Mock investigation

By Mallory Panuska
Times West Virginian

FAIRMONT June 27, 2009 12:56 am

— Area high school students are investigating the mysterious death of “John Berry” as part of a Crime Scene Investigation Camp going on at Fairmont State University.
Friday, camp participants visited the university’s crime scene house on 1320 Hillside Drive, where a fictitious person— Berry— was set up to be found dead on his living room floor.
Dr. Mark Flood, CSI camp director and forensic science program coordinator at FSU, said the students, who are interested in subjects like forensic science or criminal justice, know so far that Berry was found dead and a neighbor had said the crime happened the night before. The neighbor had called 911 to report the incident and said that Berry had supposedly been shot and killed.
It is now up to the students to collect evidence, which includes materials around the body and blood and shell casings from other rooms, and make sketches of the rooms. And next week, they will process the evidence just as officials would in a real crime scene investigation, Flood explained.
Then next Wednesday morning, Flood said the students will take the witness stand in a mock trial in Marion County Circuit Court where they will answer questions about the evidence as the final phase of the activity.

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