Digital Forensics – Btk Murder Cases, Case Study Example

Digital Forensics, also known as digital forensic science, is a sub-category of forensic science that involves the recovery and investigation of substances found in digital equipment as evidence, especially against computer crimes. This branch of forensic science has a wide range of applications. It was initially referred to as computer forensics, but due to more involvement of digital content, the name was modified into digital forensics. This study looks into a case study of one of the applications of digital forensics in the case of Dennis Rader. Dennis Rader had cases of murder, some of which were committed as early as 1975. He had murdered ten people within and around Wichita, Kansas, between 1974 and 1991.

The first murder was in 1975, when he killed four of his family members. This followed the killing of six more people who were all females within fifteen tears from the first murder. In the course of his activities, Rader sent the police disgusting messages, as well as those that in which he consented to committing the four murder activities in his family. The very first of these notes was found stuck one of the books in Wichita Public Library. He provided details about the murder of the family members into details. These details were however only known to the police officers till this time. In these notes, he created himself a nickname- BTK (Blind, Torture, Kill).

Rader frequently communicated to the police through the notes. Some of the information was contained in media sources. Other means that he used to communicate were through poems, pictures, and even puzzles. In the year 2005, after roughly ten years of silence from Radar, he again started sending information to the police. In this time, one of the communications set the pace for the start of his case. He sent a communication to the police via a documents prepared in Microsoft word. The data was stored in a floppy disk, which was immediately handed over to computer forensic experts’ analysis. The forensic team employed the use of EnCase software in examination of the floppy disk. In so doing, they discovered a formerly deleted Word document. The file was recovered through expert software operations. This followed keen analysis of the file, and it was established that it had been modified by someone by the name “Dennis” at Christ Lutheran Church.

A thorough search was then conducted on the church website, after which it was discovered that Dennis Rader was the president of the church congregation council. Having checked his background (Dennis Rader), the police and the FBI through DNA tests, were able to connect him to the BTK murder cases. Dennis pleaded innocent, initially, but he later confessed and provided the police with lengthy details of the details relating to the murder cases. This was in the year 2005. Dennis was imprisoned in El Dorado Correctional Facility, and may not be released any time earlier than February 26, 2180.

In building a concrete case against Rader, it took several years due to certain reasons. Despite the fact that he regularly communicated with the police through the various means, it might have been difficult to determine the sources of such information. The communication was in most cases one way. It was hard to analyze the analog means that were used before as methods of communication. The floppy disk, however, was easy to manipulate and find all the details that were needed to trace the origin and file up a case against Dennis.

The investigations relating to the case were done through the guide of the floppy disk. Tracing the source of the initial communications might not have led to Dennis being accused of the murder cases. They were merely information delivered in paper form. It was going to be impossible to track the evidence against Dennis. It would have, therefore been impossible to link up Dennis to the BTK murder cases. The keen follow-ups made by the forensic experts played a major role in tracking him down, being the person that had edited the content of the floppy.

Through the use of the EnCase software in unveiling the details about recent activities involved in the floppy disk, there was much ground to sue Dennis. It openly made him admit committing the crimes that were put against him. The EnCase software, in this case proved to be a very important tool in determining the direction that the case would take. The software is in different forms that are designed for forensics, cyber security and e-recovery. The section of e-recovery can be used to recover deleted electronic evidences that might be used to file up concrete evidences of crimes. Data obtained through EnCase can be used successfully in many court systems to support the accusations. Electronic evidences are in most cases free from doubt. This explains the reason as to why Dennis might have finally confessed having committed the crimes.

Computer Forensics therefore plays the major role of tracking down evidences especially those that have some digital concepts or links. It is possible to trace all crimes through the employment of forensic techniques.

References

Beattie, R. (2005). Nightmare in Wichita: The hunt for the BTK strangler. New York: New American Library.

Daniel, L., Daniel, L., & In Spielman, S. (2012). Digital forensics for legal professionals: Understanding digital evidence from the warrant to the courtroom. Waltham, Mass: Syngress/Elsevier.

Walker, Tom. (2012). How Sherlock Holmes Deduced Break the Case Clues on the Btk Killer, the Son of Sam, Unabomber and Anthrax Cases: With Analysis on the Mad Bomber and the Unsolved L.i. Gilgo Beach Murders. Iuniverse Inc.

Wenzl, R. (2008). Bind, torture, kill: The inside story of BTK, the serial killer next door. New York: HarperCollins.