Chandra Levy Case Highlights the Importance of Forensic Analysis in Solving Crimes

Without a freshly murdered body, can forensic scientists glean enough information from clothing, bone, fibers, hair, stains and other evidence to solve a murder? Dr. Henry C. Lee would answer yes.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 28, 2002

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO INTERVIEW DR. HENRY LEE,CONTACT:
Jill Maxick at 800-853-7545
jmaxick@prometheusbooks.com

Levy Case Highlights the Importance of Forensic
Analysis in Solving Crimes

Without a freshly murdered body, can forensic scientists glean enough information from clothing, bone, fibers, hair, stains and other evidence to solve a murder?

Forensic evidence may be the primary means by which the Chandra Levy homicide is eventually solved. The human remains are skeletal-there are no organs or flesh to analyze. Physical evidence at Rock Creek Park has been subject to the elements of nature-weather and possibly wild animals. Since Levy was missing for over a year, other possible physical evidence and other possible crime scenes are now old. Without a freshly murdered body, can forensic scientists glean enough information from clothing, bone, fibers, hair, stains and other evidence to solve a murder? Dr. Henry C. Lee would answer yes.

Dr. Lee-considered by many to be the greatest forensic scientist in the world-has worked hundreds of cases under similar circumstances. Sometimes, it only takes the smallest of physical evidence to help solve a crime. In his new book, Cracking Cases: The Science of Solving Crimes (Prometheus Books, 2002), Dr. Lee walks the reader through the Woodchipper murder", in which homicide was proven based partially on these remains only: bone fragments, one fingernail, strands of human hair, three ounces of tissue, a dental crown and part of one tooth. Dr. Lee has worked many cases in which a stray fiber, a stain, or an article of clothing contained the crucial bit of evidence to connect the dots and close a case.

Cracking Cases: The Science of Solving Crimes takes the reader through the entire investigative process of five murder cases, with Dr. Lee as the tour guide. In each case, Dr. Lee presents in scientific detail how he investigated the murders, analyzed the evidence, and used techniques that played a critical role in bringing criminals to justice. He discusses how the criminalist examines blood spatter evidence and uses blood identification, DNA analysis, and other forensic technologies developed in the worlds best laboratories. It is a fascinating insiders look by a world-renowned expert into the pursuit of justice in some of the most grisly criminal cases of recent times.

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