1. MURDER AT JEFFERSON FALLS
Office 6; Investigation Report
Glasgow Caledonian University
University of West Florida
2012

2. INTRODUCTION
• Following the discovery of two bodies (Kate Castle and Jack Booth) at Jefferson
Falls, a team of Police Officers were brought together to solve the murder case.
• Throughout the weeks of the project, various tasks were issued to the team via
Muster reports, which, once carried out, helped the team solve the case.
• Individual tasks and group tasks were issued on a weekly basis.
• The team distributed the roles and a Senior Investigating Officer was nominated to
over see the completion of each task.
• Office 6 consisted of 5 students from Scotland, 2 from Florida, 1 from Michigan and 1
from Illinois.

3. TEAM ROLES
• Senior Investigating Officer (SIO): responsible for supervising the team and making sure the work
for each week is completed. If an agreement on a matter can’t be made, then the SIO will make
the final decision. The SIO is also responsible for submitting weekly reports to the Chief of Police .
Officer: Nikki Raeside
• Forensic Team: responsible for examining photos of the crime scene to determine what evidence
the crime scene contains. This role is important because the investigation depends on the quantity
and quality of the evidence collected. Officers: Karen Ferguson and Rachel Thomson
• Public Relations: gathering information about a particular matter and deciding what to inform the
public about. Officer: Emma Fulton
• Medical Examiners: examining the photos of the victims and deciding the cause of death, as well
as, determining the type of weapon used if possible. Officers: Debbie McGlinchey and Taylor
Duncan
• Internal Affairs Division: investigate complaints against law enforcement personnel and take action
if appropriate. Officer: Brad Bly
• Investigation Team: responsible for determining which suspect committed the crime. This team will
work closely with the forensics team and medical examiner to gather needed information in
determining which suspect is responsible for the crime; interviewing witnesses is also part of this
role. Officers: Micheal Higgins and Stacey Moskal

4. WEEKLY TASKS
• Week 1: Individual Responsibility-write an introduction/share a bit about yourself.
share a case study from your local region
Group Responsibility-nominate Senior Investigating Officer (SIO)
• Week 2: Individual Responsibility-share legal definition of murder, homicide and
manslaughter from your own region
Group Responsibility-examine the crime scene and write a descriptive paragraph
about the Forensic Team’s initial observations
• Week 3: Individual Responsibility-fulfil role
Group Responsibility-Investigating Team evaluate victim information and Medical
Examiner’s complete medical examiner reports
Public Relation’s respond to journalist’s questions
• Week 4: Individual Responsibility-fulfil role
Group Responsibility-Internal Affair’s Division construct internal affairs report
Public Relation’s design a press release to calm the public
• Week 5: Individual Responsibility-fulfil role and contribute to final Powerpoint demonstration
Group Responsibility-write a final report on your investigative findings to tell the story of
what happened at Jefferson Falls

5. THE VICTIMS
JACK BOOTH KATE CASTLE
• Male, aged 32 • Female, aged 31
• Has meager wealth tied up • Has lived and worked in
in rental properties the Jefferson Falls
• Known for being a pillar of community her whole
the Jefferson Falls life
community • Never married and no
• Lived and worked in the children
community his whole life • Angela Booth’s best
• Married 10 years to Angela friend
Booth, one adolescent child • Currently works in
• Aside form two driving Human Resources at
convictions, no criminal the local hospital
history • Aside from speeding
• Secret gambling addiction citations, spotless
often results in significant criminal record
debt • Has secretly been
having an affair with
Angela Booth

6. THE SCENE

7. FORENSIC TEAM
KAREN FERGUSON AND
RACHEL THOMSON
• There are two cars in the driveway. There is no sign of forced entry into the house, this suggests that the
perpetrator knew the victims in order to gain entry.
• In the bedroom there is a wine glass on the bedside table, on the other side another glass which appears to have
lip stick on it. The significant amount of alcohol could indicate that those involved in the incident were
intoxicated. It looks as though two people had been sitting in the bedroom as the bed covers were ruffled at the
bottom of the bed.
• In the bathroom it looks as though there was a struggle, the toilet paper handle is broken. Mr Booth’s body was
found partly clothed in the bath. There is only one bullet casing in the bathroom, and only one visible wound on
Jack Booth, this could imply that he was in the bathtub when he was shot. Another explanation to support that he
was the bathtub when he was shot is the blood coming from his mouth. The bullet likely pierced the left
lung/bronchi, creating a ‘sucking chest wound’ and as a result, he probably would have been aspirating blood.
The left lung is functionally useless because it can’t create negative pressure for it to operate. He probably would
have been breathing (inadequately) and coughing up blood, which would also explain the random bits of blood
along the side of the bath. There is no trail of blood to the bathroom to suggest he was placed there. Both victims
have no cuts or scratches on their hands, suggesting no struggle with the attacker before they were shot. The
shot wound on Mr Booth appears to be deep, suggesting he was shot within close range.
• Ms Castle was lying on her front, with a significant injury to her head. She sustained two gunshot wounds to her
back, suggesting she was attacked from behind or was running away from someone. There was a separate spill
of blood pictured although this isn't near her body – however after analysis the blood was found to belong to a
female Ms Castle appeared to be wearing make-up including lipstick which could account for the lipstick on the
glass in the bedroom. There is also what appears to be a wedding ring on her finger which is unusual as she had
never been married. Ballistics will be able to conform the type of gun used and if all bullets came from the same
gun. DNA analysis will be used to confirm who drank from the wine glasses. Fingerprints, fibre traces and blood
analysis will also have to be carried out. There was a bullet found in bathroom, another found by the bedroom
door, one found on the window ledge and a bullet found below the window. However there appears to be only
three gunshot wounds to the victims.

8. INVESTIGATING TEAM

9. MEDICAL EXAMINER’S
DEBBIE MCGLINCHEY AND
TAYLOR DUNCAN
Analysis of the body of Kate Castle
• Preliminary Report of Investigation - Main Findings
1. Body Temperature 73 F/ 22.7c – Core 79.5F/26.4c
2. Rigor – stage 3 throughout body
3. Livor Colour – Purple
4. Weapon used – handgun (9mm caliber)
• Two possible causes of death
- Gunshot wounds; abdomen (lower left of back) and shoulder (top right of back),
- Head wounds (top right) blunt instrument used.
• Other findings
- Time of death could be roughly between 7-9pm on 3 February 2012 based on the body temperature.
- Possibly dead for around 12-14 hours before being found.
- It is unclear if Kate was killed from gunshots or from being struck with a blunt instrument.
- It is possible that the head injuries played a part in her death.
There were no weapons found at the crime scene and the blood found beside this body is inconsistent with victims blood.

10. MEDICAL EXAMINER’S
DEBBIE MCGLINCHEY AND
TAYLOR DUNCAN
Analysis of the body of Jack Booth

11. PUBLIC RELATION’S

12. INTERNAL AFFAIRS DIVISION

13. OFFICE 6: FINAL FINDINGS

14. INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS;
NIKKI RAESIDE
• Initially with the wiki project, I put myself forward to be part of the Forensic Team. However, after lengthy
discussion and putting myself forward for the role, I became the nominated Senior Investigating Officer
(SIO). For me, the project overall has been an excellent and rewarding experience since I have never
took part in such a task.
• I have really enjoyed working with all the team in Office 6 and thought we all got on well when carrying
out each task. As well as this, since students from Florida, Illinois and Michigan were part of the team, I
learned new things like legal definitions from their respective jurisdictions and got to read a case study
from each place.
• Working with students from America and my own university enhanced my communication skills and I feel
the project has significantly developed my leadership skills since it was my responsibility to oversee and
make sure each weekly task was completed by the deadline. I enjoyed having direct contact with the
police chief and passing on the positive comments from the chief to my team to let them know their hard
work was helping solve the case. My time management skills have been further enhanced since the
meeting of deadlines for each task was challenging due to time differences in Scotland and America.
• The thing I enjoyed the most was encouraging the team to fulfil their roles and meet deadlines, allowing
me to then submit my weekly reports, which was a good feeling each week! My team never failed to let
me down! I learned to take charge in what I would describe as a professional way and if an answer to an
issue was needed, I’d like to think I provided one.
• What I found most challenging was the time differences between Scotland and America. As well as this, it
would seem that some students are not in their final year of study, hence the completing the tasks to the
highest standard possible was not as important to those in their final year of studies.
• Overall, I thoroughly enjoying completing the murder investigation and could not have been placed with a
better team!

15. INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS;
KAREN FERGUSON

16. INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS;
RACHEL THOMSON

17. INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS;
EMMA FULTON

18. INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS;
DEBBIE MCGLINCHEY

19. INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS;
TAYLOR DUNCAN

20. INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS;
BRAD BLY

21. INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTION;
MICHEAL HIGGINS

22. INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTION;
STACEY MOSKAL