School Essay: The Case of the Hunter and the Swamp

The Case of the Hunter and the Swamp

Module 2 - Case Study #1: Soil and Glass

Leslie K. Penny

Chancellor University

Abstract

The murder of John Bruce Dodson was a case that went cold for three years.  Investigators had the knowledge of how the murder was done, when, where, and by who, but had no evidence to prove his wife of three months, Janice Dodson, had done the heinous crime.  The weapon used in the murder was never recovered and as there were no witnesses to the murder, the investigators had nothing.  Eventually, one of the detectives got to thinking about a pair of coveralls the suspect was wearing the day of the murder that had been caked in mud.  There were only two parts of that mountain region that had this particular mud (bentonite deposits) that were brought in to prevent the ponds water from leaching into the ground.  A forensic scientist was able to link the mud from the suspects coveralls to where the murder weapon was stolen and to where the victim was murdered.  This soil evidence was used to convict Janice Dodson of the murder of her husband. 

The Case of the Hunter and the Swamp

            The following essay is a case study of a murder investigation involving soil as one of its primary pieces of evidence.  Other evidence was collected and used against the suspect but this paper will concentrate on the soil evidence only.  The following objectives will be discussed: a brief statement of facts will be disclosed, how the evidence was located and how it relates to the investigation, if the evidence was in fact presented at trial and the impact it had on the jury and judge.  The case study in question follows the investigation of one John Bruce Dodson.

            On Oct 15, 1995, while John Bruce Dodson and his wife of only three months, Janice Dodson, were on a hunting trip in the Uncompahgre Mountains of western Colorado, he met with his untimely death.  At first glance it looks to be a hunting accident which was common and not surprising to investigators.  The wife's claim that its a hunting accident just adds to the assumption.  However, upon further examination of the body it is discovered that he is shot three times.  And a fourth shot was discovered in a fence post (http://www.forensicgeology.net/science.htm).  Its later discovered that Janice had been to the mountain a few weeks prior on a separate hunting trip sans her husband.  Janice Dodson is now a suspect in the murder of her husband.

            It just so happens the suspects ex husband, J.C. Lee, is camped the exact same time period only three-quarters of a mile from the Dodson's camp.  However, his alibi checks out that he was hunting with his boss at the time of the shooting of John Bruce Dodson.  He did report to investigators that his .308-rifle and a box of .308 cartridges were stolen from his tent while out hunting that very day.  The bullet casing found at the scene as well as the bullets pulled from the victim's body during the autopsy matched that of J.C. Lee's stolen gun (http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=132406&page=1).  However, the gun has never been discovered and with no witnesses investigators didn't have much to go on. 

            Three years go by and still the case sits cold until one day one of the detectives remembers a detail concerning mud.  Investigators had recovered a pair of coveralls that Janice had been wearing the day her husband was slain.  The mud on these coveralls was a particular clay based material brought in specifically to the bog and pond, that she had stepped in, to keep the water from leaking out of the bottom of the pond.  The bog and pond were in close proximity to where the .308 was stolen and to where her husband was murdered (http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=132406&page=1).

            The evidence, the clothing the suspect was wearing, was collected by the investigators on  the day of the shooting and stayed in storage for some time before investigators thought to match the mud off the suspects clothing to the mud found around the crime scene.  According to the website, http://www.forensicgeology.net/science.htm, investigators packaged  dried mud samples from each location, the pond and the bog, near where the murder weapon was stolen and the suspect was shot.  The mud evidence, along with, Janice's overalls were sent to a forensic scientists, one with geologic training, who testified in court that the dried mud recovered from Janice's coveralls was indeed  consistent with the mud bog and the pond near the camp.  This very mud evidence placed Janice in the camp where her ex husbands .308 rifle was stolen.  The two areas where the mud evidence was collected are the only two areas where the presence of bentonite deposits are found.  This evidence became the breaking point for the case.

            The mud evidence was used in the trial against Janice Dodson in the murder of her husband.  Without a murder weapon or witnesses, the jury had to go mainly by the mud evidence produced and "understood the results that followed" the forensic scientists "insightful "mud" exclamation".  Janice Dodson was convicted and is now serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole (http://www.forensicgeology.net/science.htm).  

            In conclusion, even though it took investigators nearly three years to even consider the mud found on Janice's coveralls,  the mud where the weapon was stolen and the mud where her husband was shot, would be the evidence needed to convict her, they did finally come to that realization.  This case was a prime example of the importance soil can be in an investigation.  Especially when no other evidence is found to link the suspect or corroborating witnesses to the crime.  As the investigators mentioned in the story, if she had only shot her husband one time, they would have closed the case that day as an unfortunate hunting accident. 

Reference

 

A Murder Disguised as a Hunting Accident. (n.d.). Retrieved from ABC NEWS: http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=132406&page=1

Murray, R. C. (2005, 01). Collecting Crime Evidence From Earth. Retrieved from forensic geology: http://www.forensicgeology.net/science.htm