Killer's Hair

[billthom56]

Aug 19, 2018 15:31:44 GMT (AQ) said:

This type of thing needs to be stopped !!!!   How could they even begin to think this was ok !!!!

Did they state why they destroyed such evidence ??


So very very sorry to hear this, Bill.

Aug 18, 2018 16:32:19 GMT billthom56 said:

Here is the rape kit story:

As I understand it, in 1994, the York/Poquoson County Sheriff's Department was prepping to help prosecute a rape case unrelated to the Colonial Parkway Murders. The County requested evidence from the rape case that was in storage at FBI Norfolk/Newport News be sent over. When the evidence arrived, the clerk noted that FBI had accidentally included the rape kits from Cathy Thomas and Rebecca Dowski, which had tested negative for sexual assault by 1986-1987 standards. (Remember, DNA and rape kit testing has become much more advanced and refined since then.)  The clerk informed his counterpart at FBI that they had mistakenly included the Thomas and Dowski PERK (physical evidence recovery kits), and until the FBI picked them up, that they would be secured in their evidence room. 

Chain of custody is important in handling evidence in these cases.  What followed was some sort of bureaucratic stalemate-- York County didn't want to bring the kits back as they felt it was an FBI mistake, and it sounds like FBI didn't want to send someone over.  So the kits sat for months, until finally, after being reminded by York County that they still had the rape kits, FBI Norfolk/Newport News faxed over a letter ordering that the rape kits be destroyed as medical waste. That's right-- they destroyed the rape kits essentially out of stubbornness. 

I found out about this screw-up in late 2009, and I strongly criticized the FBI in interviews.  I stand by that criticism. As the former Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Virginia said to me in 2009, "Mr. Thomas, you never, ever throw away evidence in an unsolved murder case. Yes, it is true that you sister and Ms. Dowski's rape kits came back negative, but you never know what test is going to come on line next year that will be able to find new trace evidence. At a minimum, those PERK kits were sources of clean DNA samples from your sister and Md. Dowski for future testing."

Thanks.

Bill Thomas

[(AQ)]

Aug 19, 2018 19:37:16 GMT englishman said:

Aug 19, 2018 18:56:20 GMT billthom56 said:

Englishman:

There have been around 150 POI in the Colonial Parkway Murders, so our guess is that law enforcement has interviewed a lot of people with a lot of different hair colors.

So far, I have heard about men, women, white, black and Asian, so we seem to have covered a lot of potential suspects.

And the FBI has nothing to say to our many questions about the hair in Cathy's hand after all these years.

Thanks.

Bill Thomas

Makes me think if they interviewed Black and Asian POI's, perhaps the hair was darker? Obviously some ethnic backgrounds have different hair to caucasian people, and I think CPK is white. 

 Interesting aspect of the above comment indicates that there hadn't been much of an analysis on the hair at the time of these interviews.  While it is safer to not discount anyone based on one piece of evidence,
an analysis should be able to point to ethnicity, no?  Even if dyed, straigtened, perm'ed, etc?

[billthom56]

Aug 19, 2018 19:47:45 GMT (AQ) said:

Aug 19, 2018 19:37:16 GMT englishman said:

Makes me think if they interviewed Black and Asian POI's, perhaps the hair was darker? Obviously some ethnic backgrounds have different hair to caucasian people, and I think CPK is white. 

 Interesting aspect of the above comment indicates that there hadn't been much of an analysis on the hair at the time of these interviews.  While it is safer to not discount anyone based on one piece of evidence,
an analysis should be able to point to ethnicity, no?  Even if dyed, straigtened, perm'ed, etc?

Always:

Yes, it should. Too bad we cannot get a straight answer out of the FBI.

Thanks.

Bill Thomas

[(AQ)]

Bill,

Thanks for providing the background. Must be awful to discuss but I am very glad you are.
This just breaks my heart. Nothing, Not One Thing, should EVER be destroyed in a Cold Case.
New evidence, new witness or accounting, new technology all lead to a place that wasn't available at the time of the initial investigation.

Kudos to you for speaking out in public about this. Nothing changes if no one knows of the problems that arise.

I have to give credit to the CME who was honest with you rather than covering for officals. I wonder if it encouraged him to enforce new policies, create changes in his own offices handling of such.
Wonder why, beyond space, they felt the need to follow FBI orders. Defying seems justified for this scenario.

[billthom56]

Aug 19, 2018 19:56:27 GMT (AQ) said:

Bill,

Thanks for providing the background. Must be awful to discuss but I am very glad you are.
This just breaks my heart. Nothing, Not One Thing, should EVER be destroyed in a Cold Case.
New evidence, new witness or accounting, new technology all lead to a place that wasn't available at the time of the initial investigation.

Kudos to you for speaking out in public about this. Nothing changes if no one knows of the problems that arise.

I have to give credit to the CME who was honest with you rather than covering for officals. I wonder if it encouraged him to enforce new policies, create changes in his own offices handling of such.
Wonder why, beyond space, they felt the need to follow FBI orders. Defying seems justified for this scenario.

Always:

Good point.  What breaks my heart is the missed opportunity represented by burning the rape kits, which took up almost no space in the evidence room. Those older rape kits were in a cardboard box about the size of an order of business cards.

My guess is that York County felt since the Colonial Parkway Murders was an FBI case, they would follow the FBI's orders. 

I will ask the particular law enforcement officer when I see him next.  We should be back in Virginia in the next few months.

Thanks.

Bill Thomas

[englishman]

Aug 19, 2018 19:47:45 GMT (AQ) said:

Aug 19, 2018 19:37:16 GMT englishman said:

Makes me think if they interviewed Black and Asian POI's, perhaps the hair was darker? Obviously some ethnic backgrounds have different hair to caucasian people, and I think CPK is white. 

 Interesting aspect of the above comment indicates that there hadn't been much of an analysis on the hair at the time of these interviews.  While it is safer to not discount anyone based on one piece of evidence,
an analysis should be able to point to ethnicity, no?  Even if dyed, straigtened, perm'ed, etc?

There are endless factors but I can't help thinking if we were in the investigators shoes, it would be something a lot of us would look out for would be the hair colour, CPK could of always dyed his hair afterwards or got a haircut, but it's not something I could see many people doing, as it would attract attention.

[billthom56]

Englishman:

Agreed that the hair could be important. We will see when I finally get my answers on the hair.

Thanks.



Bill Thomas

[englishman]

Hope you get some answer's Bill, you, your family and rest the families deserve some straightforward answers.

[billthom56]

Englishman:

Thanks. When we solve the Colonial Parkway Murders (note the optimism), I am pivoting to the larger issue of the more than 200,000 cold case murders here in the U.S. and why the richest country in the world cannot get it together to coordinate law enforcement efforts across the country.

Bill Thomas

[englishman]

Aug 19, 2018 20:59:00 GMT billthom56 said:

Englishman:

Thanks. When we solve the Colonial Parkway Murders (note the optimism), I am pivoting to the larger issue of the more than 200,000 cold case murders here in the U.S. and which the richest country in the world cannot get it together to coordinate law enforcement efforts across the country.

Bill Thomas

Fair play Bill. As a foreigner one thing I can't grasp is how policing is multi levelled and localised in the States (e.g. city police, state police, sheriff departments etc). I'm not a cop I've never worked in LE, however I can't see the logic behind there not being a Centralised police force across the country which is divided into states, who have to follow the same set of legislation including information sharing. 

[(AQ)]

Aug 19, 2018 20:29:26 GMT englishman said:

Hope you get some answer's Bill, you, your family and rest the families deserve some straightforward answers.

Absolutely !!!!

[cleopatra]

Aug 19, 2018 20:25:46 GMT billthom56 said:

Englishman:

Agreed that the hair could be important. We will see when I finally get my answers on the hair.

Thanks.



Bill Thomas

The hair IS IMPORTANT. It came off the body of the CPK.

And the fact that Bill may one day "finally get...."  That just so infuriates me to hear, that a family member must "finally get" answers he should have already gotten many, many years ago!!!! 

[billthom56]

Cleo and All:

Thanks. Hell, I only wrote the FBI about the evidence in November 2009. Apparently, crafting an answer takes time.


Bill Thomas

[cleopatra]

I'm so irritated that LE is not  releasing details about the hair. It rules out if the guy is african-american, Asian, red-headed, blonde, etc. 

[billthom56]

Sept 8, 2018 2:55:54 GMT cleopatra said:

I'm so irritated that LE is not  releasing details about the hair. It rules out if the guy is african-american, Asian, red-headed, blonde, etc. 

Cleo:

Exactly.

Thanks.

Bill Thomas