The coordination and communication of these different detectives and forensic groups was mostly poor. The homicide might be in a different place. The missing person case might be in one town or county. The book version was published in 1998.īecause this was about a serial killer with many victims, many different law enforcement agencies were involved. By the end, DNA and other technological advances have changed things greatly. In the beginning, there are pay phones and very little technology and use of forensic evidence. The information in the case was quite well organized and told mostly in a chronological format. This case is about an actual serial killer in California nicknamed the I5 killer for the interstate near where the crimes happened. Trace Evidence sounded interesting and I’m really glad I gave it a try. I don’t read very much true crime but I do read many mystery / thrillers. It would have been a better book if the author had included a timeline of the crimes and a map of the area, but that is a small nitpick about an excellent work of journalism. Trace Evidence is skillfully structured, emphasizing the investigation rather than the trial, and includes crisp photographs of the key evidence. cool and logical) formed a team.Īuthor Bruce Henderson relates how they followed through on a bewildering number of leads, how they ranked their potential suspects on a point system that proved remarkably effective, and how, finally, a trace evidence expert spent many long hours looking through a microscope to cinch the case with analysis of fibers. As deaths of young women in several different jurisdictions began to form a pattern, a few detectives with contrasting approaches (excitable and given to hunches vs. This killer specialized in picking up his victims along Interstate 5, near Sacramento, California, and he had an odd penchant for snipping at their clothes with scissors.

Trace Evidence, by contrast, has a steady relentlessness that allows the reader to become fascinated by the characters of the investigators and the facts of how the evidence was assembled.

Some books about serial killers are dramatic and emotional. Published by Tantor Audio on February 25, 2020 This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

I5 killer victims