Forensic Science Seminar

The Los Angeles Visionaries Association, Esotouric and Dr. Jay Vargas invite you to the Cal State Los Angeles teaching crime lab for an afternoon’s inquiry into the history and practice of forensic science in Southern California, in support of new research coming out of the Criminalistics Department.

Come spend an afternoon exploring the history of true crime investigations in Southern California, and the 21st century possibilities for new innovations in forensic science. Our special guests are true crime author Julia Bricklin and Dr. David Raymond.

Program #1: “Blonde Rattlesnake: Burmah Adams, Tom White, and the 1933 Crime Spree that Terrorized Los Angeles” with author Julia Bricklin

Asked how she came to write “Blonde Rattlesnake,” Julia Bricklin explains, “I stumbled upon the story of Burmah Adams White while looking for a photograph. I was editing for a history journal, and thought since I was creating a cover for a fall issue that I should look for an ‘old-timey’ image of a school marm, complete with horned-rim glasses and stern look. I typed ‘school teacher’ and old date parameters into the Los Angeles Public Library photo archives. What popped up was image after image of Burmah and other people related to her case — the L.A. Examiner had scores of them complete with ‘shooting of beloved Third Street school teacher’ in the captions. When I saw the big, forlorn eyes of the arrested, nineteen-year-old woman staring back at me, I knew I had to dig deeper.

“After a whirlwind courtship, Burmah Adams—a hairdresser from Santa Ana trying to make her way in the world during the height of the Great Depression—married a felon named Tom White. The pair robbed scores of people and businesses around the LA basin, striking fear into the hearts of Angelenos and mocking the LAPD, who kept hearing reports of a blonde laughing at their victims. The worst of her crimes was her assistance to Tom in the shooting of a popular elementary school teacher, Cora Withington, and a former publisher, Crombie Allen, who was teaching Withington how to drive his new car. Withington and Allen were stopped at a light when a car, driven by platinum blonde Burmah, pulled up alongside them; Tom jumped out of the vehicle brandishing a pistol. He pointed the weapon at Withington’s head and allegedly said, ‘Shell out, sweetheart!’ As Withington and Allen were handing over their valuables, Tom got impatient and shot the teacher in the head. The bullet tore through Miss Withington’s left eye and came out near the right one, passing through the other side of her head and ripping a hole in Allen’s neck.

“The pair was cornered some days later at their downtown apartment. Tom chose to shoot at police officers, earning himself two bullets to the heart. Burmah’s trial in the fall of 1933 was a sensation, trumped up by authorities eager to make an example of her. Chief of LAPD, James ’Two Gun’ Davis, Judge Fletcher Bowron, and District Attorney Buron Fitts all had their eyes on either keeping their jobs or getting promotions to loftier ones. And the fact that she was young, female, pretty and seemingly had no reason to commit these crimes made Burmah a magnet for radio programs and newspaper columnists.

“My fascination with Burmah White and her story lies in the fact that she was a resumé builder for many politicians and law enforcement in Los Angeles trying to show they were as tough on crime and youthful crime and female crime as Chicago and New York. My book spends a lot of time and effort trying to figure out why a young woman such as Burmah could so easily fall into this life of crime: was it abuse? Drugs and alcohol? A desire for the finer things in life? All of the above? But I also wished to pose the question: can we learn something from the way she was ramrodded through the legal and penal system? And, are there any parallels to the way criminals are ‘played up’ in the media and the courtroom today?”

Copies of Blonde Rattlesnake: Burmah Adams, Tom White, and the 1933 Crime Spree that Terrorized Los Angeles will be available for purchase and signing by the author.

Program #2: Dr. David Raymond Presents on The Black Dahlia Case, Automotive Pet Safety & The Role of Engineers in the future of Crime Scene Investigation

Dr. David Raymond, a biomechanical engineer, has been involved in the field of impact and injury tolerance for 21 years. He has applied this biomechanical knowledge in the field of forensics for the past 17 years. Through his experience as a forensic consultant, investigating human injury causation, he has gained insight into the needs of current criminal investigative practices.

During this presentation, Dr. Raymond will provide his insight and opinions regarding the potential role of the engineer in the crime lab of the future and the potential benefits of expanding the scientific backgrounds of current crime lab personnel. He will provide real-world case examples of where an engineer’s expertise would potentially aide in various types of investigations.

Dr. Raymond has previously conducted cadaveric research and published on the biomechanics of head and facial trauma. He regularly assesses forensic cases involving head and facial injuries. Part of his presentation will include a discussion with Esotouric’s Kim Cooper about the head and facial trauma documented in the case of Elizabeth Short, the victim of the still unsolved 1947 “Black Dahlia” murder in Los Angeles. Dr. Raymond will discuss the biomechanics of various types of head and facial trauma and will provide his insights into the possible mechanisms of injury associated with documented head trauma to Ms. Short.

Dr. Raymond will also discuss his recent research collaboration with the automotive pet safety industry. He will discuss the current state of regulation and consumer oversight on pet safety restraint systems, demonstrate the performance of many brands of pet safety restraints in high-speed crashes, and discuss current efforts aimed towards developing the first canine crash test dummy. If you regularly drive with a pet, you won’t want to miss this presentation.

The Los Angeles Visionaries Association, Esotouric and Dr. Jay Vargas invite you to the Cal State Los Angeles teaching crime lab for an afternoon’s inquiry into the history and practice of forensic science in Southern California, in support of new research coming out of the Criminalistics Department.

For “The Lazarus Files: A Cold Case Investigation” based on the acclaimed book of the same name (Henry Holt and Co., 2019), we’ll take a deep dive into one of the most shocking crimes in recent Los Angeles history, revealed through DNA evidence to have been perpetrated by one of the LAPD‘s own detectives more than 25 years ago.

In this never-before-presented program focusing on the forensic science that resulted in Stephanie Lazarus’ conviction for a cold case homicide, author Matthew McGough and cold case Criminalist Doreen Hudson reveal the delicate web of lies that was finally broken through cutting edge forensic tools.

“The Lazarus Files: A Cold Case Investigation” is a deeply-reported, riveting account of a cold case murder in Los Angeles, unsolved until DNA evidence implicated a shocking suspect – a female detective within the LAPD’s own ranks.

On February 24, 1986, 29-year-old newlywed Sherri Rasmussen was murdered in the home she shared with her husband, John. The crime scene suggested a ferocious struggle, and police initially assumed it was a burglary gone awry. Before her death, Sherri had confided to her parents that an ex-girlfriend of John’s, a Los Angeles police officer, had threatened her. The Rasmussens urged the LAPD to investigate the ex-girlfriend, but the original detectives only pursued burglary suspects, and the case went cold.

DNA analysis did not exist when Sherri was murdered. Decades later, a swab from a bite mark on Sherri’s arm revealed her killer was in fact female, not male. A DNA match led to the arrest and conviction of veteran LAPD Detective Stephanie Lazarus, John’s onetime girlfriend.

“The Lazarus Files” delivers the visceral experience of being inside a real-life murder mystery. McGough reconstructs the lives of Sherri, John and Stephanie; the love triangle that led to Sherri’s murder; and the homicide investigation that followed. Was Stephanie protected by her fellow officers? What did the LAPD know, and when did they know it? Are there other LAPD cold cases with a police connection that remain unsolved?

With illuminating demonstrations in the teaching crime lab and the opportunities for lively Q&A that these seminars are known for, you’ll end the afternoon with a deeper understanding of cold case investigations, DNA science and the hidden culture of the LAPD.

To learn more, and hear interviews with Matthew McGough about the book, visit

https://matthewmcgough.com/the-lazarus-files/interviews

ABOUT MATTHEW MCGOUGH: Matthew McGough’s nonfiction writing has been published in The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and more. His acclaimed memoir “Bat Boy: Coming of Age with the New York Yankees” was the basis of “Clubhouse,” a primetime TV series on CBS. His new book, “The Lazarus Files: A Cold Case Investigation,” was released in April. Formerly a legal consultant and writer for NBC’s “Law & Order,” he lives in Los Angeles with his wife and children.

ABOUT DOREEN HUDSON: In 1986, when she worked on the Rasmussen case, Doreen Hudson was a Criminalist II in the Trace and Field Unit of the Criminalistics Laboratory, SID. In 2017, when she retired from the LAPD, she was the Commanding Officer of the Forensic Science Division (formerly SID).

The Los Angeles Visionaries Association, Esotouric and Dr. Jay Vargas invite you to the Cal State Los Angeles teaching crime lab for an afternoon’s inquiry into the history and practice of forensic science in Southern California, in support of new research coming out of the Criminalistics Department.

For our Serial Killer Summer Session, come spend an afternoon immersed in one of the darkest periods in Southern California crime history, as Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Detective Lt. Gil Carrillo (retired) and retired LAPD officer and agency historian Glynn Martin illuminate the notorious Night Stalker murder spree and the investigation that ended it with an illustrated historical conversation drawing on their shared experience living through, and later researching, these notorious Southern California crimes.

The Night Stalker Case – Spring-Summer, 1985. Follow in the footsteps of LASD Detective Lt. Gil Carrillo and his colleagues as they track a sadist whose vicious home invasion attacks spread terror across the region, gathering physical evidence that will finally reveal the identity of the self-styled Night Stalker. Soon after Richard Ramirez’ mug shot is published, the killer is captured by a mob of enraged East Los Angeles neighbors. Soon, Gil Carrillo will be interviewing Ramirez and helping to make the criminal case against him. The presentation will include powerful images from the Los Angeles Public Library’s collection that are featured in Glynn Martin’s book “Satan’s Summer in the City of Angels: The Social Impact of the Night Stalker,” and questions from the audience are encouraged.

By the afternoon’s conclusion, attendees will have a deeper understanding of how serial murders shaped Southern California culture in the 1980s, the investigative tools used to work the crimes, and the historical documents left behind.

The Los Angeles Visionaries Association, Esotouric and Professor Don Johnson invite you to the Cal State Los Angeles teaching crime lab for an afternoon’s inquiry into the history and practice of forensic science in Southern California, in support of new research coming out of the Criminalistics Department.

Presentation #1: Stalking The Night Stalker

Almost exactly thirty years ago, Richard Ramirez was captured by a mob of enraged East Los Angeles community members, ending the reign of terror of the self-proclaimed Night Stalker, who laid siege to the city through a series of vicious home invasion attacks in the spring and summer of 1985.

Giselle Lavigne is a forensic investigator for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department who worked on analyzing the physical evidence used for Richard Ramirez’ murder trial. She will present in great detail on the full complement of forensic evidence that was gathered, revealing the actions of the killer through the trace, blood and other evidence he left behind.

Presentation #2: The 60 Freeway Slayer

Professor Donald Johnson, our host and the Director of the Criminalistics Department, will present on six murders of prostitutes in 1993-94, which were initially attributed to an unknown “60 Freeway Slayer.”

When Professor Johnson was a forensic investigator for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, he investigated the murders, and gathered the evidence which, almost a decade later with the introduction of DNA evidence into the courtroom, would result in the conviction and death sentence of the “60 Freeway Slayer,” who DNA evidence showed to be incarcerated felon Ivan Hill. The case is a pivotal example of the remarkable impact that new forensic technology has in the courtroom and the lab.

By the afternoon’s conclusion, attendees will have a deeper understanding of the evolving toolkit used to gather and interpret physical evidence for the benefit of investigating officers and juries, from the 1980s to the present.

The Los Angeles Visionaries Association, Esotouric and Dr. Jay Vargas invite you to the Cal State Los Angeles teaching crime lab for an afternoon’s inquiry into the history and practice of forensic science in Southern California, in support of new research coming out of the Criminalistics Department.

Presentation #1 – Dr. Jay Vargas and the Family Tree of Toxicology

Alexander Gettler is commonly known as the father of forensic toxicology in the United States. He was prolific at refining analytical tools and creating new methodologies to detect poisons and other toxicants in the 1930s and 1940s in New York. His pioneering work is the subject of Deborah Blum’s best-selling book The Poisoner’s Handbook. Lesser known are the stories and accomplishments of the young chemists who studied with Gettler, known in the profession as the “Gettler Boys,” many of whom became established toxicologists in their own right.

Join Jay Vargas, Ph.D., Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminalistics at Cal State LA as he describes who the Gettler Boys were and some of their important accomplishments to the field of forensic toxicology. A discussion about the “family tree” of toxicology will also be presented as Dr. Vargas describes his own student-driven research at Cal State LA and attempts to trace his own career lineage back to the founders of the field.

The program will include a lab session in which attendees will observe a recreation of early chemical tests used in Gettler’s day to detect the presence of heavy metals.

Presentation #2 – Detective Mike Digby on Krishna Venta’s WKFL Fountain of the World cult

Arson and bomb detective Mike Digby returns to the teaching crime lab to share his research into a fascinating mid-century intentional community that settled in Box Canyon above Simi Valley, and became notorious in 1958, when two disgruntled members assassinated leader Krishna Venta and numerous other people with a dynamite bomb. Mike will present an engaging history of cult leader Venta (real name: Francis Herman Pencovic) and his lengthy career as a fraudster, how and where the bomb and components were assembled, the bombing itself, the scene, aftermath and police investigation. Although their leader was dead and many members killed or injured, Fountain of the World community was still intact in the 1960s, providing instruction to their neighbors, the Manson Family, about how to find free food in supermarket dumpsters.

ABOUT Mike Digby: After serving seven years in the United States Army, Mike Digby joined the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department where he served proudly for more than 34 years. For the last seventeen years, he was assigned as a Detective Bomb Technician in the Arson/Bomb Squad where his duties included rendering safe and disassembling improvised explosive devices, examining and disposing of military ordnance and conducting post-blast investigations. A self-proclaimed “bomb nerd” and decorated detective, Mike has spent years studying the motives of bombers, their methods of attack and the bombs that they built. He has served as technical advisor on BBC and Discovery Channel programs. In December 2016, Mike published The Bombs, Bombers and Bombings of Los Angeles, a book which documents several dozen bombing events that took place in the Los Angeles area over the past hundred years.

The Los Angeles Visionaries Association, Esotouric and Dr. Jay Vargas invite you to the Cal State Los Angeles teaching crime lab for an afternoon’s inquiry into the history and practice of forensic science in Southern California, in support of new research coming out of the Criminalistics Department.

The focus of this seminar is arson investigation, and the human costs left to be tallied when an arsonist is captured.

Presentation #1: Author Frank C. Girardot Jr. and Lori Orr Kovach talking about their book Burned: Pyromania, Murder, and a Daughter’s Nightmare.

As a reporter in the San Gabriel Valley, Frank Girardot wrote about several major fires, including the fatal blaze at Ole’s Home Center in South Pasadena, that was tied to Glendale arson investigator John Orr. Long after Orr’s trial, the crimes haunted him, and he even named his son in honor of the youngest victim in the Ole’s fire. Years later, he was was introduced to Orr’s daughter Lori Orr Kovach, and discovered the fascinating family story that had never been reported.

Lori Orr believed her Los Angeles firefighter dad was a selfless hero. When John Orr was arrested and charged with four murders and countless arson fires, it was her testimony that helped keep him from being sent to Death Row. Eventually, Lori’s search for the truth lead her to the dark secrets lurking in her family’s past and to an inescapable conclusion about the remorseless killer and arsonist and his reign of terror in sunny Southern California.

Presentation #2: LAVA favorite, LASD arson/bomb detective Ed Nordskog, presenting on two fascinating, recently adjudicated investigations.

Case 1 – Jill Sampson

Synopsis: In 1991, Jill Sampson, a fashion student from Colorado, was out dancing at a nightclub near the beach in Los Angeles. She left the club around 3 a.m., sober and alone, to make the 20 minute drive back to her Downtown apartment. Two and a half hours later, Jill Sampson’s car was found burning in one of the worst gang neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Her badly burned body was found in the front passenger seat. Over four months, a few leads were developed, but then the infamous L.A. Riots erupted in same neighborhood where the body was found. The case went cold. In 2012, LAPD Cold Case investigators re-opened the case and were able to get a DNA hit on a man in State Prison. However, by this time, some critical evidence was missing or lost, there were issues with the Coroner’s testimony, and at least two of the fire scene experts had died. LAPD and the District Attorney turned to Los Angeles Sheriff’s Detective and Arson Profiler Ed Nordskog to lend his unique experience to the case, which was adjudicated in 2018.

Case 2 – Jesse Aguilar

Synopsis: In 2006, a smoldering car was observed in the Los Angeles River bed. Firefighters found smoke emitting from the trunk of the vehicle and that the trunk lid was tied shut. Inside they found the badly beaten body of Jesse Aguilar, a recently returned, decorated veteran of the Gulf War. Sheriff’s Homicide investigators had few leads, as Jesse was last seen going to work the day earlier. Some clues at the scene indicated the possible involvement of a street gang, even though Aguilar was not associated with gang activity. The investigators doggedly pursued the case for nearly a decade before finding evidence linking two suspects to the scene. Ed Nordskog was called as an expert witness and arson profiler and opined in court that Jesse was probably tortured prior to the fire, and set on fire while still alive. Case adjudicated in 2018.

Warning: This seminar will have extremely graphic and disturbing crime scene photos. They are shown to illustrate the unique forensics associated with fire death scenes. Any persons who knew the victims are urged not to attend. There will be no photography or videotaping permitted during this presentation.

ABOUT ED NORDSKOG:

Currently a full time Arson/Bomb Investigator with Los Angeles Sheriff’s, since 1997. Ed has investigated 2,100 arson cases and arrested/prosecuted 300 persons for arson related offenses. He has testified as an expert in fire/arson on over 100 cases, and been involved in over 60 fatal fire investigations and 46 serial arson investigations.

In recent years, he has acted in the role of consultant for police, prosecutors, coroners, and fire agencies at the local, state, national and international levels. Nordskog has provided these consulting services on over 75 occasions.

Ed Nordskog has authored three books on arsonists and serial arsonists, including his most recent release, The Arsonist Profiles. He has been named the “International Arson Investigator of the Year”, and the “Law Enforcement Officer of the Year” for his work on major and complex arson investigations. He has provided expertise and script consulting to several television and movie projects regarding both arsonists and bombers.

Contact Page for Ed.

The Los Angeles Visionaries Association, Esotouric and Professor Donald Johnson invite you to the Cal State Los Angeles teaching crime lab for an afternoon’s inquiry into the history and practice of forensic science in Southern California, in support of new research coming out of the Criminalistics Department.

The focus of this seminar is the Chester Turner cold case investigation in South Los Angeles. Turner is believed to be Los Angeles’ most prolific identified serial killer. Our host is Bobby Grace of the Los Angeles County D.A.’s Office Major Crimes Unit, who tried the case as Deputy District Attorney. Also presenting will be forensic investigators involved in the DNA portion of the prosecution. The seminar will take us through the complex cold case serial murder investigation, including the eventual exoneration of the first man convicted for several of the murders, and the use of DNA to apprehend and prosecute Chester Turner, concluding with his death sentence.

ABOUT THE CRIMES

Between 1987 and 1998, Chester Turner, an unassuming, often homeless pizza deliveryman and Skid Row security guard, raped and strangled ten women, killing most of them within a narrow corridor alongside Figueroa Street between Gage Avenue and 108th Street. Turner was a familiar figure in his community, and although nicknamed Chester the Molester, was not suspected of involvement in the murders. In 2002, he sexually assaulted a homeless woman who identified him to law enforcement. Turner was sentenced to eight years in prison and required to submit a sample to California’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database. When multiple hits came up for the cold case murders, detectives began working the case. In the course of identifying Turner as their suspect, it became evident that David Allen Jones had been wrongfully convicted of three of Turner’s crimes. After serving 11 years in prison, Jones was exonerated and freed in 2004. On May 15, 2007 Chester Turner was sentenced to death.

For more background on the case and the insights into the victims and their families, see Christine Pelisek’s reporting.

Prosecutor Bobby Grace wishes to share his personal thoughts on the Chester Turner case, for the benefit of those attending the seminar:

“I think that some of the main themes of the case were the number of African American women that were killed during the time period and the backdrop of the crack epidemic that made LAPD, the African American community and city government slow to react. Also the fact that many of the women were prostitutes or exchanging sexual favors for crack made the murders somewhat surreal, as if it didn’t matter because these women were not really part of society. The rumors that flew around about who may have been responsible are also fascinating. I remember being in school at UCLA during the time period and hearing that it was one lone white man that was doing all these killings.”

The Los Angeles Visionaries Association, Esotouric and Professor Donald Johnson invite you to the Cal State Los Angeles teaching crime lab for an afternoon’s inquiry into the history and practice of forensic science in Southern California, in support of new research coming out of the Criminalistics Department.

The focus of this seminar is the recently adjudicated South Los Angeles serial murder cold case, The Grim Sleeper.

Lonnie David Franklin Jr. was arrested by LAPD on July 7, 2010 after a lengthy task force investigation into a decades-long series of murders of women in the South Los Angeles area. The killing began in the mid-1980s, stopped for 13 years (the inspiration for the killer’s nickname), and resumed in the the early 2000s. Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman of the Major Crimes Division and Deputy District Attorney Marguerite Rizzo of the Forensic Science Section prosecuted the case.

Franklin, a former city sanitation worker, was convicted on May 5, 2016 of all 10 counts of first-degree murder, with the special circumstance of multiple murders. During the penalty phase, prosecutors introduced evidence tying Franklin to four additional murders of women between 1984 and 2006. On August 10, 2016, Franklin was sentenced to death for the killing of nine women and one teenage girl over the span of two decades.

The seminar will be hosted by Marguerite Rizzo, one of the prosecutors on the case. Also presenting, journalist Christine Pelisek, whose groundbreaking reporting for the L.A. Weekly gave the serial killer his nickname and brought the case into public consciousness. You’ll learn first hand how this cold case crime spree was solved through a combination of investigative tenacity and advances in forensic analysis, specifically the use of familial DNA to identify a suspect. Then we’ll follow the investigation into the courtroom, where after so many years of questions and heartbreak, a jury weighed the evidence and finally found the killer guilty.

Join us for a powerful educational program that takes us deep inside the investigation to identify and stop a deadly predator before he could kill again.

MARGUERITE RIZZO is currently assigned as the Deputy-In-Charge of the Forensic Science Section at the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Rizzo has been a Deputy District Attorney since 1999 and has been assigned to a number of branch offices throughout Los Angeles County. Before being promoted to the DIC of the Forensic Science Section, Rizzo was also assigned to two special trial units, the Family Violence Division and the Elder Abuse section.

CHRISTINE PELISEK is an award-winning journalist who has been covering crime for almost fifteen years. She is currently a senior writer for PEOPLE Magazine, and previously worked at LA Weekly where she broke the story about the Grim Sleeper serial killer and was able to get authorities to publicly admit that a serial killer had been stalking African American women in South Los Angeles since the 1980s. She received a Certificate of Appreciation from the City of Los Angeles for her work on the case. She has also covered national stories for The Daily Beast and 20/20. She’s been profiled in the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Columbia Journalism Review, Ottawa Sun and has been interviewed as a crime expert by CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Headline News and the Nancy Grace Show.

The Los Angeles Visionaries Association, Esotouric and Professor Donald Johnson invite you to the Cal State Los Angeles teaching crime lab for an afternoon’s inquiry into the history and practice of forensic science in Southern California, in support of new research coming out of the Criminalistics Department.

LAVA‘s Wrongful Conviction Forensic Science Workshop will be hosted by the California Innocence Project, whose purpose is to identify and overturn wrongful convictions in the State of California.

This workshop, using case studies by California Innocence Project attorneys, and by Robert Grace and Kenneth Lynch from the Conviction Review Unit of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, will seek to identify the causes and point to remedies of wrongful conviction. Participation from exonerees will help to bring into focus the tremendous personal, social and emotional costs of wrongful conviction for the exonerees and their families. Included in the program will be a presentation by criminalists about DNA evidence and its expanded role in seeking to overturn convictions.

Among the exonerees who are expected to attend are Kimberly Long , Rafael Madrigal, Guy Miles and Luis Vargas. Brian Banks and Uriah Courtney may also be in attendance.

California Innocence Project attorneys will be presenting on and answering your questions about the cases linked above. We hope you can join us for a special afternoon of fascinating true stories from Project Innocence California attorneys and criminalists and the exonerees whose lives they’ve changed.

The Los Angeles Visionaries Association, Esotouric and Professor Donald Johnson invite you to the Cal State Los Angeles teaching crime lab for an afternoon’s inquiry into the history and practice of forensic science in Southern California, in support of new research coming out of the Criminalistics Department.

Presentation #1:

Join us for a joint presentation by authors Brad Schreiber and Mike Digby on the fatal shootout between the Los Angeles Police Department and Symbionese Liberation Army on May 18, 1974 along East 54th Street in South Los Angeles. Each speaker brings a unique focus to this tragic event, the culmination of a nationwide manhunt for heiress Patricia Hearst, and a watershed in tactical response for law enforcement in Southern California.

Brad Schreiber, the author of “Revolution’s End: The Patty Hearst Kidnapping, Mind Control, and the Secret History of Donald DeFreeze and the SLA” will connect all the forces and characters at play, from FBI directors to CIA operatives, police informants and revolutionaries, in the maelstrom of activity surrounding the Symbionese Liberation Army, from their genesis to their fiery end. His book is the first to prove that the LAPD purposely used incendiary grenades to burn down the house and he explains how the police became militarized due to the first nationally-televised presence of SWAT teams.

Mike Digby, author of “The Bombs, Bombers and Bombings of Los Angeles,” brings his nearly 35 years with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the last seventeen as a Detective Bomb Technician in the Arson/Bomb Squad, to discuss and provide perspective about the many bombings committed by members of the SLA in Northern and Southern California.

You can look forward to a dynamic and exciting presentation.

Presentation #2:

Ms. Beverly Kerr is the Supervising Criminalist in the DNA section of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Crime Laboratory, where she supervises 36 crime analysts. With 17 years of CSI experience, Ms. Kerr has consulted for “CSI: Las Vegas,” and numerous scripted series. She has appeared as an on-camera expert in news and documentary series including “New Detectives” and “48 Hours.”

For her presentation, Ms. Kerr will discuss the Leslie Karen Long cold case murder, solved after almost four decades through DNA evidence.

THE CRIME: On the evening of December 3, 1978 Leslie Karen Long, 20, married mother of three, was working at a Chevron station in Palmdale when she was robbed and kidapped by two men. They drove her to a desolate stretch of Highway 14, where they raped and shot her dead. A customer reported the abandoned gas station, with an open safe and Long’s purse and car left behind, but it was three days before Long’s body was discovered near Soledad Canyon Road. The LASD investigation soon went cold. Physical evidence collected in 1978 sat in storage until 2006, when the crime was assigned to the LASD’s cold case unit. As part of the renewed investigation, DNA was collected and entered into the CODIS database. Two profiles were identified in 2015: Terry Moses and Neal Antoine Matthews, both known gang members. Moses pleaded guilty in 2016 and Matthews was convicted at trial in September 2017. Ms. Kerr will walk us through the initial crime investigation and the cold case work which brought the killers to justice nearly 40 years later, and answer your questions about these new tools in crime investigation.