Staged Crime Scene

Abstract

In the course of their career, most detectives and forensic practitioners will come into contact with a staged crime scene; a scene altered by the offender to either mislead a police investigation or for other reasons understood only by the offender. Staged scenes are possible in nearly every type of criminal offense ranging from property crimes to violent crimes. To better understand the dynamics and general nature of “staging” this article introduces three new categories of staged crime scenes based on the motive of the offender’s scene alteration. The benefit of understanding these categories is to recognize that the offender’s staging actions can be identified through common findings that are often found when crime scenes are altered.

Introduction

After the preliminary screening of a cold case has been completed and a decision is made to reopen the investigation, one of the first steps is to sit down and read the file; paying particular attention to the autopsy and forensic analysis reports,

This case involves a triple homicide in a small one-bedroom apartment. The victims were all stabbed to death and include Dana Beckmeyer, 44, WFA, who lived in the Oceanside apartment where the stabbings took place; Adrian Anthony Vanengalen, 55, WMA, of San Marcos; and Bruce Carriker, 57, WMA, of Vista, California. They were all either tweaked out on methamphetamine, high on marijuana, or drunk. The man suspected by police and ultimately put on trial was Charles B. Davis, 57, BMA, who had recently moved in with Beckmeyer. According to Mallory and Davis (2006): Charles Davis was calm and collected when he called police from a liquor store to surrender after a grisly triple murder in his home early yesterday, Vista sheriff’s officials said. The 58-year-old man called at 7 a.m. from a pay phone in Vista to say he knew why homicide investigators were searching for him and he was ready to cooperate. Oceanside police had been searching for Davis since 3:30 a.m., when...