Pamela Foddrill: Examining the Investigation Introduction The tragic abduction and death of Pamela Foddrill beginning on August 18th, 1995, relied on investigators from the Indiana State Police, FBI, multiple Greene County police agencies, and Greene County Prosecutors to arrest and convict the five individuals who committed this heinous act. Those who were arrested and eventually convicted for different criminal offenses are Roger Long, Jerry Russell Sr., John Redman, Wanda Hubbell, and Plynia Fowler. One could look at the investigations these agencies completed and evaluate them in two phases, forensic evidence and investigative processes. The former being defined as the evidence collected in order to convict or rule out suspects, and the latter being defined as the way the investigators developed the investigation and how it evolved throughout the ensuing years. In order to evaluate these two different subjects, one needs to examine the similarities and differences between this investigation and theories about how investigation of this type develop, the nuances of this investigation not able to be explained by theory, investigatory elements that …show more content…
The evidence one could observe where there is a major difference between the theory and the reality of the case is how the mode of death was discovered and how that played a role in the trial and later appeal. According to Michael D. Lyman, author of Criminal Investigation: the Art and the Science, the type of death and how the individual dies can, “be discovered through careful examination of both the deceased and the crime scene” (275). However, Foddrill’s corpse was in bad condition due to her being kept in the shed. This decomposition made it difficult for investigators to be certain how she died. For example,