Cracking Cases: The Science of Solving Crimes [Hardcover]

Henry C. Lee (Author), Thomas W. O'Neil (Author), Charles D. Gill (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2002

This book will take the reader through the entire investigative process of five murder cases, with Dr Lee as the tour guide. The cases covered include: the O J Simpson case, in which Dr Lee's analysis of the blood evidence at the crime scene revealed that the Los Angeles Police Department had missed several blood drops on the back of Nicole Simpson, a footprint belonging to a second possible assailant, and the physical improbability of Mr Simpson's climbing a fence to return to his home; the 'woodchipper murder', in which an Eastern Airlines pilot murdered his wife and then put her body through a woodchipper in an attempt to dispose of the remains; and the Mathison murder, in which a veteran Hawaiian police sergeant claimed to have accidentally run over his wife after she fled the family van during a dispute. It also covers cases, such as: the Ed Sherman murder, in which a college English professor attempted to disguise the time of his wife's death by turning up the air conditioning unit in their house and then using the alibi that he was away from the home sailing on the day the crime allegedly took place; and the McArthur murder, in which a police sergeant shot and killed his wife, but then tried to make it appear that she had accidentally killed herself. 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 criminologist examines blood spatter evidence and uses blood identification, DNA analysis, and other forensic technologies developed in the world's best laboratories. This is a fascinating insider's look by a world-renowned expert into the pursuit of justice in some of the most grizzly criminal cases of recent times.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the tradition of Alphonse Bertillon and Lee's close friend and contemporary Michael Baden (author of the recent Dead Reckoning), the latest from renowned forensic criminologist Lee (Henry Lee's Crime Scene Handbook) takes readers through the steps of the investigative process of five homicide cases. Lee exposes the methodologies of crafty killers an air conditioner cranked up to disguise a victim's time of death, a shooting concealed as a suicide, a corpus delecti (literally, "the body of the crime") destroyed via a woodchipper in four of the five investigations; in the fifth, he revisits the mangled O.J. Simpson inquiry. Lee takes his responsibility to the scientific method seriously (which comes through in somewhat cold storytelling) and does not hesitate to place blame where he feels it's due. Justifying his work for the defense in the O.J. Simpson case, Lee criticizes the LAPD investigation as being compromised by bumbled procedure, cross-contamination and the mishandling of crucial blood evidence. Each of the cases considered here not only provides a rousing tale of forensic work, but also details the practical techniques such as bloodstain pattern analysis, crime scene photography and latent fingerprint detection through the use of alkyl-2-cyanoacrylate (Super Glue). If Lee's material has an element of the slapdash, it's probably for good reason after all, he's been a consultant to over 300 law enforcement agencies and is the editor of seven peer-reviewed journals. But attention to storytelling reveals the characters behind the cases, and supports Lee's assertion that "no one person... is responsible for the guilty being found out and successfully prosecuted." B&w photos throughout; color insert not seen by PW. (Apr.)Forecast: The true-crime crowd will consider this essential reading, and with a segment scheduled on ABC TV's 20/20, it may reach a broader audience.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Lee, a renowned forensic criminologist, reviews five domestic homicide cases that he has worked on, all of them examples of a male fatally assaulting a female to whom he was currently or had recently been married. Sketching out the scenarios surrounding each of the murders, he establishes the chronological flow of events both before and after the homicide, and he brings the personalities of murderer and victim into focus. Often, his detailed accounts of the murder scenes are horrific, bloody, frightening, and graphic. Lee separates the emotional response and focuses on the scientific skills required to ferret out information needed to solve the crimes. This sometimes leads to explanations of the equipment, procedures, chemicals, and so on needed to find and process data. For example, he details how to figure out the angle of the drip of blood drops in order to discover the angle of the blow to a body. A book for teens interested in working in forensics, police work, or true crime.
Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 316 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books; 1 edition (January 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573929859
• ISBN-13: 978-1573929851
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,445,798 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Induction, Deduction, and Forensic Science, June 4, 2002

By 

Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cracking Cases: The Science of Solving Crimes (Hardcover)

Assisted by Thomas W. O'Neil, Lee wrote this book primarily for persons such as I whose understanding of murder trials depended almost entirely, at least until the O.J. Simpson trial, on plays, films and television programs. Lee played a key role in the Simpson trial which is among the five he examines in this book. The other four (all resulting in a verdict of guilt beyond reasonable doubt) involved homicide charges against Kenneth Mathison, Richard Bunel Crafts, Edward Robert Sherman, and Theodore ("Ted") MacArthur. Although all of these other four cases were no doubt widely covered by national media, I was unfamiliar with them until reading Lee's book. Throughout, he generously acknowledges the importance of teamwork and praises all of his associates. Lee defines the term forensics as "the direct application of scientific knowledge and techniques to matters of law." He notes that "the wise forensic investigator will always remember that he must bring all of his life experiences and logic to find the truth. This means common sense, informed intuition, and the courage to see things as they are. Then he must speak honestly about all that it adds up to." The process is necessarily complicated and demanding, requiring as much patience as it does precision.

It would be a disservice to both Lee and his reader to share more than a few details in this review. "Each of the five cases presents the opportunity, through its respective facts, investigation, and legal resolution, to study particular aspects of forensic investigation and how the work fits in with the rest of the criminal justice system." What Lee accomplishes in this book is to help his reader to develop (or at least understand) some of the skills he (Lee) has used while accompanying him during the investigation of five different murders. Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out Evans' The Casebook of Forensic Science: How Science Solved 100 of the World's Most Baffling Cases; Criminal Investigation co-authored by Swanson, Chamelin, and Territo; and Punitive Damages co-authored by Sunstein, Hastie, Payne, and Schkade.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of details and tidbits, not as much organization..., May 20, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Cracking Cases: The Science of Solving Crimes (Hardcover)

This book contains many details on five cases that are of interest for various reasons. Granted police work doesn't live by the rules of good plot development or story presentation, but parts of the book seem more like you are reading an investigators notebook instead of a finished published piece of literature. Some people may prefer that, but it didn't add to my appreciation of the book.

Particularly jarring for me was a sentence in the beginning of the epilogue where Dr. Lee writes "It also seems appropriate to quote an African American athlete, philosopher, and Muslim, as I end this book, Muhammad Ali said, `The truth shall set you free.'" Most people in the western world would attribute this quote to Jesus as quoted in the King James version of the Bible, John 8:32 "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (KJV translation done about 400 years ago.) This is the famous verse that is on the wall of the CIA's original building's main lobby (where it is also attributed to John 8:32.) This type of gaffe is something I would have expected a publisher to catch before going to print and does raise some questions about the accuracy of other facts in the book, (just like irregularities in Mark Fuhrman's statements helped to cast doubt over the whole O.J. Simpson investigation.)

In Dr. Lee's defense he does say a few times that he was raised in China and is unfamiliar with many western customs, (as he points out in one case saying he didn't know that Christmas was a big holiday when he called a bunch of people to work a case then.)

A lot of details, but not as much style.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reading time well spent, February 28, 2004

By 

lanoitan (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cracking Cases: The Science of Solving Crimes (Hardcover)

Despite the fact that this book 1) was boring at times due to the plethora of technical facts, 2) the poor editing, and 3) the lack of writing skill of the author, I enjoyed this book immensely and felt that I learned a great deal from reading it. I came away from it feeling glad that I took the time to read it. Contrary to how I feel after reading some books written in a highly polished manner, this book came across to me as very real (this ain't Agatha Christie), and the author came across as a diligent, intelligent, scientifically minded, fair, and appropriately humble man.

What I learned: I got a glimmering of the huge amount of painstaking examination of detail involved in forensic pathology, I got an idea of how court procedure can hinder the bringing out of the truth, I got a glimpse of how easy it is to bungle the preservation of the evidence, and I got a picture of the number of dedicated people who work together trying to solve whodunits. I also got a view into the personalities of a few wife-murderers.

The page 9 gaffe about chopsticks not falling to the floor in a vacuum was written by Judge Gill (was his memory of the story correct?) and the page 54 mention of those gigantic red blood cells should have been edited out. Two things that stood out in my mind were: the fact that the drops of blood on Nicole Simpson's back were washed away! (evidence which could have incontrovertibly established the innocence or guilt of O.J.) and the fact that the young girl's testimony that Edward Sherman had had a phony telephone conversation with his wife (attempting to make others think she was still alive) was thrown out at the trial.

This book held my interest. I'm glad that we have people like Henry Lee, Michael Baden, and Cyril Wecht working so hard for all of us. And I find it fascinating to get a peek at them and how they do their work, in a down-to-earth, unglorified, objective way. That is what this book did for me.