Forensics Science Stories

On an April night in 1989, Jo Ann Parks survived a house fire that claimed the lives of her three small children. Though the fire at first seemed a tragic accident, investigators soon reported finding evidence proving that Parks had sabotaged wiring, set several fires herself, and even barricaded her four-year-old son inside a closet to prevent his escape. Though she insisted she did nothing wrong, Jo Ann Parks received a life sentence without parole based on the power of forensic fire science that convincingly proved her guilt. Now, that evidence is being called into question....

After a wealthy woman was brutally murdered in her Glasgow home in 1908, the police found a convenient suspect in Oscar Slater, an immigrant Jewish cardsharp. Though he was known to be innocent, Slater was tried, convicted, and consigned to life at hard labor. Outraged by this injustice, Arthur Conan Doyle, already world famous as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, used the methods of his most famous character to reinvestigate the case, ultimately winning Slater’s freedom.

Fractured skulls. Gas masks. Brain buckets. Vats of acid. Pickled body parts. Not the usual tools of trade, but for chief forensic medical scientist Derek and forensic secretary Pauline they were just part of a normal day in the office inside the world-famous Department of Forensic Medicine at Guy's Hospital in London. Derek has played a pivotal role in investigating some of the UKs most high-profile mass disasters and murder cases.

From ballistics and blood splatter patterns to DNA analysis and voice printing, RJ Parker explores the highly complex world of investigative forensic sciences. Intended as an introductory guide and reference to forensic techniques for frontline police officers, criminal attorneys, journalists, crime authors, and just interested listeners, this encyclopedic audiobook is a must-listen for any true-crime aficionado.

Kerry Daynes has worked with some of the most complex and challenging criminals in prisons and secure hospitals as well as the victims of crime. A large part of her day job is spent delving into the psyche of convicted men and women to try to understand what lies behind their actions and how to set them on the path to becoming law-abiding citizens. Welcome to the life of a forensic psychologist. No two days are the same. The people you work with are wildly unpredictable, sometimes frightening and often deeply frustrating.

Professor Angela Gallop has been at the forefront of forensics for more than 45 years. During her remarkable career, she has established and run forensic science laboratories and has worked on thousands of cases in the UK and across the world. In How to Solve a Crime, she describes some of her own and her colleagues most intriguing cases and the wide range of skills and techniques used to solve them.

Helena Greenwood, a doctor with a Ph.D. in chemical pathology, was working in biotechnology when she was the victim of sexual assault. She survived and was scheduled to testify against her attacker until she was found brutally murdered in her garden. Everyone believed the killer was her past attacker; but there was not enough evidence to convict him, until ten years later when a local District Attorney working the "cold cases" used Helena's own DNA research to finally bring her killer to justice.

Absolute Madness tells the disturbing true story of Joseph Christopher, a white serial killer who targeted black males and struck fear into the residents of Buffalo and New York City in the 1980s. Dubbed both the .22-Caliber Killer and the Midtown Slasher, Christopher allegedly claimed eighteen victims during a savage four-month spree across the state.

The dead talk. To the right listener, they tell us all about themselves: how they lived, how they died--and who killed them. Val McDermid uncovers the secrets of forensic medicine with groundbreaking research and her own experience. Along the way you’ll wonder at how maggots collected from a corpse can help determine time of death and how a DNA trace a millionth the size of a grain of salt can be used to convict a killer.

Never before has criminal justice rested so heavily on scientific evidence. With ever-more sophisticated and powerful techniques at their disposal, forensic scientists have an unprecedented ability to help solve even the most complex cases. Angela Gallop has been a forensic scientist for over 40 years. After joining the Forensic Science Service, the first crime scene she attended was for a case involving the Yorkshire Ripper.

Introducing us to eleven ordinary women who came to commit extreme acts, Anna Motz sheds light on women's capacity for violence. She takes the listener on a journey into psychotherapy, uncovering their motives and the fault lines in their psyche that led to their crimes. We meet Mary, who turned to arson after her son was taken into care, Maja, whose fantasy life led to her stalking an ex-boyfriend, and Dolores, whose terrible crime is unimaginable to most people.

British prisoners have to endure the most inhumane and barbaric conditions imaginable, so why do so many of them keep going back? Former inmate and documentary maker Chris Atkins has spent the last six years tracking the fortunes of a dozen repeat offenders to understand why the state fails to keep them out of trouble. Featuring funny, wild and poignant stories, Time After Time exploits Chris's unprecedented access to the criminal underworld to understand why the system actually makes reoffending all but inevitable for ex prisoners.

Former Boulder Police Chief Mark Beckner has utilized his 36 years of law enforcement and investigative experience in writing fictional crime thrillers for readers to enjoy. This book contains three separate novellas, each providing drama, suspense, mystery, and at times intense action. Follow along as the police investigate and attempt to unravel the murders.In the first story, police must deal with a serial killer who has reappeared after a two-year absence to terrorize some of Chicago's most crime-ridden neighborhoods. Frustrating police is the fact that the killer leaves a calling card ...

Thirty-year-old UNPOL officer Richard Warren has been embedded with the BBC, and not seeing eye-to-eye with journalist Sarah Dyer is just the start of his problems. News of an Ebola pandemic is being withheld, and when it’s discovered Sarah’s artistic savant brother is involved, Richard’s determination to get to the truth takes an unexpected turn. But what if the truth must never be known?

The true story of the men - Joseph Bell and Henry Littlejohn - who inspired the creation of Sherlock Holmes. The Ardlamont murder trial, which took place in Edinburgh's High Court in December 1893, was the culmination of one of the most intriguing criminal cases in British legal history. But perhaps more remarkable than that was that it brought together the two principal real-life inspirations behind the creation of the world's favourite fictional consulting detective: Sherlock Holmes.

Scott is devastated when his wife is horrifically struck and killed by a car on their Caribbean honeymoon. In desperation, he gives into his grief and listens to a mysterious suggestion from a morgue janitor that he could have his wife "cured of death". Against all of his reservations and common sense, he feels he has nothing left to lose, but what he finds is that there are unnatural things worse than death.

Most people run from disasters, but for people like Jake it's your job to get to one as fast as you can. This time he is not so sure he wants to go. A major global pandemic is going on and a major hurricane has just hit the Gulf Coast. To make matters worse, the government is forcing the evacuees back to the storm stricken cities or placing them in isolation and quarantine. His chances of helping others or becoming a casualty himself have just taken a turn for the worse as the U.S. declares martial law for a storm ravaged coast.