LA Forensics: The Signature MurdersBY Katherine RamslandshareCommentsShocking Discovery Garcia Crime SceneA woman called 911 to offer a report about going to see her sister, who was out of town, then going inside her sisters apartment and seeing a mess! "t wasnt clear at first what the emergenc# was, but the operator gentl# led her through it! Sometimes people in shoc$ cant %uite articulate what the# need!Yet the caller as$ed for the police! She belie&ed something terrible had happened inside!'he operator established that the womans sister was not present at the address, 1(11 )orth Garfield *lace in +os Angeles! "t was a residential area with se&eral apartment buildings between ,oll#wood Boule&ard and -ran$lin A&enue! 'he caller ga&e her name as .arguerite and said she was calling fromthe phone of a neighbor!/etecti&e 0ohn 'hac$er'hen a male called to report a death at the same address! *atrol officers were sent to secure the scene and determine what additional personnel should come!'he callers turned out to be a woman and her nephew 1 the &ictims son 1 who, late that afternoon, April 2, 199(, had gone together to the one3bedroom, ground3floor apartment where +uis Garcia li&ed!+uis was married to .arguerites sister, "sabel Rodrigue4, and .arguerite and +uis 0r! had hoped to greet her as she arri&ed home from a trip across the countr#! 'he# had noticed that the front securit# door was partiall# open, which alarmed them, because +uis Sr! alwa#s $ept it loc$ed! 'hen +uis 0r! found the front door behind it unloc$ed as well!Cautiousl#, the# entered, but when the# saw that the room was in a state of disarra#, with +uis Garcia l#ing on his bac$ on the li&ing room floor, the# feared he might be dead, so the# e5ited and made their calls! 'hen "sabel arri&ed about half an hour later and saw that +uis was dead! 67ne report indicates she arri&ed four hours later!8/etecti&e 'homas SmallAn ambulance and a paramedic crew arri&ed at the scene! 'he# found a cord tied tightl# around +uiss nec$ and he was cold and still, with no pulse9 the# pronounced him dead! 'he scene was secured and detecti&es were notified! 7ne pair too$ the witnesses to the department for %uestioning!,oll#wood ,omicide /etecti&e 0ohn 'hac$er arri&ed on the scene with his partner, /etecti&e 'homas Small! 'he# could see that a struggle had ensued and there were signs that the apartment had been burglari4ed! 'his neighborhood had some gang3related crimes in the streets but not murders of this nature! 'he# called in the Scientific "n&estigation /i&ision 6S"/8 to collect e&idence for processing! Before the# arri&ed, the detecti&es loo$ed around, unaware #et that this was :ust the beginning of a more intricate crime!The First Crime Scene +uis Garcias bod# la# near a da#bed in the li&ing room, his head nearl# underneath! Gi&en the apparent spattering of blood in &arious places, and the fresh bruises on the &ictims face, it appeared that hed put up a fierce struggle against his attac$er! ,ed been strangled with the cord of a cloc$ radio1 a weapon from the scene 1 so it seemed possible that the $iller had intended onl# to burglari4e the place, not to commit murder! Still, he didnt flee or disable his &ictim9 he $illed him and then too$ his time ransac$ing se&eral rooms! But how had he gotten past the loc$ed doors;)ichols Crime Scene'he apartments rear west window was partiall# open, with the screen remo&ed and placed inside, suggesting that this was the $illers li$el# point of entr#! A sheet that la# o&er the couch in front of the window appeared to ha&e been slightl# disturbed!Below the window outside were a row of gas meters! 'he detecti&es spotted a folding $nife l#ing on top of one, with the blade e5posed, suggesting it had been used to pr# off the screen! 'he# made a noteto loo$ for footprints and fingerprints outside!All of this implied that the intruder was a stranger, not someone who could ha&e gained entr# to the home more easil#! ,ed probabl# left through the front door, which accounted for it being unloc$ed and partiall# open!"n support of the burglar#3gone3bad theor#, the door of a cabinet in the li&ing room stood a:ar and a :ewelr# bo5 sat open on a lo&e seat9 there was nothing inside! "n addition, a tele&ision and hile not &er# discriminating, it was better than nothing! Blood t#ping could at least eliminate a suspect from ha&ing left blood at the scene if his t#pe did not match the sample! As more research was done on blood, the anal#sis e5amined proteins and en4#mes present in ratios specific to indi&iduals!'he discipline of serolog#, or the anal#sis of serums, also made another important disco&er#! Around eight# percent of the members of the human race were found to be =secretors,= which means that the specific t#pes of antigens, proteins, antibodies, and en4#me characteristic of their blood can be found in other bodil# fluids and tissues! B# e5amining sali&a, semen, and e&en teardrops, anal#sts can tell theblood t#pe!'hese da#s, than$s to a disco&er# in 19(2, /)A technolog# has replaced the tests for specific en4#mesand proteins! ?ach of the samples collected would be anal#4ed for its /)A profile! S"/ had been at thescene about four hours!At the Garcia scene, the other piece of e&idence of supreme importance was the electrical cord from the cloc$ radio that had been wrapped around the &ictims nec$! 'his offered beha&ioral e&idence, and could as well pro&ide /)A from sweat on the $illers hands!'he coroner arri&ed and too$ charge of the bod#! "t was his opinion, from &arious signs, that the &ictimhad been dead for at least twent#3four hours!As the ph#sical e&idence was processed, the detecti&es started to collect information about the deceased, to tr# to determine if he had an enem# or had crossed paths with someone who had reason toharm him! 'he# also wanted to $now when he was last seen ali&e!#ictimo$ogy +uis Garcias wife, "sabel Rodri%ue4, had been on a trip at the time of the murder, going to South Carolina with her son and some friends to &isit her daughter, who was stationed there in the arm#! "sabel had been awa# since April 1! ,er husband, who had considered :oining her, had instead elected to remain in +A! She had called him se&eral times on April F but he had failed to answer the phone! 7nApril 2, she had gotten on a plane to return home! At the connecting airport, she had tried calling again, and still could not reach him!Arri&ing in +AG at CDAA in the afternoon, she called again! ,e did not pic$ up, so she called his place of emplo#ment and learned that he had not been there for se&eral da#s! >orried, she got a friend to pic$ her up! >hen she arri&ed at home, she met with her sister and nephew, alread# at the apartment, then went inside, where she found her husbands bod#! ,er sister had alread# called the police! ,er songa&e the same account!'he detecti&es belie&ed that "sabel e5hibited genuine fear and grief o&er the incident! She had been with +uis for twent# #ears and was thus able to gi&e in&estigators details about his bac$ground!+uis Garcia, F(, wor$ed as a tailor, immigrating from ?l Sal&ador eighteen #ears before! ,e had no enemies, "sabel insisted9 he didnt e&en ha&e man# friends because he was a %uiet, retiring man! She could thin$ of no one who would do this!)e&ertheless, there was one possible lead! +uis had recentl# loaned a large sum of mone# to a relati&e, about H1A,AAA, so it was possible that hed pressured the man to ha&e it paid bac$ and the relati&e had decided to $ill him to close the debt! Such moti&es are not uncommon! 7r there might be a drug connection, common to that area of town! ,owe&er, those leads came to a dead3end and the detecti&es were left with the probabilit# that the incident was nothing more than a random stranger homicide! +uiss apartment had been selected because it was eas# to gain access! "n that case, it could be &er# difficult to pin this crime on someone!"sabel said that the clothing +uis was wearing 1 a sweatshirt and thermal long underwear 1 was whathe usuall# wore to go to bed! Since one of the beds was unmade, it was li$el# hed been ta$ing a midda# nap when the intruder had entered through the window! *erhaps hed been awa$ened b# the noise and had confronted the man, resulting in a fatal struggle! 7ddl#, a shirt and the denim :ac$et were not his! Apparentl#, his $iller had decided to shed his clothing and ta$e some from the apartment!"sabel also helped them to determine what had been ta$enD a couple of rings, a nec$lace, and about H9AA in cash that +uis usuall# $ept in the apartment! 7ne gold ring could be easil# identified because the name +uis had been car&ed onto it!'o get an accurate rendering to show to local pawn shops, the detecti&es had "sabel sit down with a forensic artist! She described the ring as the artist did a s$etch, and once "sabel was satisfied that it loo$ed right, the detecti&es had copies made and distributed! 'hen the# waited for the e&idence from the scene to be processed!"vidence Ana$ysis +arr# Blanton was a super&ising criminalist for the +A*/ at the time of the Garcia murder! ,e e5plained how the# used the *CR 6pol#merase chain reaction8 method for e5tracting /)A from the blood samples! ='he /)A is relati&el# stable,= he said, =as long as theres no e5cessi&e heat or moisture!= /)A testing confirms the source, so most labs no longer do AB7 t#pe testing or testing for species!+arr# Blanton )owada#s, the lab uses the Kele5 process, or the capillar# electrophoresis! 7nce a sample is in the test tube, the# appl# a Kele5 resin, which binds with the impurities in the blood to get them out of the wa#! 'he resulting /)A is cleaner!'hen the /)A gets e5tracted from the white blood cells! >hen the sample is heated in a water bath, the lab gets a printout of how man# nanograms of /)A the# ha&e! )e5t, for about two hours, a thermal c#cler multiplies the sample, ma$ing billions of copies b# running c#cles of higher and lower temperature changes! 'he samples are suc$ed into a needle to tra&el through a thin capillar#, so the# can be detected with a special camera! A laser beam hits the specimens and the software anal#4es the results!Blanton e5amines the blood samples7r, the /)A is placed in a solution o&er plastic strips, which ha&e /)A probes on them! /)A from the sample adheres to the probes and when the# change color, the# indicate the samples t#pe!"n the +uis Garcia case, S"/ did two rounds of anal#sis! 'he first round in&ol&ed nine separate blood stains! Se&en matched the &ictim, one appeared to be a mi5 that included the &ictim, and one was foreign to the &ictim! ='hat was the one we were &er# interested in,= sa#s Blanton! ='hat represents blood from a person that has fled the scene!='he criminalists were able to con&e# to the detecti&es that if the# de&eloped a suspect, S"/ had a blood sample that could be compared!'he second round of testing in&ol&ed bloodstains collected from the bedroom! 'hese, too, were foreignto the deceased! Among the probati&e items were the store coupon, some tissues, a :ewelr# bo5 in the bedroom, and a white shirt in a dresser drawer!"t was a good thing the# had the blood e&idence, because all of the fingerprints collected that were usable had been traced bac$ to the &ictim or to famil# members!,owe&er, without a suspect, :ust ha&ing /)A meant little! Soon, the# ran out of leads!The Second Scene /etecti&e /an 0aramillo )ine da#s after +uiss murder, on April 1F, and a few bloc$s awa#, a similar scene was called in, around 2D@A in the e&ening! Another pair of detecti&es from the same s%uad, /an 0aramillo and +lo#d *err#, went to in&estigate!At F9CA ,oll#wood Boule&ard, the# found >illie )ichols dead b# ligature strangulation! 'he belt wrapped around his nec$ had been pulled so tight his set of false teeth had been forced from his mouth!,is apartment had been ransac$ed and the poc$ets on his trousers had been turned inside out! 'he# were empt#!>illie )ichols, 2F, had li&ed alone, but he had relati&es who were able to go through the apartment to indicate whether propert# was missing! Among the items the# noticed was that >illies blac$ leather :ac$et was missing! Also, a ring, his wallet, and his wristwatch were gone! Yet from the number of beerand li%uor bottles at the scene, and the lac$ of forced entr#, it seemed possible that >illie had $nown his attac$er and had in&ited him in!A woman named /eborah, who $new >illie well, said she had last spo$en to him on April (! "n the habit of spea$ing to him almost e&er# da#, she called again on April 9, but he did not answer the phone! -or the ne5t four da#s, she called e&er# da#, but recei&ed no response, which made her worr#! She went o&er on April 1@, but he did not answer the door! She as$ed the manager of the apartment comple5 to chec$ on her friend, but it too$ until April 1F, and a great deal of pleading, to get the manager to open the door! >hen she did, she found >illies bod# and called the police!>illie )ichols former wife, when %uestioned, said she had spo$en with him on April 11, around 1ADAAin the e&ening! ,e hadnt complained about an#thing! Another set of friends tal$ed with him at 11D@A that night to in&ite him to dinner the following da#! ,ed accepted, but, uncharacteristicall#, did not show up! 'he# tried contacting him but were unsuccessful!A chec$ of >illies bac$ground indicated that he was a drug user, which raised the possibilit# that the death was drug3related!)ichols Crime SceneAmong the &ictims belongings were A'. statements! ,owe&er, the police could find no A'. card, which indicated that the $iller might ha&e ta$en it awa#! 'he# notified ban$s and hoped the $iller would use the card! 'hen the# could trac$ the suspect!Strangel#, a leather belt la# ne5t to the &ictim, loosel# coiled! ?&en stranger, a collection of items had been placed on the bed near himD cigarettes, photos, and a to# dinosaur!'he scene was e5hausti&el# dusted for prints! "n this case, the# were able to get clear fingerprints from a King Cobra li%uor bottle that did not originate with the &ictim!At this point, there were two scenes processed b# different detecti&es, so the notion that the# were related had not #et been e5plored! "f it had been, then the coiled belt would ha&e been more significant!Gi&en the same neighborhood and same .7, it would ha&e appeared as if the same person did both crimes 1 and left a =signature!=Signature Ana$ysis%o&ert 'eppe$Inderstanding a signature in&ol&es beha&ioral anal#sisD specificall#, e5amining what a perpetrator does at a scene thats unnecessar# to accomplish his or her goal and that appears to be performed to meet some inner personal need!/r! Robert /! Keppel in >ashington State was among the first to describe and discuss signature anal#sis! ,e was deepl# in&ol&ed in the Ted (undy and )reen %iver 'i$$er in&estigations, had inter&iewed Bund# about serial $illers, and wrote the definiti&e boo$, Signature Killers! 'o Keppels mind, the issue is control! 'hese men are lifes losers, who feel powerless and are see$ing power through murder! 'he need to feel better about themsel&es generates a compulsion to find and control &ictims in a specific wa# and the# act out the same compulsion repeatedl#!(ook cover: Signature Killers by Robert D. Keppel'he $iller will either use the murder scenario to build se5ual tension and e:aculate at the scene, or will dela# release and substitute certain rituals, such as posing the &ictim, to indicate se5ual subser&ience! =Signature $illers are se5ual offenders at the far end of the &iolence continuum,= Keppel sa#s, =who lea&e their ps#chological imprints at crime scenes to gratif# their se5ual needs!= Since what the# do sets their murders or rapes apart, the# ma# pro&ide patterns that indicate how best to hunt them down! ?&en when a cle&er $iller tries to throw off the in&estigation, certain repetitions gi&e him awa#! As Keppel e5plains, ="t lies within the &er# nature of the $iller that his signature will be recreated in each and e&er# murder he commits!='hese murders in&ol&e progression and escalation! ?ither the# become more intense, with bolder e5pression of the ritual, or the# are done increasingl# more often! 'he wa# the $iller selects, approaches, $ills and poses a &ictim re&eals his =ps#chological calling card!= 'hose who can read signatures ha&e a higher success rate in stopping these criminals!?&en when the .7 the wa# a crime was committed changes from one incident to the ne5t the signature ne&ertheless lin$s the crimes and re&eals the $illers essential &ulnerabilit#! 'he#re compelled to lea&e their imprintsD Some alwa#s choose a &ictim with the same hairst#le9 some alwa#s abuse the corpse after death9 some alwa#s e:aculate ne5t to the bod#! At least one li$ed to lea&e a coiled leather belt!Coiled Belt left at the crime scene!>hate&er the compulsion, it will bemust berepeated! "n essence, signature re&eals intent, and the intentis alwa#s the same, because it ne&er gets full# satisfied!ATM Payoff"t wasnt long before detecti&es learned that someone had been using >illies A'. card, but the surprise was that during this period, >illie )ichols had still been ali&e! 'he card was used on April 9 ata ban$ on 2th Street, and the sur&eillance &ideo showed a #oung blac$ man who was clearl# not the decedent! ,e was wearing a blac$ leather :ac$et similar to the one missing from >illies apartment! ,eused the card the ne5t da# at a BJ11 store on )orth illie or e&en being near his apartment comple5!'hen 0aramillo pulled out his trump cardD fingerprints of the perpetrator found at the scene! At this point, Rose refused to cooperate an# further and the inter&iew had to be stopped! Rose was ne&ertheless placed under arrest and ta$en to the +A Count# :ail!+oint ,nvestigation 'he s%uad room at ,oll#wood ,omicide was small, and the si5 detecti&es who were part of the unit often sat around comparing notes about their cases! As 0aramillo discussed the progress of the )ichols case, 'hac$er and Small started to thin$ it sounded li$e theirs, which was still unsol&ed! 'he# loo$ed at the crime scene photos, comparing them to the photos from their own case and becoming more con&inced that Rose was their gu# as well, especiall# when the# saw the coiled belt ne5t to >illies bod#! 'he incidents were close together, in time and in location, so it appeared that the +uis Garcia case, which had gone cold, had :ust heated up 1 especiall# when the# learned about the 19(9 $illing! Rose was a serial $iller!Robert Rose7n August 1B, 'hac$er petitioned for a sample of Roses blood to be compared to the bloodstains the#d collected from the Garcia crime scene! "t too$ o&er four months, but on /ecember @1, +arr# Blanton from S"/ informed 'hac$er and Small that blood on the store coupon found in +uiss bedroomincluded Rose as a possible donor! 'he# would do additional /)A testing at a higher fre%uenc# to get more definiti&e results!A grand :ur# was con&ened to listen to e&idence from both cases, but with onl# one item of blood e&idence, the :ur# decided against holding Rose for trialD the e&idence was insufficient! So the detecti&es awaited further /)A testing and came bac$ with more!7n -ebruar# @, 1999, /eput# /A /a&id Brougham filed murder charges with special circumstances, which meant the possibilit# of the death penalt#! Rose decided to s$ip the trial and plead guilt# to both murders! ,e recei&ed two consecuti&e life sentences without the possibilit# of parole! *ure and simple,his moti&e for both appeared to be mone#!Infortunatel#, an e5planation for the belts and the ob:ects left ne5t to >illie were ne&er forthcoming! "ndeed, it turned out that Rose had also left a belt at the scene of the 19(9 homicide! 'he meaning behind this signature remains a m#ster#! ="t was as if Rose left a little bit of himself at each scene,= said /etecti&e Small!/eput# /A Carol Rose belie&ed that Rose had intended to use the belts as the strangulation weapons, because he brought them to the scene9 the# did not belong to the &ictims! ,owe&er, its too great a coincidence that all were coiled near the &ictims, and shes forgetting the odd items placed near >illie )ichols! "ts li$el# theres something more to the belts then a mere murder weapon, especiall# since none were used to $ill an#one!'he presence and position of the belts at all three scenes does indicate a compulsion, which led /etecti&e 'hac$er to sa#, =" am certain that he would ha&e continued $illing innocent &ictims had he not been sent to prison!= >ithout the forensics, the cases would not ha&e been sol&ed!Sources -isher, Barr#! Techniques of Crime Scene Investigation, 2th ?dition, Boca Raton, -+DCRC *ress, CAAA! Keppel, Robert /! Signature Killers! )ew Yor$D *oc$et, 199B!="n&estigation of the Serial 7ffenderD +in$ing Cases 'hrough .odus 7perandi andSignature,= in Serial Offenders: Current Thoughts, Recent Findings, edited b# +ouisB! Schlesinger, Boca Raton, -+D CRC *ress, CAAA! Kurland, .ichael! How to Solve a urder: The Forensic Hand!oo"# )ew Yor$D .acmillan, 199F! +ee, ,enr# C and ,oward A! ,arris! $h%sical &vidence in Forensic Science! 'ucson, AKD +aw#ers L 0udges *ublishing Compan#, CAAA! Ramsland, Katherine! The Forensic Science of CSI! )ew Yor$D Ber$ele#, CAA1!