The Archive

CASE FILE № FX-DIG-2005-01

BTK Killer — Digital Metadata on a Floppy Disk

After decades of taunting letters, Dennis Rader was identified in 2005 when a floppy disk he sent to police contained metadata tracing to his church computer.

DATE: 2005

DISCIPLINE: Digital Forensics

DNA AnalysisDocument Examination

CASE FILE № FX-DIG-1988-01

Morris Worm — First Digital Conviction

A 1988 self-replicating program spread across the early internet, disabling thousands of computers; its author was the first person convicted under the U.S. Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

DATE: 1988

DISCIPLINE: Digital Forensics

CASE FILE № FX-DOC-1983-01

The Hitler Diaries — Forgery Exposed

Purported diaries of Adolf Hitler were sold to a major magazine in 1983 but quickly exposed as forgeries by forensic document and materials analysis.

DATE: 1983

LOC: Germany

CASE FILE № FX-DOC-1985-01

Mark Hofmann — Forgeries and Explosions

A document forger who created convincing historical forgeries turned to bombings to deflect scrutiny; forensic analysis of ink and paper ultimately exposed the forgeries.

DATE: 1985

Forensic Chemistry

CASE FILE № FX-DOC-1972-01

Clifford Irving — The Hughes Forgery

An author forged letters and a manuscript purporting to be Howard Hughes's autobiography; handwriting and comparison evidence helped expose the hoax.

DATE: 1972

CASE FILE № FX-ODO-1978-01

Ted Bundy — Bite-Mark Evidence (and Its Limits)

Bite-mark evidence on a victim was used to link Ted Bundy to the crimes, in one of the most famous uses of forensic odontology.

DATE: 1978

DISCIPLINE: Forensic Odontology

CASE FILE № FX-PSY-1957-01

The Mad Bomber — First Offender Profile

A psychiatrist built a profile of the person planting bombs across New York for years; it closely matched the suspect, George Metesky, when he was found.

DATE: 1957

DISCIPLINE: Forensic Psychology

Forensic Engineering

CASE FILE № FX-PSY-1996-01

Unabomber — Linguistics and Document Forensics

Ted Kaczynski evaded capture for nearly two decades; his published manifesto was matched to his writing style and led to his identification by his brother.

DATE: 1996

DISCIPLINE: Forensic Psychology

Document ExaminationForensic Engineering

CASE FILE № FX-AV-1974-01

Watergate Tapes — The 18.5-Minute Gap

An 18.5-minute gap in a presidential audio recording was examined forensically to determine whether it was deliberate erasure.

DATE: 1974

DISCIPLINE: Audio/Video Forensics

CASE FILE № FX-ENG-1981-01

Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse — Forensic Engineering

Two suspended walkways in a Kansas City hotel collapsed in 1981, killing 114 people; forensic engineering traced the failure to a design change that doubled the load on connectors.

DATE: 1981

DISCIPLINE: Forensic Engineering

CASE FILE № FX-TRACE-1932-01

Lindbergh Kidnapping — The Ladder's Wood

The 1932 kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby was solved partly through forensic wood analysis: a homemade ladder used in the crime was matched to lumber in Bruno Hauptmann's attic.

DATE: 1932

Document ExaminationFirearms & Toolmarks

CASE FILE № FX-TRACE-1986-01

Helle Crafts — The No-Body Murder

A Connecticut man killed his wife and disposed of her body with a wood chipper; investigators identified her from minute fragments despite no intact body.

DATE: 1986

DNA AnalysisForensic Anthropology

CASE FILE № FX-DNA-1986-01

Colin Pitchfork — The First DNA Conviction

Two teenagers in Leicestershire were assaulted and murdered in 1983 and 1986. Police used the then-new technique of DNA profiling to test local men, catching the killer and clearing an innocent suspect.

DATE: 1986

CASE FILE № FX-DNA-2018-01

Golden State Killer — Genetic Genealogy

A suspect in a series of rapes and murders across California (1974-1986) eluded capture for decades until investigators identified him in 2018 using forensic genetic genealogy.

DATE: 1974-1986; identified 2018

CASE FILE № FX-DNA-1987-01

Tommie Lee Andrews — First U.S. DNA Conviction

A Florida man was convicted in 1987 of sexual assault based on DNA evidence, the first such conviction in the United States.

DATE: 1987

CASE FILE № FX-DNA-1989-01

Gary Dotson — First DNA Exoneration

Convicted of rape in 1979 largely on eyewitness identification, Dotson became the first person in the U.S. exonerated through post-conviction DNA testing in 1989.

DATE: 1979 conviction; exonerated 1989

Forensic Psychology

CASE FILE № FX-DNA-1993-01

Kirk Bloodsworth — First Death-Row DNA Exoneration

Sentenced to death for a 1984 murder based largely on eyewitness identifications, Bloodsworth was exonerated in 1993 when DNA testing identified the real perpetrator.

DATE: 1984 conviction; exonerated 1993

Forensic Psychology

CASE FILE № FX-DNA-1995-01

Ronald Cotton — Eyewitness Fallibility and DNA

Convicted of rape based on a confident misidentification by the victim, Cotton was exonerated by DNA that identified the real assailant; the victim and accused later collaborated on reform.

DATE: 1985 conviction; exonerated 1995

Forensic Psychology

CASE FILE № FX-DNA-2008-01

The Phantom of Heilbronn — DNA Contamination

A single female DNA profile appeared at dozens of crime scenes across Europe over years, suggesting a prolific serial offender — until it was traced to contamination from a worker at a cotton-swab factory.

DATE: 2008

LOC: Germany

CASE FILE № FX-FP-1892-01

Francisca Rojas — First Fingerprint Conviction

In Argentina, a woman claimed her children were killed by an intruder, but a bloody fingerprint on a door matched her own thumb, leading to her confession.

DATE: 1892

LOC: Argentina

DISCIPLINE: Fingerprinting

CASE FILE № FX-FP-2004-01

Brandon Mayfield — Erroneous Fingerprint Identification

An American attorney was wrongly linked to the 2004 Madrid train bombings when the FBI matched a partial latent print to him; Spanish authorities later matched the print to another man.

DATE: 2004

DISCIPLINE: Fingerprinting

CASE FILE № FX-BAL-1929-01

St. Valentine's Day Massacre — Birth of Firearms ID

Seven men were gunned down in a Chicago garage in 1929. Calvin Goddard examined the bullets and casings to determine the weapons, helping pioneer firearms identification.

DATE: 1929

DISCIPLINE: Firearms & Toolmarks

CASE FILE № FX-BAL-1963-01

JFK Assassination — Single-Bullet Analysis

President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963; forensic analysis of bullet fragments and wound trajectories became central to the official single-bullet conclusion.

DATE: 1963

DISCIPLINE: Firearms & Toolmarks

CASE FILE № FX-BPA-1954-01

Sam Sheppard — Bloodstain Pattern Re-Analysis

Convicted of his wife's 1954 murder, Sheppard was re-tried after forensic re-examination, including bloodstain pattern analysis by Dr. Paul Kirk, supported his innocence.

DATE: 1954; retried 1966

DISCIPLINE: Bloodstain Pattern Analysis

CASE FILE № FX-TRACE-1981-01

Wayne Williams — Fiber Evidence

Suspected in the Atlanta child murders, Williams was linked to victims through unusual carpet and dog-hair fibers found on bodies.

DATE: 1981

CASE FILE № FX-ANTH-1948-01

Somerton Man — The Tamam Shud Mystery

An unidentified man found on an Australian beach in 1948 carried a torn scrap of paper reading 'Tamam Shud'; the case remained mysterious until 2022 DNA identified him.

DATE: 1948; identified 2022

LOC: Australia

DISCIPLINE: Forensic Anthropology

DNA AnalysisDocument Examination

CASE FILE № FX-TOX-1873-01

Mary Ann Cotton — Arsenic Poisonings

A British woman suspected of killing over a dozen people, including family members, with arsenic in the 1860s-70s, when poison was hard to detect.

DATE: 1873

CASE FILE № FX-TOX-2006-01

Alexander Litvinenko — Polonium-210 Poisoning

A former intelligence officer was poisoned with radioactive polonium-210 in London in 2006; identifying the rare isotope required radiological toxicology.

DATE: 2006

Trace Evidence

CASE FILE № FX-TOX-1998-01

Harold Shipman — Hidden Lethal Doses

A British physician murdered numerous patients with diamorphine; the scale was uncovered through audit of death records and toxicology.

DATE: 1998

CASE FILE № FX-PATH-1991-01

Otzi the Iceman — 5,000-Year-Old Forensics

A naturally mummified body emerging from Alpine ice in 1991 was examined with forensic methods that revealed he died violently around 3300 BCE.

DATE: c. 3300 BCE; found 1991

LOC: Italy

DISCIPLINE: Forensic Pathology

Forensic Anthropology

CASE FILE № FX-GEN-1994-01

O.J. Simpson Trial — Evidence Handling on Trial

The 1994-95 trial for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman hinged on DNA, bloodstain, and trace evidence — and on challenges to how it was collected and handled.

DNA AnalysisBloodstain Pattern Analysis

CASE FILE № FX-PATH-1935-01

Buck Ruxton — Reconstruction of Dismembered Remains

A 1935 UK case in which dismembered remains were identified and the time of death estimated using a combination of forensic methods.

DATE: 1935

DISCIPLINE: Forensic Pathology

Forensic EntomologyForensic Odontology

CASE FILE № FX-PSY-1888-01

Jack the Ripper — Profiling's Prehistory

An unidentified killer of women in Whitechapel in 1888 was never caught; the case became a touchstone for early ideas about offender behavior and investigation.

DATE: 1888

DISCIPLINE: Forensic Psychology

CASE FILE № FX-BAL-1920-01

Sacco & Vanzetti — Ballistics Controversy

Two Italian-American anarchists were convicted of murder in 1920; bullet evidence became the center of a long-running controversy about forensic certainty.

DATE: 1920

DISCIPLINE: Firearms & Toolmarks

CASE FILE № FX-DOC-1969-01

Zodiac Killer — Ciphers and Questioned Documents

An unidentified serial killer in 1960s California taunted police with letters and ciphers, some unsolved for over 50 years.

DATE: 1968-1969

Audio/Video ForensicsDNA Analysis

CASE FILE № FX-TRACE-1970-01

Jeffrey MacDonald — Trace Evidence Dispute

An Army physician claimed his family was killed by intruders; trace evidence and bloodstain patterns were central to a prosecution that remains contested.

DATE: 1970

Bloodstain Pattern Analysis

CASE FILE № FX-ANTH-1936-01

Cleveland Torso Murders — Early Anthropology

A series of dismembered, often decapitated bodies found in 1930s Cleveland were investigated by Eliot Ness; the case was never solved.

DATE: 1934-1938

DISCIPLINE: Forensic Anthropology

CASE FILE № FX-DNA-2001-01

Green River Killer — DNA Links Decades Later

Gary Ridgway evaded suspicion for many of his victims for nearly 20 years until DNA testing linked him to evidence from the 1980s.

DATE: 2001

CASE FILE № FX-DNA-2010-01

Grim Sleeper — Familial DNA Search

Lonnie Franklin Jr., linked to murders spanning decades, was identified using familial DNA searching — comparing crime-scene DNA to near-matches in the database to find a relative.

DATE: 2010

CASE FILE № FX-ANTH-2012-01

King Richard III — DNA and Skeletal Identification

A skeleton found under a Leicester car park in 2012 was identified as King Richard III through skeletal analysis and DNA matching to living descendants.

DATE: 2012

DISCIPLINE: Forensic Anthropology

DNA Analysis

CASE FILE № FX-TOX-1982-01

Tylenol Murders — Product Tampering and CSI

Laced capsules killed seven people in 1982, launching a nationwide response to product tampering and a forensic investigation that never conclusively identified the perpetrator.

DATE: 1982