Develop a process to line up the tracks on the disks

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Reference no: EM133499008

Julie Snodgrass Criminal Case Study

Writing Assignment 1: In a one-to-two paged paper, explain the case facts, the legal issue, and the forensic investigator's analysis. (Worth 5 points)

When the body of his wife was discovered, Air Force Sgt. Joseph Snodgrass was stationed at Clark Air Base in the Philippines. Julie Snodgrass was found in the cab of a pickup truck nearby, having been stabbed more than 42 times. The only evidence connecting her husband to the crime was a couple of floppy disks on which were stored two letters: one in which Sgt. Snodgrass asked his mistress to hire three hitmen to murder his wife, and another increasing his wife's life insurance coverage to $450,000. During questioning in his office by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI), Snodgrass pulled the two 5.25-inch diskettes from his desk and used pinking shears to chop the damning evidence into 2 dozen pieces.

The agents confiscated the disks, but not before significant damage had been done. In checking with law enforcement and the diskette manufacturer, the investigators discovered that no protocol existed for reassembling disks that had been so seriously damaged. That's when an Air Force team headed by Jim Christy, currently the director of operations at the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center in Linthicum, Md., went to work on the problem. After several failed attempts, the team managed to develop a process to line up the tracks on the disks and then tape the pieces together on a cardboard mounting hub. Spending only $131, Christy and his team were able to reconstruct the disks and retrieve 85 percent of the data.

Snodgrass was convicted of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.

Tape and cardboard may not be high-tech wizardry, but forensics isn't only about fancy tools and technologies that aid investigators in their work.

2nd Article

Air Force Sgt. Joseph Snodgrass Hired Hitmen to Kill Wife at Clark AFB in Philippines for $400,000 Life Insurance Payout; Sentenced to Life in Prison (1991)

Air Force spouse Julie Snodgrass was found stabbed to death outside Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines on February 26, 1991. Julie was discovered in the cab of her pickup truck on an isolated road off base and an autopsy revealed that she was stabbed more than 42 times.

The Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) had jurisdiction of the case and upon investigation found evidence on Sgt. Joseph Snodgrass' work computer that linked him to the crime. AFOSI found a letter to his mistress asking for help with the murder of his wife and a current life insurance policy on his wife. The letter disclosed that Snodgrass elicited the help of his housekeeper (and lover), a Philippine native, to hire three hitmen to carry out the crime so they could be together and live off the $400,000 life insurance payout. During an interview with AFOSI, Snodgrass grabbed the floppy disks with the evidence against him and cut them to pieces with some shears.

But luckily computer forensic scientists were able to find a way to put the disks back together, so the data was readable again. This was the evidence the Air Force needed to make their murder-for-hire case. Joseph Snodgrass was eventually convicted of first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison. As a result of the forensic history made by piecing the floppy disk back together making it usable again, the military changed the policies pertaining to the destruction of classified data on floppy disks.

Reference no: EM133499008

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