The Forensic Science Club held an event called “The Haunted Crime Scene” following a Halloween theme, with a mock crime scene for the club members and the community to try and solve. This was their second annual event planned after the first one’s success.
Sam Meyer, a senior majoring in forensic investigations, was guiding the participants through the investigation. The event was held Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023, from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the lower level of the West Hall. The event was open to everyone in the Topeka Community and the students here at Washburn.
“This event is held to get the public and forensic investigation majors on campus as well as off campus to come and experience what it feels like to be a forensic investigator,” Meyer said. “The target audience, we do hope to get a lot of people on campus that are not FI majors or forensic investigation majors. We want people from all different walks of life. Children are welcome, parents are welcome, students are welcome, anybody’s welcome to come and experience [the event].”
It was a model crime scene where the audience was introduced to the life of a forensic investigator. The participants were handed a couple of papers to write down their thoughts while going further into the investigation. The paper had the case narrative and the names of the victims -Franklin(M) and Sally(F). The suspects were Dracula, Werewolf, Mummy and Clown.
“I wanted to create a fun Halloween experience where people can do something besides stay at home or party on Halloween. When we’re at that older age we can’t trick or treat anymore and all that you have are parties late at night,” Meyer said. “Having a little haunted crime scene where you come to and it’s Halloween themed in the evening gets you into the vibe and you also get some good experience out of it.”
There were five different stations at the event. The first station was the footwear evidence. Two different shoe prints were placed on soil and the audience had to compare it to six known footwear prints. Participants had to match them which also happened in the second station, fingerprint evidence. People were given a set of fingerprints which they had to match to one of the suspects.
After that, participants were able to see the crime scene through the window. A doll of a dead woman with a mark on her neck, which looked like fangs, was on the bed and a man’s body was on the floor. After looking at the scene, the next station was bloodstain analysis. Different photos from the crime scene with different patterns of blood were in front of the participants with various kinds of information on analyzing the blood patterns.
After that step, participants went to scan personal items and handwriting. An empty wallet, a piece of paper with numbers written on it, a fake $100 bill, a receipt and a business card for a hair salon were placed on the table with different handwriting samples from the different suspects.
The last step of the investigation was a mattress with some clothes that was placed before the participants with pieces of fur on it and a UV light was also provided to help look at it better. After this step, participants guessed who the perpetrator was and if they got the answer right then they got to choose a sticker. The culprit to the haunted crime scene was Werewolf.
Anna Eddy, senior forensic investigations major, participated in the event with her brother, Tristen Eddy and her friend, Lexi Matos. Tristen thought the event was fun and gave the event a five star rating.
Eddy talked about the difficulties of the investigation.
“The easiest? Probably the bloodstains and the shoes,” Eddy said. “Identifying the fingerprints was the hardest.”
Elsie Smith, a freshman biochemistry major, also attended the event and gave her thoughts on the investigation.
“The event was very fun and very involving,” Smith said. “The fingerprints were kind of difficult, because they’re detail oriented.”
This event will be taking place next year too but the location might change.
The Forensic Science Club holds a meeting every last Tuesday of the month where they let people try out different forensic techniques in the classroom. They’re there to help them and let them experience things that a forensic investigator would be doing but on a smaller scale.
For the next meeting, they’re going to have a guest speaker come in to talk about crime scenes with fire and interesting facts. They will also share their knowledge and experience of being a fire marshal.
Whether you are a forensic science major or not, you will always be welcomed to the meetings.
Edited by Jayme Thompson and Morgan Albrecht
