Computerized Homicide Investigation Summary

Recently divorced, Doctor Penelope Gray, was offered a position as a psychologist for the St. Louis police department. She was placed on the department’s new unit, the Computerized Homicide Investigation Project. Her partner for the project is Detective Leo Schultz. They have been put on a case to stop a serial killer, Pauley Mac or “Dog.” A homicide of a famous pianist had been reported the day before Gray had started her new job. George Burton had been found in his apartment headless and with his back containing a carving of a dog’s face in his flesh. The only piece of evidence left at the scene was blood underneath Burton’s cat’s nails, but there was no suspect to match the blood sample with. Shortly after the first murder had been reported a second had occurred. This time Ilva Vranitzky, a famous dancer, had been found dead in his hotel room in the same condition as George. The third death was of former

Louis Police Department because she was an expert in computers. She was assigned to set up a Computer Homicide Investigation Project. She uses computers to recreate the murder scene, and uses virtual reality to allow herself and her partner, Detective Leo Schultz, to examine the crime. Through the use of Head- Mounted Displays (HMD) they play out the murder. On page 83, PJ introduces Schultz to the world of virtual reality and says, “Virtual reality refers to a customized environment created within a computer's memory. It could be the interior of a starship, Alice’s Wonderland, or a murder scene. There are two ways to experience it. You can simply watch the world on the computer screen, where all the people are three inches high and you're seeing them as an outside observer. Or you can enter the world using an HDM. A Head- Mounted Display, or headset, is worn like a helmet. Inside are two small computer screens which project images to each eye separately so that the mind interprets three- dimensional vision,” (Kennett,