quick response to any indication that the man was
  in the area.
• The FBI technicians were busy trying to learn the
  origin of the rope that had been found on Danny
  Joe. It had been braided with several colors and
  was not available in any of the local stores.
  That made the rope more interesting and more
  frustrating. Unique ropes such as this one were
  helpful, because their distribution was limited.
  Yet this rope was so unusual that no one could
  figure out where it originated.

Specific strands in rope.
49
Rope, Contd

• Rope is made by twisting yarns in specific ways
  to strengthen them, and the type of yarn used can
  help to identify a manufacturer, although the
  more common the yarn, the less likely that one
  can be certain that one piece of rope had the
  same origin as another that looks like it. This
  rope had several colored yarns and an unusual
  construction.
• The FBI set about checking with every rope
  manufacturer in the country, as well as abroad,
  seeking help from Scotland Yard. They even went
  to dealers in the Far East, but each attempt was
  frustrated. No one seemed to have ropes that
  matched their sample. Fortunately, another
  incident gave the investigation an entirely new
  direction.

50
Fortuitous Incident

• On January 11, 1984, a staff member of a
  preschool spotted a young man driving around in
  the area, seemingly scoping it out. The town was
  on the alert for such people, especially after
  the reports of a white man in a car following
  young boys, so the woman took note of his license
  plate number. (Ressler says he was loitering, but
  Evans indicates he was driving by and when he saw
  her write down his number, he stopped and
  demanded that she give him the paper. Pettit says
  he was driving by and got out of the car to ask
  her for directions, and she memorized the number
  to write down later.) She later reported that he
  said he would kill her and, when she eluded him,
  he ran to his car. As he fled the scene, the
  woman ran for help and called the authorities.

51
Fortuitous Incident, Contd

• The car was not tan, as they had hoped, and did
  not have a matching license plate number, but
  they went to work on this tip anyway. At least
  she knew that the car she'd seen was a Citation.
  They traced the vehicle, says Evans, to a
  dealership that had rented the car to John
  Joubert, a twenty-year-old enlisted man at the
  Offutt Air Force Base, while his own car was
  under repair. That was interesting. He had
  another car, and it turned out to be a
  tan-colored Nova sedan. The license plate
  contained two of the seven digits (some sources
  erroneously say all seven) reported by the
  witness under hypnosis. It appeared they had a
  real break in the case and they rapidly prepared
  themselves.

52
Fortuitous Incident, Contd

• As they learned more about John Joubert's
  background, a warrant was issued to arrest him
  and search his quarters. That search turned up an
  important item rope that seemed consistent with
  the rope used to bind Danny Joe. A search of
  Joubert's car turned up more rope and a large
  hunting knife (Ressler says this was in his
  quarters). There was also a stack of racy
  detective magazines, and Ressler indicates that
  one contained a story about the murder of a
  newsboy. While DNA analysis had not yet been
  discovered and applied in criminal cases (that
  was two years away), the rope proved to be
  essential in making the case. Because of its
  unusual composition, it was nearly as good as
  other types of identifying evidence, such as a
  fingerprint.

53
Fortuitous Incident, Contd

• Joubert was arrested and charged in the murder of
  Danny Joe Eberle. That same day, the FBI
  indicated that the rope from the Danny Joe Eberle
  murder had likely been made for the military in
  the Far East. That fact would soon become
  crucial.
• A comparison of Ressler's profile against
  Joubert's situation showed that Ressler had
  gotten a number of things right. Joubert was 20,
  resided at least temporarily in the area, was
  sexually disturbed, was an enlisted man who
  worked with radar, was of a slight frame
  (five-foot-six and slender), and was good with
  his hands. He was also, according to Evans and
  Pettit, an assistant scoutmaster, which gave him
  access to boys. He hadn't been at it long, but
  long enough to have become good friends with the
  scoutmaster and one of the boys in his charge.

54
Fortuitous Incident, Contd

• In fact, before his interrogation, says Pettit,
  John Joubert asked to speak to the boy and
  reassure him that he'd never been in any danger.
  That cleared the way for a confession, which was
  precipitated by two things.

55
What evidence might the interrogators use
effectively to disturb Joubert sufficiently to
start talking?
The knife found in his possession.
2
The way the body was stabbed.
1
The rope.
The crime scene photos.
4
3
Click on one of the figures to select your answer.
56
That is not the best answer. You have lost an
experience level.

• The best response is 2). They had found detective
  magazines in his possession, so he probably knew
  that wound analysis and an ordinary knife might
  not be sufficient to pin murder on him in court,
  but the uniqueness of the rope could be
  disconcerting. Using crime scene photos to
  attempt to make him feel guilty actually risked
  making him feel powerful.

57
Interrogation

• The investigators showed Joubert the rope they'd
  removed from his room and car, noting that it was
  extremely rare. He resisted this notion at first,
  but admitted that he'd gotten it from the
  scoutmaster, who had brought it back from Korea.
  (As it happened, the FBI had just discovered that
  the rope was from Korea.) He seemed taken aback
  that it could place him at a crime scene.
• While he was vulnerable, Lieutenant Jim Sanderson
  of the Sarpy County Sheriff's Department
  approached him with a way to make an admission
  without fully committing himself to a full
  confession. He talked with Joubert about his
  "bad" side, the part of himself that compelled
  the good part to do something he knew to be
  wrong. It wasn't long before Joubert was ready to
  admit to everything.

58
Interrogation, Contd

• He said that he'd killed the two boys and told
  the detectives interrogating him that he would
  likely kill again. He seemed relieved that they'd
  stopped him. The FBI confirmed that the rope in
  Joubert's possession and the rope used to bind
  Danny were microscopically identical. Given how
  rare the rope was, it would make a solid case.
  They also compared a hair from Joubert's car to
  both victims and found it to be consistent with
  Danny Joe's hair sample. On January 12, Joubert
  was charged with two counts of murder and held
  for trial. But the trial never happened. On July
  3, after initially pleading not guilty, he
  pleaded guilty to both counts.

59
Interrogation, Contd

• There were several psychiatric assessments of
  Joubert at this time, and Pettit includes three
  of them. Ressler discusses another. He was
  variously labeled as obsessive-compulsive,
  sadistic, and suffering from schizoid personality
  disorder. This meant that he had strange beliefs,
  but was not psychotic. They noted how he managed
  to distance himself from the atrocity of his
  crimes and didn't care much about anyone. He
  blamed his mother for many of his childhood
  problems, and had developed a ritualized approach
  to the murders. Yet all of them concluded that he
  knew that what he was doing was wrong and that he
  had a certain degree of control over his
  behavior. That made a mental illness
  qualification of his sanity untenable He had not
  been psychotic at the time of the crimes.

60
Interrogation, Contd

• A panel of three judges decided that, given the
  senselessness and brutality of the crimes, and
  the fact that he had killed the boys to evade
  detection, Joubert should be executed.
• But the story wasn't over. Joubert had lived
  elsewhere, and his case in Nebraska was making
  authorities in Portland, Maine, take another look
  at one of their own cases. Ressler says that he
  was showing slides about the case to a group of
  police officers during the fall of 1984 and one
  of them recognized the similarity to an unsolved
  crime in his jurisdiction. Ressler adds that
  while he'd initially said that the Eberle murder
  was the offender's first, he'd revised his
  opinion after learning more about Joubert.

61
What does this shift indicate about criminal
profiling?
Its not valuable to an investigation.
Its accuracy relies on accurate input.
Its not very accurate.
Its not flexible.
1
2
4
3
Click on one of the figures to select your answer.
62
Correct you have gained an experience level!

• The answer is 3). A profile is intended to help
  investigators narrow suspect leads, and it's not
  proposed as a scientifically accurate instrument.
  Its accuracy relies on accurate input, and as an
  investigation progresses and more or better
  information is obtained, the profile may (and
  usually does) shift on some items. It's meant to
  be flexible, and the more information becomes
  available, the better it will be as a tool.
  Joubert's amateur approach indicated inexperience
  with murder, but his long history of violent
  fantasies, learned only after he was arrested,
  opened up the possibility that he'd killed
  before.

63
Your final score is 7/10

• You have achieved the level of Certified Crime
  Scene Analyst

64
Evaluation Model
Rookie CSI 1
Certified CSA 3
Head CSI 5
Certified CSI 2
Certified Sen. CSA 4
If you answered one question correctly, you are a
novice
If you answered some questions correctly, you are
a beginner
If you answered many questions correctly, you are
a developer
If you answered most of the questions correctly,
you are advanced
If you answered all questions correctly, you are
an expert
65
Conclusion

• This learning activity was intended to help you
  experience real world crime scene investigation.
  
• We hope that you now have a better understanding
  of crime scene investigation by completing the
  learning activity.  Our goal was to have you
  learn about logic and critical thinking and how
  it is used to solve crimes. 
• Unfortunately, murders occur on a daily basis in
  our society however, there are good people out
  there using logic to find out who commits these
  heinous crimes and put the offenders in prison. 
  Throughout the scope of this learning activity we
  hope you have realized that what you learn is
  relative to what goes on in the real world.