Three Unsolved Murders A crime analyst at the Sawyer’s Mill Police Department has mathematically uncovered three unsolved murders that are eerily similar. The murders all involved strangled elderly females (all in their 80s) who lived alone after losing their husbands. In addition, these cases are eerily similar to the work of a serial killer who has been operating throughout the Southeastern United States – but there are definite differences in these cases and his confirmed cases. The police in Sawyers Mill have exhausted all evidence and all other leads in all three cases. They are asking you to provide your opinion as to whether or not the murders are the work of a serial killer or if they are merely similar and the work of three individual killers. In addition, they have asked you to provide them with a criminal profile. Murder #1 January 1989 – Sawyers Mill Florida Upon arrival the police find this: • • • • • • • • • • • • • Victim lives alone – husband deceased Single wide mobile home. Victim’s car cold and parked in the driveway. Open master bedroom window. Master bedroom window screen lying in the grass nearby. All other windows unlocked but all doors closed and locked. Three days’ worth of newspapers lying at the curb. Deceased elderly female victim o Decedent is found lying supine in the master bedroom on the master bed. o The bed is fully made-up o Decedent’s ankles are together o Decedent’s hands are folded one atop the other on her chest o Decedent is fully clothed in a pajama shirt and pants but the shirt is wrongly buttoned by one button. o Not wearing a bra or panties o Bra found in living room partially hidden under the couch. o Panties not found. o Fingernails freshly painted. o Hair freshly brushed. Dry wash cloth found on the floor near the master bed. Nothing in the master bedroom appeared disturbed or out of place; everything was very dusty. The living room of the home was obviously cleaned up, there was no dust on any of the furniture and nothing had been stolen. There was a stereo, a television, a computer and other electronics in plain view. There was a twenty dollar bill lying on the kitchen table. Medical Examiner’s findings o Broken spine o Severed spinal chord o Manual strangulation – broken hyoid bone o Sexual assault – no male DNA or foreign material of male origin found on the decedent. Murder #2 January 1990 - Sawyers Mill Florida Upon arrival the police find this: • • • • • • • • • • Victim lives alone – husband deceased Single wide mobile home. Victim’s car cold and parked in the driveway. Open master bedroom window. Master bedroom window screen lying in the grass nearby. All other windows unlocked but all doors closed and locked. Deceased elderly female victim o Decedent is found lying supine in the master bedroom on the master bed. o The bed is fully made-up o Decedent’s ankles are together o Decedent’s hands are folded one atop the other on her chest o Decedent is fully clothed in a pajama shirt and pants but the shirt is wrongly buttoned by one button. o Not wearing a bra or panties o Bra found in living room near couch. o Panties not found. o Fingernails freshly painted. o Hair freshly brushed. Nothing in the master bedroom appeared disturbed or out of place; everything was very dusty. The living room of the home was obviously cleaned up, there was no dust on any of the furniture and nothing had been stolen. There was a stereo, a television, a computer and other electronics in plain view. Medical Examiner’s findings o Broken spine o Severed spinal chord o Manual strangulation – broken hyoid bone o Sexual assault – no male DNA or foreign material of male origin found on the decedent. Murder #3 January 1991 - Sawyers Mill Florida Upon arrival the police find this: • • • • • • • Victim lives alone – husband deceased Single wide mobile home. Victim’s car cold and parked in the driveway. Open master bedroom window. Master bedroom window screen lying in the grass nearby. All other windows unlocked but all doors closed and locked. Four days’ worth of newspapers lying at the curb. Deceased elderly female victim o Decedent is found lying supine in the master bedroom on the master bed. o The bed is fully made-up o Decedent’s ankles are together o Decedent’s hands are folded one atop the other on her chest o Decedent is fully clothed in a pajama shirt and pants but the shirt is wrongly buttoned by one button. o Not wearing a bra or panties • • • • o Bra found in living room near coffee table and couch. o Panties not found. o Fingernails freshly painted. o Hair freshly brushed. Nothing in the master bedroom appeared disturbed or out of place; everything was very dusty. The living room of the home was obviously cleaned up, there was no dust on any of the furniture and nothing had been stolen. There was a stereo, a television, a computer and other electronics in plain view. Medical Examiner’s findings o Broken spine o Severed spinal chord o Manual strangulation – broken hyoid bone o Sexual assault – no male DNA or foreign material of male origin found on the decedent. Things to think about: • • Did a serial killer murder these elderly victims or not? What might that serial killer look like? Criminal Behavior Three Unsolved Murders Michelle England Three Unsolved Murders There is nothing more disturbing and frustrating than killers. They are all violent predators whose criminal offenses must be profiled. These people kill, which fills complex psychological requirements (Longo, 2018). Although their mission most of the time is to kill, sometimes they steal, but from experience of profiling serial killers and interviewing over hundreds of them, they are motivated in the minds and are not concerned with the money. Since they kill for psychological reasons, in most cases, they leave several clues for profilers. This is because several criminals always want their scenes of crime to appear in some way. This is usually followed by a lot of fantasy involvement regarding how they kill (Fox, Levin & Fridel, 2018). Therefore, there is a lot of their personality that is left at the scene of the crime. In the three unsolved murders, I have managed to identify and describe two profiling choices. These include DNA profiling and sexual orientation profiling (information science). DNA profiling- this profiling method involves the determination of unique characteristics from an individual's DNA, such as fingerprints (Fox, Levin & Fridel, 2018). This analysis is intended to identify DNA barcoding. Using DNA as a profiling choice would be useful especially when matching the victim’s DNA sample (for instance, semen stain or blood) from the scene of the crime of the offenders and this relies on DNA regions. The DNA profiling technique embroils cutting up the DNA by use of restriction endonucleases enzymes that are capable of cutting the DNA just when they arise through a specific sequence (Fox, Levin & Fridel, 2018). Suppose the DNA of everyone were similar, then the fragments left after the molecule turmoil slicing would all have the same length. However, specific repeated units of DNA vary significantly from one person to the other. This means the lengths of the offenders’ cut parts will not be similar to the other different offenders cut fragments (this is due to the varying number of repeats). Yes. The serial killer did murder the elderly victims according to the post mortem revelations. In the three unresolved murder cases, the post mortem examinations reveal that the elderly victims suffered sexual assaults, strangulation with broken hyoid bones, severed spinal cords and broken spines which suggest that the victims struggled with the killers before they succumbed. These are violent predators that kill people to fulfill their complex psychological requirements. In most identified cases, the key objective of the perpetrators is to kill. However, they sometimes end up stealing. References Fox, J. A., Levin, J., & Fridel, E. E. (2018). Extreme killing: Understanding serial and mass murder. Sage Publications. Longo, P. (2018). In Cold Storage: Sex and Murder on the Plains by James W. Hewitt. Middle West Review, 5(1), 61-63.
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