MAJOR CASE SQUAD ENJOYS SUCCESS

The success of the Cape Girardeau/Bollinger County Major Case Squad reaches farther than just its impressive record in solving homicides.

The squad, which calls together 30 or more investigators from law enforcement agencies in Cape Girardeau and Bollinger counties, has resolved 25 of the 26 homicides it has been assigned to since its formation in 1983. The 1991 murder of Lee E. Moore in Whitewater remains the only case in which the squad has not presented enough evidence for an arrest.

It is the squad's method of investigation, which Major Case Squad Commander Carson Kelley said is "old-fashioned interrogation and interviewing techniques," that has led to so many arrests.

"Primarily all your work as a detective is interviewing and interrogation," Kelley, who has been the squad's commander for two years, and worked with the squad since 1988, said.

When the Major Case Squad is mobilized, as it has been three times already this year, between 30 and 40 investigators go to work with one goal -- to solve the case as quickly as possible. Officially, the squad is assembled for a maximum of 72 hours. This time period can be extended if the squad can convince its supervising board that they have good leads to follow up and an arrest is near. Kelley said the squad has only had to ask for this extension four or five times in the last 13 years.

When the squad goes into action a number of things are organized right away. A team of evidence technicians, between five and seven detectives, are the first to the scene. One of the first things they do is make a video tape of the crime area. This tape is closely scrutinized by investigators as one of the first sources of leads on possible suspects. Examination of the body is also vital to developing the direction of the investigation.

"If there's one stab wound or there's 50 stab wounds, that will tell us a little about what (the murderer) was looking for," Kelley said. "It will give us an idea of whether there was anger involved."

A display of anger or rage involved in the killing might represent a closer personal motive for the murder, and a possible relationship with the victim.

"In a lot of your cases where you have a death involved, this is going to be somebody that is a family member or somebody that they know," Kelley said. "And a lot of times the crime scene will lead you in a particular direction."

And while certain indications lead investigators to specific suspects, and good leads could indicate one individual, Kelley said it is important for the investigators to keep an open mind.

"Sometimes you go the wrong way," he said. "Sometimes your information points in two different directions, or at least you think it does. In some case we're looking in three or four different directions and trying not to get tunnel vision. At some point what you'll find is one or two of the directions are much stronger than the other ones. But we try to run all the information down.

"We'll chase a dead-end lead as hard as we will one that we think will solve our case. That's the biggest thing about the Major Case Squad, we've got manpower that's available to send out on all our leads."

Using anything that will recover evidence as efficiently as possible, and that has included a chain saw for removing a bullet from a floor, the evidence technicians collect everything that might remotely be connected to the case. That information is processed within five to eight hours. And while the technicians are collecting the physical information, investigators are conducting a neighborhood canvass and talking to any potential witnesses. Kelley said as many as 15 leads can be immediately formulated from the video tape and neighborhood canvass.

"You begin to develop your information as you go. Then you just follow the trail," he said. "As you talk to more and more people, normally you begin to get a flow of information. I guess the best way to describe it is we're putting together a puzzle."

The first piece of that puzzle is the body, Kelley said. The second would be the crime scene and the third might be a witness.

"From those three or four pieces you begin getting more and more pieces from witnesses or from people who might call into the station," he said. "At some point you begin to get enough of a picture where you can put it together and the rest of the puzzle begins to pull itself together."

The secret to the squad's success is in the cooperative effort of so many investigators, Kelley said. All of the information that is gathered from each leg of the investigation, is compiled at whatever base the squad has established. Each bit of data is given to Kelley, but he is not solely responsible for solving the case. Instead, all the information is presented to each member of the squad immediately. This brings together the minds and instincts of 40 professional police investigators.