Jun 3, 2016
Last week Sisters in Crime of Central Virginia visited St. Mary’s Hospital Forensic nursing unit. This unit of specially trained nurses handles some of the most difficult cases including sexual assault, domestic, child and elder abuse, as well as human trafficking cases.
Victims generally arrive at the hospital through the emergency room. Sometimes they walk in. Others are brought in by police or transported by ambulance.
Once the patient’s immediate physical traumas have been evaluated the goal is to get them up to the forensic nursing unit as quickly as possible.
Privacy in St. Mary’s forensic nursing unit
The unit doesn’t look like a typical hospital setting and that’s for a reason. On this locked down unit away from the constant noise of the ER, there is no signage and the waiting area looks like a living room. Only one patient is admitted at a time. The entire set up is designed to minimize the trauma the patient has suffered. It is the busiest unit of its kind in Virginia.
Patients are examined and evidence is collected in special kits. The examination can take between 3-4 hours. If a victim does not wish to press charges, the nurses can still gather data and hold it for two years on the chance the victim has a change of heart. Based on exam results, the forensic nurse can advise patients on treatment and support. If a case goes to trial, the nurses will testify in court.
Continuity of care and follow up is important. Patients always receive a follow up call after they’ve been discharged. In the wake of trauma, a victim might have trouble recalling the details of the attack and it can take a couple of days before the brain settles and they are able to provide more detailed information to the investigators.
Nurses are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and they serve the entire Richmond Metro area. http://bit.ly/1XkttV5
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May 27, 2016
There’s an oft quoted statistic that says the odds of solving a Missing Person case decrease by 50{2bc7e4e23428b05b0f692f1ddf5d723165e7c1faee94cc402238e96593bfbeaa} if a solid lead isn’t found within the first 48 hours after the person has gone missing. Making the most of that time is crucial. Family and friends need to know they can report a missing adult to the police immediately.
If an adult is suspected to be missing some of the suggested first steps are to check his/her neighborhood and other places the person might usually be, including family and friends’ houses and the area around the person’s home. It’s important to connect with neighbors, friends and relatives. Then get to the police.
Photo: jim.henderson
Ways to help the police get started quickly include sharing any reasons and suspicions that may indicate the person has not willingly decided to leave. Be honest about any activities, legal and otherwise, in which he/she has been involved that might precipitate a disappearance.
Also, whoever is reporting the missing person should be as prepared as possible to give information such as what clothes the person is wearing, accessories, and a physical description that includes tattoos and scars. Provide photos.
Once reported, produce and distribute flyers with a picture and other pertinent information including where the person was last seen.
Is the person elderly? In need of medication or medical attention? Mentally impaired? Has no history of disappearing for periods of time? All of these things ratchet up the urgency.
High risk missing persons include those known to be abducted or for whom abduction is suspected, and those missing under dangerous circumstances.
That’s what Virginia state trooper Riley Tatum and former FBI agent Clay Bowman are dealing with in this excerpt from The Shark, the first of my The Forgotten Files novels.
“I can help you, Sandy.”
“Don’t worry about me,” she said, sliding from the booth. “Just find Cassie. She has a chance to get out.”
Riley slid to the edge of the booth, pulled another business card from her back pocket, and pressed it into Sandy’s hand. “Just in case.”
“I have your number.”
“Then give it to another girl who needs help.”
“You lived on the streets, didn’t you?”
Riley dug a twenty out of her pocket, set it on the table, and placed her untouched coffee cup on top of it. “What makes you say that?”
“A vibe. Like you get what it’s like. No judgment in your eyes.”
“I been a cop for eight years. I’ve seen my share.”
“A lot of cops see.” She texted a message on her cell phone. “Few understand.”
“Lucky, I guess.”
“See you around, Lucky.”
Riley watched the girl push through the front door and cross the lot outside. She moved toward a dark truck, spoke to the driver, and climbed inside the cab.
Never in Riley’s career had she wanted to see two people behind bars or dead more than she did Darla and Jax. Jo-Jo might not ever testify against Jax, but he’d broken enough laws, including evading the police and possession of drugs in his car, to get him some time in prison. A prison sentence would give her the time to build a human trafficking case against him.
Outside, she walked toward the parking lot, watching as Bowman stepped away from his vehicle. He wore a dark sports coat over his white shirt and dark pants, but when a flap of wind caught the edges of the jacket she glimpsed the weapon at his side.
“What did she say?” he asked.
“There’s a motel about twenty miles east of here.”
“You want to check it out?”
“I do. If we don’t find Cassie, I’ll call Sharp.”
“Let’s go.”
The first forty-eight hours in a missing persons case were the most critical. Didn’t seem like a case could go cold so fast, but the best leads vanished with the ticking clock. She didn’t want to rely on Bowman, but she wanted to stack the odds in her favor. She didn’t want to lose this hand. “Okay.”
“I’ll be right behind you. If we get separated, wait for me.”
“Understood.”
May 21, 2016
Publication day is almost upon us. The Shark, the first of my The Forgotten Files novels, is already on sale and will be officially published this Tuesday, May 24th. I hope you’ll want to meet “The Shark”and put him on the top of your TBR pile. Until then, I hope you’ll take a moment to read an excerpt or check out the early reviews.
In the meantime, you’re invited to share the publication day excitement by gambling to win a copy of The Shark via the entry below.
But hurry! The giveaway ends Tuesday at midnight. Good luck!
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May 20, 2016
Through the centuries, criminals have left “calling cards” as a way to tag a crime as their own or to send a message, usually to authorities. Actual calling cards harken back to the days when a visitor would leave behind a card with their name on it if the person they came to see wasn’t at home.
In The Shark my killer has a very distinctive and consistent calling card, literally leaving behind cards, in this case playing cards. And the cards Riley Tatum and Clay Bowman find on bodies are all marked with the same word–LOSER.
In general, it is unusual for a criminal to leave a calling card, but it happens.
Back in the day when calling cards were still in use, Jack the Ripper left two the night he killed Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes.
Police sketch of the man suspected of being the “Zodiak Killer,” 1969.
San Francisco’s Zodiac Killer sent crytograms made up of zodiac signs and letters to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Unabomber
The Unabomber sent letters to the FBI.
The D.C. Beltway Sniper left tarot cards for police.
A couple of notable one-time calling card messages were those sent by the Son of Sam and Chicago’s Lipstick Killer. “Sam” left a note at the site of a killing saying “I am a monster. I am the Son of Sam.” The Lipstick Killer inscribed “For heaven’s sake, catch me before I kill more. I cannot control myself” on a victim’s wall.
Here we see Virginia State Trooper Riley Tatum facing a bit of insomnia and using the time to research killings that may have similarities to victims in her area.
She checked the time. Several more hours to go before the alarm went off at seven and she would have to drag Hanna out of bed for her track practice. Wide awake and with no hope of getting back to sleep, she rose, shrugged off her nightgown, and tugged on her gym clothes. Cooper glanced up from his crate, but when she signaled they didn’t have to work, he curled back up to sleep. She carried her running shoes and laptop into the kitchen and fired up the coffeemaker.
While toasting a frozen bagel, Riley thought about last night’s meal she’d shared with Bowman. She hated leaving good food on the table. No matter how many years had passed, she never forgot the raw gnawing of hunger dished out to her by the streets. Since those days, she never wasted food. God, the steak on her plate had been so tender she could have cut it with a blunt knife. And she’d left most of it. Damn.
Finishing the last of the bagel, she moved to her computer. She typed: serial killer, New Orleans, and strangled girls. Everything and nothing popped up, so she added the date from twelve years ago. A few references hit that briefly mentioned four girls, all minors, found dead. Strangled. Because the girls were underage their names were never released. The bodies were all displayed in places where they could be easily found. There were no follow-up stories.
All the victims matched a similar description. Dark hair, dark eyes, between sixteen and seventeen, and all runaways. Just like her.
None of the articles mentioned playing cards discovered at any of the crime scenes. That made sense. Always a smart idea for cops to keep a few facts undisclosed that only the killer knew.
Absently, her fingertips now went to her neck. There’d been no sign of bruising on her neck. The needle marks had healed on her arm. Now, she almost doubted it had happened. But the playing cards didn’t lie. They were the evidence that she’d been taken.
Absently, her fingertips now went to her neck. There’d been no sign of bruising on her neck. The needle marks had healed on her arm. Now, she almost doubted it had happened. But the playing cards didn’t lie. They were the evidence that she’d been taken.
May 17, 2016
Michelle of Wernersville, Pennsylvania is the winner of last week’s Grab the Evidence Bag Giveaway. Congrats, Michelle!
Tonight, this week’s evidence bag giveaway is just beginning. I’m sharing another chance to win and debuting a new, exclusive to maryburton.com excerpt from The Shark, the first of my The Forgotten File novels! I hope you enjoy it.
Again, if you gave it a shot last week and and didn’t win, take another chance. Enter below and you may be the one to receive the next evidence bag of books.
In the meanwhile, here’s Virginia State Police Trooper Riley Tatum and Agent Dakota Sharp on their way to question the parents of a victim . . .
As they drove in silence, she thought about the playing cards hidden in her house. A thousand miles and a dozen years separated her and the day someone had given her those cards. She had no forensic evidence or memories she could attach to the cards. And with Hanna’s adoption looming, just the suggestion of a link to a serial killer could derail the final judgment. Still, the cards couldn’t be ignored.
“Have you considered entering the murder in ViCAP?” she asked.
“The FBI database? Why?”
“The playing cards found with the victim are distinctive. The handwritten word Loser on each is a signature.”
He cursed under his breath. “Don’t make this more than it is.”
Gripping the wheel, she pulled herself up a little straighter. “I disagree. They have a distinctive look. I bet they’re custom made. It’s worth a shot.”
“Anything federal amounts to a shit-ton of paperwork.”
“I’ll do it.”
He groaned and rubbed his eyes. “You don’t want to deal with the feds.”
“You don’t like the feds?”
“We’ve crossed swords before.”
“But it’s the only hard evidence we have at the moment,” she coaxed. “You’ve got to admit the cards are different.”
He tensed as she sped up to merge into highway traffic. “The cards are unique.”
“Like I said, I can help.”
He glanced at her, eyebrow raised as if searching. “What aren’t you telling me?”
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Last week Sisters in Crime of Central Virginia visited St. Mary’s Hospital Forensic nursing unit. This unit of specially trained nurses handles some of the most difficult cases including sexual assault, domestic, child and elder abuse, as well as human trafficking cases.
Victims generally arrive at the hospital through the emergency room. Sometimes they walk in. Others are brought in by police or transported by ambulance.
can take between 3-4 hours. If a victim does not wish to press charges, the nurses can still gather data and hold it for two years on the chance the victim has a change of heart. Based on exam results, the forensic nurse can advise patients on treatment and support. If a case goes to trial, the nurses will testify in court.
There’s an oft quoted statistic that says the odds of solving a Missing Person case decrease by 50{2bc7e4e23428b05b0f692f1ddf5d723165e7c1faee94cc402238e96593bfbeaa} if a solid lead isn’t found within the first 48 hours after the person has gone missing. Making the most of that time is crucial. Family and friends need to know they can report a missing adult to the police immediately.
Once reported, produce and distribute flyers with a picture and other pertinent information including where the person was last seen.
Publication day is almost upon us. 
Michelle of Wernersville, Pennsylvania is the winner of last week’s Grab the Evidence Bag Giveaway. Congrats, Michelle!