Excerpts taken from the book "Silent Witness" by Mark Fuhrman. He has excellent detective skills and these are some that he shares. Good book, by the way; an easy read. Next post are my views on how these points apply to Darlie's case.
"My experience is that the recollections of family members who discover loved ones dead or injured are usually very accurate. They remember vivid details that remain with them for the rest of their lives." (page 186)
"He was the first one to see her. Instead of being vivid and accurate, his recollections are vague, contradictory, and sometimes nonsensical. The story changes every time he tells it."
"Michael's only consistent recollection from the early morning hours of February 25, 1990, is the sound of Terri falling to the floor, which he consistently describes as a thud. Why does he remember this detail, while everything else is vauge or contradictory? Whether or not he committed a criminal act, I believe Michael witnessed Terri falling. And he has never forgotten that." (page 186-187)
"When a detective team is working a case, they will often sit down, over coffee in the morning or beer at night, and think outside of the box, tossing around ideas that sometimes sound ridiculous, sometimes are ridiculous, and sometimes wind up solving the case." (page 192)
"If you are someone who talks to yourself while engaged in an important task, you will understand. This is just a detective talking out loud, in the hope that by hearing his own words, the facts that he already knows backward and forward, will fit into some pattern that resembles the truth as it occurred. (page 192)
"Cops might have more technologically advanced investigative resources at their disposal, but criminals haven't changed. The suspects we are chasing today are no different from the ones my training officers were chasing thirty years ago. They do the same stupid things, lie about the same obvious evidence, and usually talk themselves into jail more often than not. Suspects make mistakes, and they all think they will get away with the crime." (page 203)
"When people who have the most control over and around the victim begin to change simple and innocent statements, or for some reason can't remember a simple fact, such as the time when they discovered their wife, they become a suspect."
Note: pages 204, 205 have many more interesting guides on crime solving you might want to read.
"A suspect who does not have a criminal history has one significant disadvantage. He does not know how to act, either as a grieving husband or as a murderer."(page 205)
"At the same as the suspect puts on his act, he also has to be careful when describing his actions and observations. Most other suspects do not want to place themselves at the crime scene. This suspect lives there. Most other suspects don't want to have any connection to the victim. This suspect was married to her." (page 205)
"But suspects often try to answer questions they don't or couldn't know the answers to in order to throw off suspicion. In their guilty minds, they need to account for everything. They think the more they tell the detective, the more the dumb cop is likely to be satisfied, and they will escape suspicion. (page 207)
"The husband's actions were consistent with the behavior of middle-class suspects in domestic homicides. Call someone early to establish urgency, panic, and stop the time. Have them assist at the scene, which is supposedly pristine. Fail to assist the victim." (page 208)
"Detective bureaus all over the country have cases like this. Some of them are eventually solved; many are not. Domestic homicides are usually solved by quick identification of the suspect and his or her immediate commitment to the story. (page 208)
"My experience is that the recollections of family members who discover loved ones dead or injured are usually very accurate. They remember vivid details that remain with them for the rest of their lives." (page 186)
"He was the first one to see her. Instead of being vivid and accurate, his recollections are vague, contradictory, and sometimes nonsensical. The story changes every time he tells it."
"Michael's only consistent recollection from the early morning hours of February 25, 1990, is the sound of Terri falling to the floor, which he consistently describes as a thud. Why does he remember this detail, while everything else is vauge or contradictory? Whether or not he committed a criminal act, I believe Michael witnessed Terri falling. And he has never forgotten that." (page 186-187)
"When a detective team is working a case, they will often sit down, over coffee in the morning or beer at night, and think outside of the box, tossing around ideas that sometimes sound ridiculous, sometimes are ridiculous, and sometimes wind up solving the case." (page 192)
"If you are someone who talks to yourself while engaged in an important task, you will understand. This is just a detective talking out loud, in the hope that by hearing his own words, the facts that he already knows backward and forward, will fit into some pattern that resembles the truth as it occurred. (page 192)
"Cops might have more technologically advanced investigative resources at their disposal, but criminals haven't changed. The suspects we are chasing today are no different from the ones my training officers were chasing thirty years ago. They do the same stupid things, lie about the same obvious evidence, and usually talk themselves into jail more often than not. Suspects make mistakes, and they all think they will get away with the crime." (page 203)
"When people who have the most control over and around the victim begin to change simple and innocent statements, or for some reason can't remember a simple fact, such as the time when they discovered their wife, they become a suspect."
Note: pages 204, 205 have many more interesting guides on crime solving you might want to read.
"A suspect who does not have a criminal history has one significant disadvantage. He does not know how to act, either as a grieving husband or as a murderer."(page 205)
"At the same as the suspect puts on his act, he also has to be careful when describing his actions and observations. Most other suspects do not want to place themselves at the crime scene. This suspect lives there. Most other suspects don't want to have any connection to the victim. This suspect was married to her." (page 205)
"But suspects often try to answer questions they don't or couldn't know the answers to in order to throw off suspicion. In their guilty minds, they need to account for everything. They think the more they tell the detective, the more the dumb cop is likely to be satisfied, and they will escape suspicion. (page 207)
"The husband's actions were consistent with the behavior of middle-class suspects in domestic homicides. Call someone early to establish urgency, panic, and stop the time. Have them assist at the scene, which is supposedly pristine. Fail to assist the victim." (page 208)
"Detective bureaus all over the country have cases like this. Some of them are eventually solved; many are not. Domestic homicides are usually solved by quick identification of the suspect and his or her immediate commitment to the story. (page 208)
