Crime Scene Staging in Homicide

Abstract

A nonrandom national U.S. sample of 946 homicide crime scenes--supplied by the FBI Behavioral Science Unit for purposes of research--was studied to delineate the prevalence, types, levels, and motives for staging in domestic, nonserial sexual, serial sexual, and general felony homicides. Stagers were found to be a relatively small group who employ a variety of methods to alter the crime scene in an attempt to redirect the investigation away from themselves as logical suspects. Results also suggest that different types of homicides have different staging rates based primarily on the relationship (or connection) between offender and victim. Implications for investigations and understanding this type of crime scene behavior are discussed.

Appendix

Examples of Observed Staging Methods

Verbal

A husband killed his wife while she slept by smashing her head. He dismembered her, buried some of the body parts, and threw the remaining body parts in a dumpster. The offender then contacted the police and said his wife had been missing for the past two weeks.

Accident

A woman severely beat her mother to death. She washed the body, changed the victim’s clothes, and placed the body at the bottom of the staircase to make it appear as if her mother accidentally fell down the stairs.

Burglary

An adult female was killed by her boyfriend. She died of numerous stab wounds and her throat was cut. The boyfriend called the police and said he came home, found the apartment burglarized with valuables taken, and his girlfriend was also killed by the intruders. The offender had purchased gasoline with cash, and specifically asked for a receipt, in an effort to prove he was elsewhere at the time of the homicide.

Arson

A mother stabbed to death her two young children out of anger. She then set the house on fire, using matches to light several blankets.

Suicide

A man shot his girlfriend in the head after she laughed at him during target practice. He placed a gun in the victim’s hand, pointed at her head, to make it appear as if she shot herself.

Homicide/Suicide

An adult male shot his father and brother. The brother was shot four times in the head, the father was shot in the head once. The offender put the gun in the father’s hand and told the police that he thought the father had shot his brother and then committed suicide.

Non-sexual Homicide

A husband shot and killed his wife. He then lured a man to his home by asking him for a ride to the airport. The husband then shot and killed the would-be driver. He told the police the driver shot his wife and he was forced to shoot the driver after he took the gun from him.

Sexual Homicide

A husband killed his wife by suffocation with a pillow. He unbuttoned, unzipped, and pulled down her pants, exposing her underwear. He also lifted up her shirt and removed her bra. She had not been sexually assaulted.

Attempted/Failed

A man killed an elderly woman who was selling drugs and alcohol. He robbed her, cut her neck with a knife, and stabbed her with a screwdriver. The offender then turned on the gas and unsuccessfully tried to set a fire. A welfare worker came upon the scene and called the police.

Unclassified-Other

An older man got into an argument with a much younger man who was his live-in companion. He shot and killed the young man, then shot into the ceiling and in the wall where he said he was seated. He told police the young man shot at him, and he was forced to shoot the victim in self defense.