Authorities in Jovin case employ dual attack plan

JULIA TIERNAN/YH SCENE OF THE CRIME: Experts are analyzing forensic physical evidence from the location og Jovin's murder on the corner of Edgehill Rd. and East Rock Ave.

In hopes of bringing their lone unsolved murder of 1998, the stabbing death of Suzanne Jovin, DC '99, to an expeditious close, the New Haven Police Department (NHPD) has sought the aid of several outside experts--all of whom boast impressive resumés.

Within a month of the murder, the NHPD not only called in world-renowned forensic expert, Dr. Henry C. Lee, to analyze all physical evidence taken from the crime scene, but also sent a team of investigators to the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., with the task of compiling a behavioral analysis of the unknown suspect.

Crime scene to lab

Last week, Lee and his team of scientists sent a preliminary report to the NHPD, the details of which are yet to be revealed. Although his fame has brought an even greater amount of attention to this already highly publicized case, Lee pointed out that his expertise lies in analyzing evidence, not solving crimes. "I only look at scientific facts," he said. "I don't know the whole picture because I'm not the one conducting the investigation."

The NHPD asked Lee to examine some of the physical evidence, which he described as "basically the victim's clothing." Dr. Lee performed a microscopic examination as well as chemical, biological, and instrumental analysis of the evidence to see if it revealed any trace of the attacker's skin, hair fibers, or bodily fluids.

Although the New Haven Register reported on Thurs., Jan. 28, that "the snapped tip of the sharp murder weapon embedded in her [Jovin's] skull" is among the physical evidence police gathered from the crime scene, the Herald was unable to reach Dr. Lee to confirm whether this was among the evidence he examined.

Ira Grudberg, attorney for Political Science Lecturer James Van de Velde is confident that the physical evidence will not link his client to the murder. This is supported by the Thurs., Jan. 28 report in the Register that "the tests didn't provide any case-breaking revelations."

"There is no physical evidence [implicating Van de Velde]. There's no reason to believe he's done it. The police have nothing against him," Grudberg said.

Regardless of whether these forensic tests help spur the investigation in the Jovin case, Peter Neufeld, a former member of the O.J. Simpson defense team, said that such tests are only beneficial if they are performed by a competent lab. Specifically, they can only be trusted if the lab and all of its lab technicians are certified and routinely tested for proficiency.

When questioned regarding the effectiveness of relying on complex forensic evidence in court, Neufeld said that "the difference between understanding [forensic evidence] and not understanding is in the person explaining. If the jury does not like the person testifying, they might not believe it." He added that juries generally accept common forensic tests such as fingerprint and ballistic analysis, emphasizing again that any speculation about how a particular jury will react to forensic evidence is risky.

Neufeld expressed his confidence in Dr. Lee. "Dr. Lee is a first, first rate forensic scientist. He'll be thorough," Neufeld said.

`Behavioral analysis' of the offender

While in Quantico, the team of investigators from the Yale and New Haven police departments visited the FBI Academy's National Center for Analysis of Violent Crimes, a subdivision of the Behavioral Sciences Unit, in order to create a behavioral analysis of Jovin's killer. The agency, which has investigated a number of complex crimes since its inception in 1972, is perhaps best known for its feature role in the 1991 thriller Silence of the Lambs.

Although the movie featured Jodie Foster, CC '84, as a special agent performing a psychological profile of serial killer Buffalo Bill, FBI Academy spokesperson Kurt Crawford pointed out that the agency neither uses the term "psychological profile" nor restricts this practice to serial killers.

Crawford said that the profiles, or "criminal investigative analyses," as the FBI call them, are used to create a behavioral analysis of an unknown suspect in hopes of narrowing the focus of an investigation. Along with serial killings, they are used to solve bombings, serial rapes, vicious violent crimes, and murders, as requested by local agencies.

Through an investigation of the crime scene, the investigators may be able to intuit certain ideas about the offender, such as age or lifestyle, as well as how the crime was constructed. Crawford declined to reveal information regarding the specific methods used in crafting these portraits, saying the FBI cannot risk the possibility that a criminal could become aware of their methods and alters his or her behavior accordingly.

Although such analyses can help agents gain an understanding of an otherwise unknown suspect, Crawford warns that they are "just another tool" used to help solve a case, not an instant solution. "It can be right on sometimes and it can be off," Crawford said. Yale Law and Psychiatry Professor Howard Zonana agreed with Crawford, saying that "police and investigative agencies find profiles useful in starting out."

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