Silent Witnesses by Nigel McCrery

Author:Nigel McCrery
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Published: 2014-12-14T16:00:00+00:00

The examination of hair—often using a microscope to determine distinctive characteristics such as hair diameter—is now a key part of many forensic investigations.

Lyons had Fiorenza’s criminal record looked into. He had been arrested four times for theft and had spent two years in prison. More alarming, however, was a psychiatric report from 1934 in which Fiorenza was described as “delusional” and “prone to wild fantasies.” This certainly added further weight to Lyons’s theory, but without any hard evidence to back it up, he felt arresting Fiorenza would be unproductive.

Then, on April 17, came the breakthrough Lyons had been waiting for. The provenance of the cord found beneath Nancy Titterton’s body finally came to light—it had been manufactured by the Hanover Cordage Company of York, Pennsylvania. Although it had been sold widely, Lyons’s detectives were able to track down a wholesaler who had sold a roll to somewhere highly significant: the upholstery shop where Kruger and Fiorenza worked. It was the evidence Lyons needed.

Fiorenza was promptly arrested; although he initially denied having had anything to do with the murder, he finally broke and confessed when confronted with the cord. He explained that he had visited the apartment that morning on the pretence of returning the sofa. When Nancy Titterton let him in, he attacked her. He dragged her into the bedroom and tied her hands with the cord. He then raped and strangled her before dragging her body into the bathroom and dumping it in the bath, where he “found” her later when he returned to the apartment with Kruger.

Fiorenza went to the electric chair on January 22, 1937, for the premeditated murder of Nancy Titterton. He had been more aware of the potential for forensic evidence to betray him than many criminals, and by placing the body under a running shower and removing (as far as he knew) everything he had brought with him to the scene, he thought that he had concealed his guilt. But while criminals in a hurry will almost certainly be unable to see every trace they have left behind at a scene, a meticulous forensic scientist can.

Fiber analysis also lay at the heart of a landmark case that took place in Liverpool, England. The night of November 2, 1940, was cold and wet. Fifteen-year-old Mary Hagen was therefore understandably reluctant to venture out when her father asked her to go and buy him a pack of cigarettes and a copy of the Liverpool Echo. However, at his insistence she pulled on her coat and left on the errand. She did not return.

The police were called and a search was mounted. Just five hours later, Mary’s body was discovered in a cement blockhouse nearby. She had been raped and strangled. The evening edition of the Liverpool Echo lay next to her.

Among those called to the scene was Dr. James Firth from the Home Office’s Forensic Science Laboratory in the North West, situated in Preston, Lancashire. A scrap of muddy fabric had been found near the body, and it was on this that Firth concentrated his attention.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.