Tracking the trail of footprints outside murder victim's home | Forensic Files

this is pretty soft ground it is uh in terms of you know when you leave a a footprint you know something on the
ground it's it's really not the impression isn't that deep right well it's it's um this is decomposed granite and it is
fairly easy to to leave an impression you can see several uh places in here and I made this one just now and you can
see just from the bottom of of my boot it uh it picks up the same pattern that's in there so it's it's fairly well
preserved in this dirt and if you uh get a good impression one that isn't kind of
disturbed by grass and and other things uh there's a lot you can learn about it and one of the things you you try to
look for is maybe something like a rock that's stuck inside the tread pattern that would show up as a dent in there
what does that show you well then if you have a suspect shoe that has a rock in it and the impression has that same dent
in it then you can say that impression was made by that too because the Rock is in it it's not an impression of any kind
of right and it's the same with a tire because uh maybe a rubber knob is broken off the bicycle tire or there's a rock
stuck in there any kind of a defect that's in the tire or the shoe impression um makes that a unique
impression if you don't have that then you can't say that impression was made by that boot only a boot similar to it
correct

The footprints behind Carol Kennedy’s home were a significant piece of evidence for the prosecution in the case against Steven DeMocker. Rich Robertson, a private investigator for the defense, explains the process of tracking footprints in the trails behind the crime scene.

Brief Summary

Footprints and tire impressions can uniquely link suspects to crime scenes through specific characteristics.

Key points

The Science of Footprints. Exploring how footprints can reveal crucial evidence in investigations.

Episode highlights

The Science of FootprintsExploring how footprints can reveal crucial evidence in investigations.“There's a lot you can learn about it.”0:37May 27, 2014

Episode quotes

There's a lot you can learn about it.

Discussing the significance of footprints.

0:37WatchMay 27, 2014

More from 48 Hours

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.