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<FONT FACE="Arial, Helvetica" SIZE=1><A HREF="http://www.jewishworldreview.com" target="_parent">Jewish World Review</A> April 3, 2001 / 10 Nissan, 5761 </FONT>

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<B><i> Michael A. Fuoco



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<font CLASS="headline" SIZE="+3"
        FACE="impact, helvetica bold, sans serif"> Their course work is murder --- literally
<br>
        </font>

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<FONT FACE="Helvetica, Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="3366FF"><B>http://www.jewishworldreview.com --</B></FONT>    
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<!-- BEGIN ARTICLE --> 
                     MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- When a select group of students at West Virginia
           University say their course work is murder, they're not complaining. 
<P><P>
           Really, their course work is murder - and rape, robbery, kidnapping, arson
           and burglary. 
<P><P>
           They are the first 220 students seeking a bachelor of science degree in
           forensic identification, the first degree program of its kind. The 4-year-old
           program, developed at the request of the FBI to fill a training and
           educational void in forensic identification, will graduate its first three
           students next month. 
<P><P>
           While those in the program account for 1 percent of the university's 22,000
           students, it nonetheless has become known on campus. It is the only truly
           interdisciplinary course of study at the university, requiring instructors
           from nearly every college. 
<P><P>
           And then there's the house. 
<P><P>
           It's a small ordinary-looking brick house, next to the Towers Dormitory on
           the university's Evansdale Campus, with a sign outside that reads
           "Forensic Identification Program Laboratory." Nearly every week, the
           remnants of a crime are found inside what's come to be affectionately
           known on campus as the "crime scene house." 
<P><P>
           While the program's students go to classrooms to learn about physics,
           math, chemistry, biology, computer science, photography and other
           disciplines used in forensics, they come to the house to learn how to
           gather the evidence to be analyzed. 
<P><P>
           Year-round, instructors use the furnished and fully functioning home as a
           real-life example of the kind of place in which students will use the skills
           they've acquired in the program. This is where students look for the body
           fluids, hairs, fibers, fingerprints and other trace evidence planted by
           instructors in a crime-scene scenario, usually taken from real cases. 
<P><P>
           As other students quaffed green beer elsewhere on campus St. Patrick's
           Day, seven juniors arrived at the house for their daylong Saturday class in
           the course Crime Scene Investigation I. 
<P><P>
           Classes at the house are usually conducted Friday nights and all day
           Saturday to accommodate the schedules of crime-scene instructors, who
           hold full-time jobs in the specialties they teach. 
<P><P>
           The instructor for this course is State Police Sgt. Mark Neal, head of the
           Latent Print Section of the State Police Crime Lab in South Charleston. 
<P><P>
           "I really enjoy it. It's different than a regular college class. And it's
           different for me because usually I'm trying to find evidence, and now I'm
           trying to cover it up. It's kind of scary because I find myself thinking,
           'What's the best way to plot a murder?'" 
<P><P>
           The seven students - five women and two men - have processed scenes in
           the house dealing with a kidnapping and a burglary. An arson and a
           whole-house homicide scene will be staged later in the semester. 
<P><P>
           On this day, Neal explains the scenario: An outdoor drug deal has gone
           bad and a would-be drug buyer has been killed. He has been shot and
           stabbed. Neal tells them that from the autopsy they know the victim was
           shot with two weapons, one a .22-caliber and the other a .44-caliber. 
<P><P>
           They are to execute a search warrant in the rented bedroom of the
           murder suspect, a drug dealer, to see if there is any evidence linking him
           to the murder. After that, they will fingerprint the victim's car - actually
           Neal's son's - which is parked in the house's garage. 
<P><P>
           After discussing the kind of evidence they will be looking for, the students
           leave their textbooks - "Criminal Investigation - A Method of
           Reconstructing the Past" - and go to work in the bedroom. 
<P><P>
           Students Jason Litner, a state trooper assigned to the Morgantown station,
           and Jennifer Campbell are in charge of the search. Zachary Nine sketches
           the room. Heather Comrey takes photographs. Lydia Littlefield is
           responsible for packaging. Michelle Laffey keeps a log. Melissa Webb helps
           each of her fellow students. 
<P><P>
           Wearing gloves so they won't contaminate the evidence, the students turn
           over the mattress and find a bloody shirt. As Neal watches, they discuss
           the manner in which such an item should be handled. 
<P><P>
           "You shouldn't fold it because the blood may transfer," Littlefield says. 
<P><P>
           "I found a firearm," Campbell says, waiting for Comrey to photograph its
           location before removing a rifle from behind a cabinet. 
<P><P>
           Soon, they find a bag of marijuana - actually, oregano - inside a flower
           pot. A bag of cocaine - confectioners' sugar - is discovered in the top of
           the miniblinds; a handgun is discovered under a chair pillow and a knife
           with blood on it is found under the chair. Also found are blue jeans with
           blood on them and another bag of cocaine. 
<P><P>
           Neal is pleased with how the students discovered the evidence and
           handled it. He tells them to take a lunch break, after which they will search
           his son's car and dust it for 


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<NOBR>  fingerprints. 
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<FONT COLOR="#557799" FACE="Times New Roman" SIZE="4">Michael A. Fuoco writes for  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Comment by clicking <A HREF="mailto:schmooze@jewishworldreview.com?subject=Murder"> here.</A> 
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