1st Edition

No-Body Homicide Cases A Practical Guide to Investigating, Prosecuting, and Winning Cases When the Victim Is Missing

By Thomas A.(Tad) DiBiase Copyright 2015
    338 Pages
    by CRC Press

    340 Pages 7 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    How do you prove someone guilty of murder when the best piece of evidence—the victim’s body—is missing? Exclusively dedicated to the investigation and prosecution of no-body homicide cases, this book provides the author’s insight gained from investigating and trying a no-body case along with what he’s learned consulting on scores of others across the country. A practical guide for police and prosecutors, it takes an expansive look at both the history of no-body murder cases and the best methods to investigate, solve, and bring them to court.





    Taking readers step by step from the first days of a homicide investigation through the trial, the book explores the history of confessions, the use of jailhouse snitches to get information, and CSI-style forensics utilized in solving a case. It delves into the psychological profile of the type of defendant who murders someone and then hides the body and reviews methods criminals have used to dispose of bodies. It also discloses the investigative techniques police must use to catch these devious killers.





    Using real-life case studies, No-Body Homicide Cases: A Practical Guide to Investigating, Prosecuting, and Winning Cases When the Victim is Missing summarizes and analyzes the nearly 400 no-body murder trials in U.S. history, enabling readers to leverage the similarities in these cases with their own scenarios. The book is an essential resource for all investigators and a roadmap to a conviction for prosecutors.

    The Early Investigative Phase. Introduction. Searching for the Victim. Cell Phones. Social Media. Interviews. Search Warrants. Electronic Trail. Pressure Suspect. Motive. Think Creatively. Missing Children. Proving the Victim Is Dead. Eliminating Other Suspects. The Later Investigative Phase. Using the Media. Remember the Anniversaries. If You Have a Suspect. Jailhouse Informants: A Cautionary Tale. Cold Case. Trial. Pretrial Preparation. Voir Dire. Hearsay. Puzzle Argument. Rope vs. Chain Analogy. SODDI. Why Arguing the Victim Is Not Dead Is a Defendant’s Worst Enemy. No-Body Murder Case Statistics. Personality of a Murderer. Future. Indices. Keyword Index. State Index. Appendix A. Appendix B.



    Biography

    Thomas A. (Tad) DiBiase received a B.A. in politics from Wake Forest University in 1987 and a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School in 1991. He is the nation’s leading expert on no-body homicide cases and has a website that tracks and discusses these cases at www.nobodymurdercases.com. He consults with police and prosecutors throughout the country on no-body murder cases and has formally consulted on more than two dozen no-body murder cases. He has appeared on television numerous times and has been quoted widely in newspapers throughout the country.