Reference no: EM131266550

You should critically analyze the evidence associated with this scenario and discuss, with your peers, the solution to this crime. You should be careful to weigh each piece of evidence and discuss its importance. Develop and articulate a theory regarding how this crime was committed.

At 4:55 a.m. in August of 2010, a 911 operator received a phone call from Fred Smith. Very excitedly, Smith told the dispatcher that his wife had been seriously injured. Police arrived on the scene shortly after 5 a.m. The responding officer saw Mr. Smith emerged from the residence sobbing and crying, "She's all bloody." Smith took the officer into the foyer of the residence, through the bloodstained trail and into the family room, where he found 33-year-old Mrs. Smith lying face up on their couch, wrapped in a sheet and blankets. Her skull appeared to be crushed. There was blood on her head, on the couch, on the coffee table, and on the floor next to the couch.

Smith told police that he woke up in the middle of the night and noticed that his wife was not beside him in the bed. He looked throughout the house, but could not find her. He then went outside to look for her and found her body covered with blood in a wooded area in the entrance of the driveway. He told the officer that he returned to the residence to get sheets and blankets. He returned to where her body was, wrapped her up, and carried her into the house, before calling 911.

Major crimes detectives responded to the scene to conduct the crime scene investigation. Detectives noticed a large quantity of blood droplets and bloodstains inside the house, inconsistent with the statement provided by Mr. Smith. One detective located a long, bloody trail along the circular gravel driveway which matched with Smith's story of carrying his wife's body back into the residence.

Detectives actually found that the bloody trail consisted of 3 separate trips across the driveway. The first trail led from the foyer of the residence to a wooded area approximately 50 yards from the house on the left side of the driveway. This trail consisted of large, vertical, low-velocity blood drops from a moving blood source, falling from approximately 4 feet high. A large blood stain was found on the ground in the woods. This stain was the result of direct contact and deposited from a large wound. The second blood trail led from the first location in the woods to the second wooded area, where Mr. Smith said the body was found. This trail consisted of a combination of drips and smears. It appeared that a bloody object had been dragged along the driveway. The drag marks indicated that the direction of dragging was toward the driveway gate. A clump of clover growing between the gravel was bent toward the gate and had a blood smear on one side, indicating that something had been dragged over it. A large quantity of hair and tissue was also found on the rocks along the driveway. All of these stains indicated that the victim's body had been dragged to the location where her husband reported her body was found. A third bloody trail led from the second wooded area, where the body was reportedly found, toward the residence. This blood trail was a combination of blood drops mixed with a few bloody drag marks, going the opposite direction into the residence.

Large quantities of bloodstains were observed in the family room. A significant amount of blood deposit was noted on the left end of the couch. Hair, brain matter, and a few small pieces of gray colored rocks were found on the same side of the couch. The small rocks had the same color and type as the rocks found in the driveway. There was blood found on the wall and ceiling near the couch consistent with a cast-off pattern. Approximately 70 small bloodstains were located on one side of the coffee table.

Detectives also located a brick near the far end of the property, which was covered in blood. Laboratory results indicated that the blood belonged to Mrs. Smith. Hair fragments were also recovered from the brick. A damp, male t-shirt was found hanging on the deck railing. Laboratory examination revealed the presence of blood which belonged to Mrs. Smith.