hawkshaw
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It is been my experience in mammoth investigations is the more detectives that are involved the less chances there are in solving it. Too many different characters get involved in the case and usually the most dominant detectives force their wills on others and take a case in the wrong direction.
A case such as Gilgo requires a lot of detectives doing the normal investigative steps. IMO, once the information is accumulated it should be scaled down with only several detectives staying on the case and hope something is going to pop up that means something to a detective that has been working on the case.
I have seen very big cases go sideways because they are fixed on one theory and refuse to change horses in mid-stream when the evidence takes them in another direction. I have seen this happen in the biggest cases in NYPD history. Trust me when I say that SCPD Homicide is fully capable of solving this case if it can be solved. All it takes is a lucky break and a detective who recognizes that break when he/she sees it.
In the NYPD Zodiac case a lot of the evidence was ignored simply because other detectives wanted to keep their own theory alive in the hope they would receive the glory if the case was solved.
The Zodiac Case was solved because a very sharp Detective Sergeant just happened to be involved in an unrelated case. He had the instincts to believe the person they arrested just might be the Zodiac killer. He made sure the person his men arrested had his prints compared to a partial print Zodiac left on a note he left at the crime scene. This had NOTHING to do with INTELLIGENT LED POLICING, it has all to do with an INTELLIGENT cop that had the ability to get the guy's fingerprints taken and compare it to the print we had on file.
Son of Sam was a fluke just because the detectives had run out of leads and a captain sent his detectives out to canvass a building near the ticket site and see if anything was missed. Had the lady not been in when the detectives went back this case might well be unsolved.
IN Antollena's case the route she took to the bank was filled with apartment buildings or just too many for 50 detectives to canvass. One of my biggest fears with a canvass is you might come across a person that could offer something and they didn't think it was important to tell you. Or if they did tell you that you would miss it.
In the above case the investigation centered on one possible suspect. The suspect's uncle was, and still is a big politician/lawyer and the suspect and his family sought him out for advice. It now became very difficult to speak to him because the uncle, a lawyer gave his nephew the right advice not to speak with us. My personal feeling is the kid didn't do it. But the case lost a lot of time chasing this suspect.
I had a cousin whose son was a serial killer. It was before I went to Queens. The detectives did all the right things and checked the records for Creedmor. Creedmor told them this fellow was at the facility when actually he was on a furlough. He gets caught because some sharp detectives on patrol see him in the street and thinks he is a dead ringer for a sketch they produced. It was the first and I think the only time I believe a police sketch led to an apprehension. When the news of his arrest came over 1010WINS I knew that very instant the sketch I saw was this fellow.
The Detective Sergeant that was responsible for that arrest was later to become my sergeant at Queens Homicide. He went on to retire and eventually became the Chief Investigator for DA Catterson. When he retired he was bothered with an arrest that was made for a triple homicide because his former team found information about the real killer. He would call the detectives to continue their leads - he was still their 'sergeant' and it didn't matter if he was retired. We got the real killer and the fellow that was arrested was let go after serving more than a year in prison. What made matters worse is when the real killer went to trial the detectives that arrested the wrong man continued to insist they had the real killer despite the overwhelming evidence that he was innocent.
Take a wild guess who Tom Spota fired first when he took office? If you guessed it was my former sergeant you would be right. You see, Spota can't afford to have a Chief Investigator with integrity in his office.
I can go on and on.
A case such as Gilgo requires a lot of detectives doing the normal investigative steps. IMO, once the information is accumulated it should be scaled down with only several detectives staying on the case and hope something is going to pop up that means something to a detective that has been working on the case.
I have seen very big cases go sideways because they are fixed on one theory and refuse to change horses in mid-stream when the evidence takes them in another direction. I have seen this happen in the biggest cases in NYPD history. Trust me when I say that SCPD Homicide is fully capable of solving this case if it can be solved. All it takes is a lucky break and a detective who recognizes that break when he/she sees it.
In the NYPD Zodiac case a lot of the evidence was ignored simply because other detectives wanted to keep their own theory alive in the hope they would receive the glory if the case was solved.
The Zodiac Case was solved because a very sharp Detective Sergeant just happened to be involved in an unrelated case. He had the instincts to believe the person they arrested just might be the Zodiac killer. He made sure the person his men arrested had his prints compared to a partial print Zodiac left on a note he left at the crime scene. This had NOTHING to do with INTELLIGENT LED POLICING, it has all to do with an INTELLIGENT cop that had the ability to get the guy's fingerprints taken and compare it to the print we had on file.
Son of Sam was a fluke just because the detectives had run out of leads and a captain sent his detectives out to canvass a building near the ticket site and see if anything was missed. Had the lady not been in when the detectives went back this case might well be unsolved.
IN Antollena's case the route she took to the bank was filled with apartment buildings or just too many for 50 detectives to canvass. One of my biggest fears with a canvass is you might come across a person that could offer something and they didn't think it was important to tell you. Or if they did tell you that you would miss it.
In the above case the investigation centered on one possible suspect. The suspect's uncle was, and still is a big politician/lawyer and the suspect and his family sought him out for advice. It now became very difficult to speak to him because the uncle, a lawyer gave his nephew the right advice not to speak with us. My personal feeling is the kid didn't do it. But the case lost a lot of time chasing this suspect.
I had a cousin whose son was a serial killer. It was before I went to Queens. The detectives did all the right things and checked the records for Creedmor. Creedmor told them this fellow was at the facility when actually he was on a furlough. He gets caught because some sharp detectives on patrol see him in the street and thinks he is a dead ringer for a sketch they produced. It was the first and I think the only time I believe a police sketch led to an apprehension. When the news of his arrest came over 1010WINS I knew that very instant the sketch I saw was this fellow.
The Detective Sergeant that was responsible for that arrest was later to become my sergeant at Queens Homicide. He went on to retire and eventually became the Chief Investigator for DA Catterson. When he retired he was bothered with an arrest that was made for a triple homicide because his former team found information about the real killer. He would call the detectives to continue their leads - he was still their 'sergeant' and it didn't matter if he was retired. We got the real killer and the fellow that was arrested was let go after serving more than a year in prison. What made matters worse is when the real killer went to trial the detectives that arrested the wrong man continued to insist they had the real killer despite the overwhelming evidence that he was innocent.
Take a wild guess who Tom Spota fired first when he took office? If you guessed it was my former sergeant you would be right. You see, Spota can't afford to have a Chief Investigator with integrity in his office.
I can go on and on.
