Deliverable items for the Portfolio Project will be required at different points during the course. Details for each submission are included below in the Deliverable Descriptions.

Scenario

You are the responding investigator to a rape/murder and robbery crime scene.

You arrived seconds behind the uniform patrol officer. It was Nov. 6, 2014, at 11:30 p.m., and Francelia Palomares has been found murdered at the Dolex Dollar Express in the 2400 block of Fulton Street.

You learned that her body was found in a storage room near the back of the store, where she laid in a pool of blood. She appeared to have been beaten, sexually assaulted, and shot. Palomares was the only employee at the store when the incident occurred. A customer called the police after he was unable to find anyone else working at the store. The stores door was unlocked and an empty cash drawer was laying on the floor behind the cash register. Later, it is discovered that lottery tickets, cigarettes, and the victims purse had been taken along with the cash register money. The surveillance camera was tampered with, but it still works. There was also blood on the front door handle of the convenience store. A witness claimed to have seen a white male run to a parked car next to a dumpster behind the store and drive off hurriedly just minutes before the police arrived. He was headed west on Fulton Street. The witness thinks the car may have been a black Ford Mustang.

Twenty-four hours later, your Lieutenant called you into his office and explained that this case is receiving a great deal of attention from the community. He wants to see the beginning of your investigative plan by looking at your field notes and evidence log.

After showing him what you have so far, he tells you to continue with your investigative plan and that he want to see your draft as soon as you have made an arrest in this case.

Once you solved the case, your Lieutenant approaches you and congratulates you on your hard work and arrest. Now, he wants you to put everything together in one document (field notes, evidence log, and investigative plan). He also wants you to breakdown how you will prepare for the trial, discuss any ethical issues you may have faced, and anticipate 5 questions you think the defense attorney might ask you to shake the credibility of the case.

Directions

Based on the information from the scenario you will create field notes, an evidence log, and an overall investigative plan to solve the below case. In your investigative plan you will discuss the methods used to analyze evidence to find and arrest your suspect. You will summarize the questioning of witnesses and the suspect interrogation. While you have creative freedom to take your investigation in any direction to capture your suspect, do not alter the facts that have been presented.