Solved Cases 3

Analyst/ Det. Anthony Williams reports that a woman was found brutally stabbed to death in her house. An individual later appeared at police headquarters and told detectives that he had information concerning the victim and various crimes that she had been involved in. After listening to the information, detectives felt that the subject giving the information may have been involved in the murder and felt that it was necessary to eliminate him as a suspect. The subject agreed to take a CVSA exam and the results confirmed that he was the killer. After utilizing the interrogation techniques taught by the NITV, the subject admitted that he and the victim were smoking crack and got into an argument. He stated that she pulled a knife and that he took it away from her and stabbed her to death. He was charged with second degree murder.

Analyst/D/Lt. Michael McQuillan reports that on his very first exam since graduating from the NITV’s Certified Examiners Course, he was asked to test the father of a 12 year old girl that claimed that her father had molested her since she was seven years old. The father agreed to take the CVSA exam and passed. D/Lt. McQuillan then proceeded to administer the CVSA to the young girl. She failed the exam and when confronted with the charts, admitted that she wanted to get her father out of the house, so she made up the story about the molestation. D/Lt. McQuillan states that without the CVSA, given the circumstances, the father would have probably been arrested on the initial allegations. The Prince Georges Co. P.D. now has 7 CVSA’s and 31 detectives trained.

Analyst/Det. Bill Gentry reports that a young girl stated that while passing the girls restroom at the middle school that she attended, she stopped to tie her shoe. She stated that she was grabbed from behind, a cloth was put over her face, and she was forced into the girls room. She further stated that she was pinned down on the floor by a group of girls and that one of them pulled up her dress and cut two inch letters into her abdomen with a sharp object. The letters represented a local Hispanic street gang. The incident caused outrage from the parents and they quickly organized to march on the school board for failing to protect the students. Det. Gentry offered the girl a CVSA to confirm her story and she agreed. Her charts were clearly deceptive and when confronted with them, she began to cry and admitted that she had actually cut the letters herself to get more attention from her mother. Det. Gentry states that literally hundreds of investigative man-hours were saved by the CVSA. The Ventura County Sheriff’s Dept. now has 4 CVSA’s and 20 detectives trained as examiners.

Analyst/Det. Kenneth Merchant reports that three days after graduating from the NITV’s Certified Examiners Course he was asked to conduct his first exam on an individual that had discovered the body of a murder victim. The subject showed no deception except when asked if she suspected who had committed the murder. After denying it, she finally admitted that she suspected an individual that she knew was going to visit the victim the night of the murder. That individual was picked up for questioning that night and agreed to take a truth verification examination on the Computer Voice Stress Analyzer. After taking and failing the CVSA exam, the suspect gave a full confession. Det. Merchant states that since the initial subject was the only one that knew the identity of the individual that went to the victim’s house that night, it is unknown if the actual murder would ever have been identified or charged had it not been for the CVSA. Det. Merchant states that the CVSA paid for itself in its very first case by saving hundreds of investigative hours and quickly clearing a case that otherwise might not have been solved.

Analyst/D/Capt. Kenneth Manthey reports that he was paged to a possible homicide scene only 1 hour after returning home from the NITV’s Certified Examiners Course. A 56 year-old woman was found dead in her boyfriend’s apartment but because of her medical problems due to alcoholism, it was difficult to determine the exact cause of death although there were no signs of foul play. An autopsy was performed the next day and the cause of death was determined to be a blow to the back of the head. The forensic pathologist stated that it could have come from a fall or from being struck. Although the boyfriend was an alcoholic of 32 years, he was asked to take a CVSA exam and agreed. After being confronted with the deceptive charts and informed of the results, the suspect confessed and told the detectives that he had knocked her down during a fight and had kicked her in the head while she lay on the floor. The subject was taken into custody and charged with first degree homicide. D/Capt. Manthey states that Defense Barrier Removal that he had just learned in the CEC was invaluable in eliciting the confession from the killer.

As featured on Court TV, a serial killer was on the loose in Orange Co. and both the Orange Co. Sheriff’s Office and the Orlando P.D. were working the case. By the time the body of a third woman was discovered, detectives had developed a few suspects, but the top suspect was a man named Larry Powell. Detectives questioned Mr. Powell and during the questioning asked Mr. Powell to take a CVSA exam. Mr. Powell agreed and Det./Analyst Keith Dudley administered the exam. In spite of evidence that clearly implicated Mr. Powell, Det. Dudley determined that Mr. Powell was not the killer nor was he involved in the murders. Detectives began reexamining the case and developed another suspect, Fredrick Cox. After an intense investigation, Mr. Cox was arrested for the murder and was later convicted of all three murders. Cox received life in prison. Det. Dudley states that the CVSA was crucial in eliminating an innocent person from suspicion and saved detectives valuable time, allowing them to identify the murder and build a case against him.

Analyst/Det. Todd Crowson reports that during a trial, the judge asked that a polygraph examination be given to the defendant prior to his decision. After the Chief polygraph examiner for the Arkansas State Police refused to conduct a polygraph test on the defendant, a thirteen-year-old, on the grounds that he was too young, Det. Crowson agreed to conduct a CVSA exam. This was a court-ordered exam as the judge in the case, the defense attorney and the prosecutor all agreed to the exam. A thirteen-year-old boy was accused of forcing a seven year old to perform oral sex on him. The thirteen-year-old was given the CVSA and the charts were quite clear, he had committed the crime. After being shown the charts, the thirteen-year-old confessed that he had forced the seven-year-old to perform oral sex on him. Det. Crowson reports that the CVSA is now used by the Juvenile Court for truth verification examinations.

Analyst/Polygrapher Det. Craig Ratliff reports that police were called to a residence on a report of a rape. They apprehended a suspect running down the street 2 blocks from the residence and took him into custody. The complainant alleged that the suspect had asked her if he could use her bathroom while he was browsing at the yard sale that she was conducting. She further stated that she was in the house when he came out of the bathroom and that he then proceeded to rape her. Charges were filed against the suspect and he was set for arraignment. The suspect’s story was that he had asked to use the bathroom but when he came out, the woman had taken off her blouse and proceeded to seduce him. After sex, he noticed a twenty-dollar bill on the floor by his pants. When he attempted to pick it up, the woman grabbed him and a struggle ensued. He stated that he finally pushed her down and fled from the house. He agreed to take a CVSA exam and passed three charts on his version of what happened. California’s law prohibiting police from requesting a sexual assault victim take a lie detection examination prevented them from requesting that she take the CVSA. However, they did call her in for further questioning and when she was confronted with the results of the suspect’s CVSA exam, she admitted that she had lied about the whole story and that she had actually seduced the young man.