How do police solve murders?

Answer 1

The vast majority of murder victims are at least aquainted with their killer. There is usually some sort of relationship between the two. So for homicide detectives, the best place to start is with the victim's circle of family and friends. At the very least they may be able to enlighten detectives to anything unusual happening in the victim's life before their murder. If the inner circle of family and friends have not aroused suspicion, the circle grows larger to co-workers, aquaintences, people on the perimeter of the victim's life. They work the case like this, the circle growing bigger if no suspect is found. It is also important to note the lifestyle of the victim. Many times people are murdered because they have a high risk lifestyle. It may be drugs or other illegal activities such as prostitution that increase a person's risk of being a murder victim. It is important that detectives know how the victim lived in order to find out how or why they died.

The hardest type of murder case to solve is that of 'stranger on stranger' murder. Serial killers fall into this catagory. No link between killer and victim makes the homicide much harder to solve. What seems like a random act between strangers is a difficult trail to follow. In serial homicides it is important to be able to connect it to similar murders. From this a criminal profile will emerge, giving detectives a direction or idea of where to put their resources. Crime scene forensics are particularly important in stranger murder cases.

Modern crime detection has gotten very scientific and technical in the last two decades. DNA, fiber analysis and super computers are just a few of the modern tools used by law enforcement to detect, apprehend and convict the guilty. But the human element is still the driving force behind a successful homicide investigation.