When crime scene investigators are called to the scene of a crime, the first thing they do upon their arrival is a walk-through examination in which CSI's get a feel for the scene and organize an approach to collecting evidence. After doing a walk-through the CSI starts to formulate a theory of the crime. This involves focusing on the likely sequence of events and the places and positions of each person present during the crime. The following information may be crucial in finding out the truth of a suspect or the credibility of a witness:
Shoeprints may disclose the offender's steps.
Fingerprints may be indicative of the things the offender touched.
Physical changes that occur in a corpse may be indicative of whether the corpse was moved moments after or several hours following death.
Blood spatters, the angle and severity of blows and stabs, bullet trajectories, and the nature of the victim's injuries can disclose the absolute and relative positions of the attacker, victim, and anybody else who was there during the crime.
Tool markings may indicate the places of entry or where safes or locked drawers are forced open.
The CSI scrutinizes every piece of physical evidence to determine whether it backs up his hypothesis considering the information not only gathered at the scene, but also from the forensic laboratory, medical report of findings of anybody who was hurt, and the results of the medical examiner's autopsy. Any piece of information that stands out or does not support his hypothesis of the crime must be reconciled. Otherwise, he must reformulate his theory. As more evidence surfaces, the rebuilding of the crime scene continues to evolve.
The criminal investigator constantly tests any new theories against the evidence and avoids making any personal assumptions, no matter how logical they may appear. An investigator may logically conclude that a piece of evidence ended up being at a particular location because of the offender's actions, but if the hard evidence does not support his theory, the theory still remains in question.
If a knife is found outside the living room window of a house where a homicide occurred, the logical thinking suggests that the attacker dropped the knife on his way out. Even though that is certainly possible, without hard evidence, it would be difficult to rule out other possibilities. This only raises the possibility that the knife had been dumped there in a last-ditch effort to make a domestic homicide look like a murder committed by a burglar whom the victim supposedly caught while perpetrating a crime. Evidence such as the husband's fingerprints on the knife or the wife's blood on the husband's shoes may revise that theory. Criminal investigators will not be able to arrive at any absolute conclusions until all the evidence from rebuilding the crime scene is considered and explained.
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