Let's Not Forget The Missing

As we celebrate the freedom of three young women in Cleveland, released from captivity after more than ten years of living hell, let's keep in mind a simple truth.

Ashley Summers is still missing. She disappeared in the same neighborhood where the other girls were kidnapped. When will she be found?

To lose a child to murder is a terrible tragedy, but to lose a child and not know their fate may be even more painful.

Around the country, there are tens of thousands of missing persons, and 40,000 unidentified, unnamed dead buried without identification, without a family to claim them, or be notified of their loss.

This silent story was first brought to my attention by Sarah Weinman, news editor of Publisher's Marketplace, through a posting on her website entitled The Plight of the Unidentified. In it, she discusses efforts by a group called the Doe Network to identify the missing. Teaming up with NamUS, a database of missing persons, the Doe Network is making it easier to search for missing persons, in the hopes that their families may learn their fate.

Visit their website. Look at the pictures of the missing in your area. See a familiar face? Tell someone. And let's bring Ashley Summers home.

Settle Back and Listen to Some Crime Jazz

Looking for something different to listen to? Tired of the same old repeats on the radio? Need some inspiration as you type away on the keyboard while composing the great American Crime Novel?

Try some Crime Jazz. A cool, crazy, sometimes bizarre selection of detective TV theme songs, movie soundtracks and jazz cuts that were popular in the 50's, 60's and 70's.  All designed to accompany crime shows. Some examples include music from long departed shows like The Saint, Peter Gunn and Hawaii Five-0.

Here in Kansas City, Darrell Brogdon has been featuring crime jazz as a regular feature on his Saturday Night show, The Retro Cocktail Hour, a celebration of long departed lounge music, space age pop, and of course, crime jazz.

Start with the April 6th, 2013 playlist, 50 Years of James Bond.

Explaining the Fall in Crime During the 90s with...Unleaded Gas?

When I first read this story, I thought to myself, This is why you shouldn't believe everything you read on the internet. But I checked the source and did some research. I think they may be onto something here.

Alex Knapp, a science writer for Forbes magazine has written an article showing a strong parallel between the rising exposure to lead in America to the crime boom of the 60s and 70s.  On the face of it, this makes sense. Lead is well known as a factor in brain damage and impairment. Most of us think of paint chips as a major source of lead. I still remember those Ad Council commercials from the 70s where some government official warns parents against letting kids eat paint chips (maybe he should have suggested Cheetos?).

Lead was removed from paint by the early 70s, but the highest exposure to the public actually came from leaded gas. As unleaded gas grew in use and leaded gas was fazed out, crime began to drop.

Credit for the seemingly unexplained drop in crime over the past two decades was quickly grabbed by politicians who embraced get tough policies on criminals. But maybe it was just a matter of getting the lead out...of gas!

Check Alex's article at this link: How Lead Caused America's Violent Crime Epidemic

Click here for another great article on the criminal mind by Adrian Raine, discussing factors that influence criminal behavior, including the decline in leaded gas, from the Wall Street Journal: The Criminal Mind

For A Suspenseful Story In An Exotic Locale, Look Behind A BITTER VEIL

Libby Fischer Hellmann has done something remarkable with her latest mystery novel; written a gripping tale of betrayal and murder and placed it in an international setting with an ancient culture that most Americans know little about. And she's done it without relying on stereotypes.

A Bitter Veil tells the story of Anna, an American who falls in love with Nouri, an Iranian foreign exchange student. The story is set in the late 70's before the Islamic Revolution, when Iran send thousands of students to the United States to be educated as part of a modernization effort.

With his charm, good looks and a healthy dose of Persian love poetry, Nouri wins Anna's heart. They return to Iran where Anna struggles, and eventually succeeds in fitting into a strange and vibrant culture. But after the Shah is overthrown, changes begin to sweep through the country, affecting not just Anna, but all the people of Iran. The Islamic Revolution, like the French and Russian revolutions before it, begins with high hopes and aspirations but eventually descends into paranoia and tyranny. Hassan, Nouri's oldest and closest friend, joins the Revolutionary Guards. Even Nouri is caught up in the chaos, and starts treating Anna with suspicion, demanding she dress more conservatively and obey his orders without question. He often disappears without explanation. Anna, like many Iranians around her, decides to flee the country. But before she can put her plan into motion, she is arrested for murder.

As an American in a foreign country, she has almost no allies, no one to believe her. Ironically, Hassan, who has become swept up in religious fervor and the revolution, is convinced that Anna is innocent, and struggles to find a way to help her.

This story has all the elements of a first rate mystery. Despite the foreign setting, Libby paints her characters with a full palette, both the good and the bad, showing the warmth and beauty of Persian culture, along with the tears and blood caused by the Revolution. Anna and Nouri are far from the only victims.

This tale will stay with you long after the final page is turned.

Poison as a Murder Weapon is Dying a Slow Death

I've always had a special place in my heart for murder by poison. But in the past couple of decades, poison seems to have fallen out of favor (except as a weapon of bioterrorism, involving mass deaths of hundreds or thousands).

I'm thinking more along the lines of the traditional mystery favored by writers like Agatha Christie where the victim was often a rich relative who had outlived their usefulness. The Golden Age of Poison seems to have peaked between the Victorian Era in the 1880's up to the 1930's. Many of the top mystery writers in this period were British, and their material often came from exotic locales that remained part of the British Empire. Colonial sources like Africa, India and South America provided a rich vein for mysterious toxins; fast acting, undetectable and useful for bumping off the rich relative or the inconvenient spouse.

Assisting in this pattern was the fact that forensic science was still in its infancy. Poisons were easy to obtain and hard to uncover in an autopsy. Anyone could walk into a local apothecary and purchase strychnine, arsenic or the popular poison of the month, without ID.

Today, forensic science has entered a golden age, and readers expect that CSI type investigators will be able to decifer not only the DNA in the blood of a murder victim, but the presence of any unusual poisons or substances. Dangerous chemicals are tracked by Homeland Security or corporations who maintain a database. You can't even rent a video without some form of ID, let alone 500 pounds of ammonium nitrate.

Now comes word that scientists may be able to create an anditote to a wide range of poisons.  Nanosponges may be able to soak up a wide range of toxins, according to an article by Daniel Akst. Scientists at the University of California are working on this latest discovery.

It's enough to make a crime writer cry? What's next? Cameras at intersections to record cars who speed through red lights? Oh, wait...that's been done.

Seems we'll have to get more creative when we sit down at the computer and ponder that age old mystery as we write our next story.

How do I kill someone, and get away with it?

DO CRIMINALS LIKE THE WAY YOU WALK?

In the animal kingdom, lions, tigers and bears seek out easy prey...the young, the old, and the weak. They do this in part by studying movement. In our world, criminals act much the same way, looking for victims who are easy prey. They choose their victims based on the way they walk. You can protect yourself on the street in part by walking with confidence. Seems like common sense, but this may be the first scientific study to look at how criminals pick their victims. Read more at slate.com by clicking here: I Like The Way You Walk

More Resources For Crime Victims

 

In recognition of National Crime Victims' Rights Week, check out the following resources. If you've ever been the victim of a crime, you can find useful information below.

 

National Center For Victims of Crime: www.VictimsofCrime.org

 

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: www.missingkids.com

 

DOD Safe Helpline: https://www.safehelpline.org



Mothers Against Drunk Driving: www.madd.org

 

Parents of Murdered Children: www.pomc.org

 

National Crime Prevention Council: www.ncpc.org

 

National Human Trafficking Hotline: www.polarisproject.org/what-we-do/national-human-trafficking-hotline/the-nhtrc/overview

 

National Domestic Violence Hotline: www.thehotline.org

 

National Crime Victim's Rights Week Starts, and a Tip For Protecting Your ATM Card from Clever Thieves

This week marks the start of national Crime Victims' Rights Week, a time to recall those who have suffered from real crime. Those who have suffered from criminals who prey on the weak, the timid, the young or the naive, deserve our support. Check your local community bulletin board and local library for programs and events. You can also check out this link at the Justice Department: National Crime Victims' Rights Week. It had a resource guide available for download with tons of useful information and programs.

 

 

Think your PIN is safe because you didn't write it down? Think again. Criminals have ingenious ways of guessing your pin number, based on common habits and mistakes we all make when choosing our pin. Check out this article for practical tips: Protect yourself from Pin theft.