Getting it Right with the Investigation of a Crime

AyJay said:

Specifically, the victim was last seen leaving a night club with a group of guys. I assume the police would interview people who were working at the club, and my idea was for a bouncer to tell the cops that he remembers the guy leaving but hold off on identifying any of the people the victim was with until he gets his own lawyer. Does this sound realistic? How long could the bouncer keep the police at bay?

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Of course the bouncer could say he saw the guy leaving and not identify who he left with.

He could tell them that he doesn't know the people but give the police a description of the guys. But careful about him asking for a lawyer though - cause then the police are going to start looking at him as a suspect. Accessory to the crime and whatnot.

It'd be better for him to just state he saw the guy leave with some guys and that is the end of it. Well, not really, most good cops are natural bullshit detectors.

Rabe...

You're going to have a very fine line to thread here. Not talking to the police, in the absence of a court order (easily obtained) is not illegal. Lying to the police is illegal and is what sent Martha Stewart to prison.

As the police realize the bouncer is the last person to see the potential victim, they're going to elevate their questioning of him. They're going to want him to look at pictures, lots of pictures, talk to an artist, and knowing that bouncers remember people. (If you want to avoid trouble as a bouncer, you look at people, remembering who seem like potential troublemakers.)

Asking for a lawyer is going to elevate this, but any attorney is going to tell his client to come clean. I'd want to make sure my client isn't charged with lying to the police, but I don't want the police realizing he lied before he has a chance to come clean.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

AyJay said:

My WIP has a storyline with a man's body found and a conspiracy among the witnesses to the murder not to report anything to the police. It's actually not a murder mystery, but some details about the investigation need to be worked into the plot.

Specifically, the victim was last seen leaving a night club with a group of guys. I assume the police would interview people who were working at the club, and my idea was for a bouncer to tell the cops that he remembers the guy leaving but hold off on identifying any of the people the victim was with until he gets his own lawyer. Does this sound realistic? How long could the bouncer keep the police at bay? A week? More? I'm figuring he'd want his own legal representation in case he or the club had some responsibility in the death (e.g. serving someone who's inebriated - which the victim was).

Thanks!

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It's obstruction of justice on one hand and him claiming his 4th and 5th Amendment rights on the other. A night club would already have it's own lawyers on payroll normally wouldn't it?

It's been my experience that club owners will cooperate with police when they are investigating crimes like murder, etc. They know that the police have the power to make their life miserable, and profits go away. In the rare case that a club owner refuses to cooperate, he will suddenly find unannounced visits from the vice squad, the health department, the ABC board, and any other enforcement agency the cops can enlist. The owners quickly learn that it is best to cooperate.
It's true that the probability of solving a case drops precipitously as time lapses after the crime takes place. The first 24 hours is the most important.

Ultimately, the question here is going to be how much do the cops think that a crime occurred. Bottom line is that the victim (as long as over 18) could have just decided to go away, which isn't illegal.

Assuming there is no evidence of a crime other than your victim disappeared, the police response could be anything from "He's fine and will turn up in a few days," to starting a full blown investigation. It's going to depend upon who is complaining, and the likelihood of the person disappearing. A judge, a CEO, a doctor disappearing is going to be viewed seriously, although there's going to be a concurrent investigation about whether the judge, CEO, or doctor is doing something illegal that would cause him or her to want to disappear. A college student missing a couple of classes, meh, not that exciting and unexpected.

Locale also makes a difference, as a small town is more likely to do an investigation than a big city. But a lot of this is probably based upon the fact that in a small town, the police are more likely to know the person involved,

You see this in the newspapers all the time, as missing people slowly wind up into criminal investigations. Just take a look at the length of time between the disappearance and when the police actually start looking. It can be anywhere from hours to never. Lots of people disappear without the police doing anything.

New Hampshire has a case involving a kid who died in the wilderness a few years ago. Originally determined to be an accidental death from hypothermia, the question has arisen as to whether it was a homicide. Based upon what I'm hearing about the body's position, it's disgusting that the coroner screwed up in the first instance. (Deaths from hypothermia produce a characteristic body position, unless disrupted by animals.) But it's taken years of the parents pushing for anyone to take them seriously.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

The coroner or medical examiner (all states are different so you'd want to find out which one of the two the state in question uses) will perform an autopsy and then the forensic toxicologists will do toxicology. Tox would icnlude preliminary testing for common drug classes, and if positive, confirmatory testing for specific molecules would proceed. They will then come up with a cause of death and issue a death certificate.

A tox screening could take weeks to months to complete. If the death is a homicide or has questionable circumstances the detectives would be looking at the facts of the case and trying to come up with a motive and a scene reconstruction.

If it was a homicide they'd do some computer forensics to see what was going on in the victim's life and look for more clues. They would also check any and all survellience cameras in the area.

Sadly, the depth of investigation would probably depend on how high profile the case was.

AyJay, one thing to remember is the club and businesses around it will have video surveillance cameras. The day and age we're in, you know. The bouncer will say a few guys left, he didn't know who they were. Cops will sift through the tapes and might even recognize some of the people and will head to their sources and ask questions.

Colorado Mom is also correct with computer forensics. It's amazing what the bangers will post on MySpace, for example.

Finally, as she said, they'll wait for tox reports.

That leaves plenty to keep the detectives busy during that 3-4 week period and fill the hole in your ms.