I’m really interested in forensics and would love to write a short story on some kind of criminal investigator, but I realize I’ve never really gotten a grip on how the whole process works.
So, to ask morbidly: A witness finds a dead body with clear foul play, they call the police, what happens next?
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Am Norwegian cop, have done some crime scene forensics work when professionals were unavailable but that’s not my speciality. These days I mostly do digital forensics, that’s a quite different field. The following is more from a “first unit on the scene” perspective.
It depends, lots and lots of factors go into how the scene is handled.
First and foremost though, is checking to see if the person really is dead and providing first aid if there is any chance they might be saved. Often it’s obvious they’re dead, but with a fresh corpse you generally assume they’re alive until a doctor says otherwise. Up until you’re sure they’re dead, lifesaving efforts have priority over preserving evidence- but even so, you try to minimise disturbance of anything that could be important for the investigation if you can. And you take note of what gets done where, to the best of your ability depending on just how hectic the situation might be. Again, trying to save life has priority over finding out who did it.
Also, if the suspect is or could be nearby then making the scene secure has high priority. Don’t want the bad guy to unexpectedly emerge from another room while you’re working on the crime scene, and anyway you need to be sure there’s no other victims or perhaps a witness hiding somewhere. Or grief-struck family members who might need to be gently but firmly steered away from the scene. So sooner or later, there is usually a quick search of the premises and immediate surroundings while taking note of where you step and trying not to disturb anything. Gotta be sure there isn’t some terrified person hiding in the attic or whatever.
Set barrier tape around the perimeter, make a larger perimeter than you think you need. Often a murder weapon or other important item is left near the scene, you don’t want curious onlookers to mess with that so it’s better to start big .
Once you know there’s no further lives at risk, nobody to be saved and no other people at the scene, you freeze the scene and stay out of it until enough investigative resources have arrived and until there’s a plan for how to process the scene. Only then does the real forensics work begin, you can’t have people wandering in and out doing random stuff without a plan and without the skills to do it right.
While you wait for CSI, start writing down what you have seen and experienced particularly in regards to who has walked where and touched what along the way. These notes will be helpful to the forensics people later. Photograph your boot soles, and those of anyone else that have been at the scene including medical personnel etc if possible. Forensics will need those pictures, so they can rule out shoe prints left by first responders. Write down the names of bystanders and potential witnesses, if you have time then start taking some statements from anyone that have something to say. It might be a while to wait.
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