Thursday, February 28, 2013

"Jodi Arias Prosecutor's Like a 'Rabid Dog,' Legal Critic Says"

So I am running very late for the day because I am glued to live testimony on the Jodi Arias trial.
Jodi over- killed her boyfriend Travis Alexander in the shower.
Jodi and Travis Alexander.
Note position of her hand.
I find this murder case, telecast live, fascinating.
Word has it, this is the longest a DEF (Defendant)  has ever been on the stand.
And I can see why.
Jodi is a very good liar.
However, she doesn't know we all know she is lying.
And she is totally unprepared for the relentless prosecutor who must've been a pitbull in a previous life.
Watching prosecutor Juan Martinez cross-examine her is pure poetry in motion for someone like me, who is hired by victims or their families.

I haven't see Jodi cry until today.
That always gets to me... when the killer cries.
Who are they crying for really?
Not the victim...
for themselves.
They cry because they got caught.
They cry because they are going to jail.

Yet Jodi cries what I believe are real tears  as she is directed to look at the crime scene photo.
She knows she is busted then and just breaks down.
Her hand is shaking.
The emotion is real.
Martinez sinks his teeth in and says:

"Ma'am where you crying when you were shooting him?
Were you crying when you were stabbing him?
From Jodi Arias' "My Space"
Were crying when you when you cut his throat?
And you're the one that did this right?
And you're the same individual that lies about all this right?"

Boom!
That was one laser-guided, heat-seeking scud missile direct to the heart of her lies.
Powerful stuff, Juan Martinez.
Take this girl off the streets.
We don't need another Casey Anthony out there.

If you don't know about this case here's a great link to catch you up.
It's live on InSession, Court TV... and all over the web.

Jodi Arias Prosecutor's Like a 'Rabid Dog,' Legal Critic Says - ABC News

Monday, February 25, 2013

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Locating Inmate Info

Soon, I'll be launching a website and this blog will be moving to a new platform through that site.
If you're with me on Facebook, you'll see I am indeed embracing this whole social media thing...
though like many people, I came to FB and social media, reluctantly.
And I'm still figuring it out.
There's one picture of me on my Facebook wall that's it.
And my back's to the camera.
How does a PI keep a low visual profile in cyber space?
It isn't easy...
yet somehow, it's working.

So as I was  packing up my gear, today, to head out in the field...
I checked the stats on blog readership.
There were many surprises there.
Significant readership worldwide, translated into many languages.
It's wild to know people in Australia, Japan and Siberia  are reading the words I type now.
And it's fascinating to see what blog posts people like... and don't.

Some blog posts are big reader favorites.
One of the biggest, from two years ago, was the Jail Exchange and Inmate Locator, which I'll link you to at the end of this post.

There are  many ways to get  free public info now on warrants, criminal records, mugshots.
Mugshots.com is a great site to get quick hits on known criminals.
http://mugshots.com

Jerry Sandusky's Mug Shot
Mugshots is a very broad site  and not highly accurate because each state has specific laws on whether they will release info.

So finding your subjects is challenging because the waters are muddied by an overflow of information filled with common names, multiple identities and catfish feeding everywhere.

Criminal records are equally challenging, because there is no single federal criminal depository of records the public can access.
The Feds have access to a national criminal database... even then it's highly restricted.
A police officer or federal agent couldn't use it for a personal or private search, these are protected national records.
P.I.'s subscribe to databases that allow us to pay for criminal records per search.
The accuracy of this info is still questionable, though more credible and can be verified with a deeper look, or hand-pull if necessary.

Free  criminal records are accessible...
however, every county, in every state has its own records.
And I personally question the validity of all records I find on line until i can verify them.
Records are only as good as the people entering them and filled with error.

So a criminal record search has to be done with caution and care...
plus knowledge of every place the subject has lived, passed through, may have been arrested.
Then every record in every state in every county has to be searched

So one of my first stops on a free  criminal search is "The Jail Exchange and Inmate Locator."
Sometimes I hit, sometimes I strike out.
Either way, it's a great place to start, to step up to the plate when running backgrounds, locates.
Here's a link to my post about this site from 2011...
http://diaryofaprivateeye.blogspot.com/2011/04/how-to-locate-inmates.html

Friday, February 22, 2013

Re: Drew Peterson Case

If you've been following the Drew Peterson case as I have, you may feel the same sense of satisfaction I did on the day he was arrested. And the day he was, at long last, declared guilty.
I couldn't stand the guy.
It was bad enough Peterson was a police officer who got away with killing his first wife.
It got much worse with the missing second wife (still not found); with their kids in his custody; and a third potential wife he was planning to marry. Both wives had life insurance policies.

He flirted with the media, the moth to their bright lights. Yet he was transparent and offensive, it appeared everyone saw through him.
He basked in way more than 15 minutes of fame with an attitude and posture that mocked his victims and his fellow officers.

I worked a murder case many moons ago similar to this one.
Everyone knew our suspect did it --  everyone including the police, the victim's family, the prosecutor, and every investigator on the case, myself included.
Yet still we couldn't get him.
We couldn't get a grand jury to indict him.
We couldn't get anyone to testify against him.
We had evidence. It just wasn't good enough.
So we had to step away and watch him walk away...
and walk back into his life...
back into the arms of  the woman we believed would be his next victim.
A decade passed...
the investigation never really stopped...
though it never really started up again either.
Instead, the case grew cold until one day, the phone rang.
I picked it up and was told the suspect killed himself.
As simple as that.
It's over.
The cold case is now a closed case.

The suspect killed himself for reasons we don't know.
There was a suicide note, it wasn't released.
He left more damage in his wake...
a grieving family...
and the victim's family...
all with questions unanswered because those answers went with the suspect  to his grave.
I think he killed himself because he was haunted.
Either by the victim, his memories of it, or karma.

 Drew Peterson, is still alive and hopefully, not well.
He was just transferred  to prison.
This is a link to the most recent news on his case.Drew Peterson transferred to Pontiac prison

Adele - Skyfall