a description of the type of at least two pieces of evidence that you believe may play an significant part in solving the Robin Hood Hills Murders. Then explain how the forensic evidence would be test

The Robin Hood Hill Murders

The Case

Imagine you are a FBI agent specializing in CSI. Three days ago three eight-year old boys were found dead in a pond in Union County, Georgia. The pond is located behind a car wash located off of Highway 19. The pond was created from the run off from the water from the car wash. Located behind the car wash and the pond, there is a five acre forested area known as Robin Hood Hills. The area contains several bike and walking paths.

The name of the three victims are Christopher Carter, Seven Baxter, and James Nelson..

According to the families of the three boys, they were last seen together between 5:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on the evening of May 5. The three boys had finished school for the day at Weaver Elementary School at 3:00 p.m. Steven Baxter went home but left shortly afterwards, according to his mother Pam Baxter. Christopher Carter’s step-father, John Marcus, arrived home at 3:10 p.m. but Christopher was not there, his brother Ryan arrived home at 3:30 p.m. Chris did not have a key to the house and was expected to wait outside until Ryan arrived to let him in.

John Marcus drove Ryan to the courthouse for a 4:00 p.m. appointment. After dropping Ryan he drove to pick up his wife, Melissa Marcus from work. They both arrived back at their home at 5:20 p.m. to find that Chris was not at home, although there was evidence that he had been there. Soon after, John Marcus left home to pick up Ryan, but on the way he found Christopher riding a skateboard. He took Christopher home where Byers gave him "2 or 3 licks" with a belt, in the presence of Melissa, as punishment for not staying at home as instructed. Before returning to the courthouse to pick up Ryan, Marcus instructed Christopher to clean up the carport area. He was last seen doing this at 5:30 p.m. by Marcus.

At 6:00 p.m., Diana Nelson saw her son Michael Nelson riding bicycles with Steven Baxter and Christopher Carter but had been unable to stop them before they rode off. Chris had been sitting on the back of Steven's bike.

At 6:30 p.m. John Marcus claims that he arrived home from the courthouse with Ryan to find that Chris was again not at home. Melissa was inside on the phone with her boss and had not been aware that Chris was gone again. John, Melissa and Ryan left their home at 6.30 p.m. to drive around the neighborhood in order to find Chris. During the course of this search Marcus informed a police officer of his son's disappearance. According to Marcus, he was told to wait until 8:00 p.m. before making an official report with the police. Marcus explained to the officer that the reason he was so concerned was that Chris had never disappeared like this before.

John Marcus called the Union County Sheriff’s Office at 8:00 p.m. to report that his step-son Christopher was missing. In response to this report Officer Regina Meek went to the Marucs home. Fifteen minutes later, Diana Nelson spoke with John Marcus, informing him that she had seen the three boys at 6:00 p.m. Marcus stated that this was the first time he had been aware that Chris was not alone. Together with Diana Nelson, Melissa Marcus and John Marcus began to search the Robin Hood Hills area, the last known location of the boys. It was already dark by then, according to Macus. At some time between, 8:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., Marcus went home alone to change out of the shorts that he had been wearing, into a pair of overalls and boots. At the time that he left, the search party consisted of Marcuss, Ritchie Masters, Brett Smith and his sister, along with many others. They were soon joined by Officer Moore from the Union County SO, who continued to search with them from 10:20 until 11:00 p.m.

When John Marcus arrived home at 11:00 p.m., he called the Sheriff to request a search and rescue team. At 1:30 a.m., Thursday 6 May, Sergeant Ball of Union County Sheriff’s Office, drove to the Carter's home to inform John Marcus and Melissa that a search for the boys was being conducted in the area.

The next day the search resumed in the Robin Hood Hills area. The search team was comprised of officers from the Union County Sheriff’s Office and the Fire Department. At 1:45 PM, Officer Mike Allen found the first body of the missing boys. Although his unsigned report doesn't state the exact location of the discovery, it implies that the body was found submerged in a pond about 60 yards south of the car wash. An hour later, the body was removed from the pound by police officers. Shortly after, the second body was found, 5 feet away, by Detective Bryn Ridge, then the third a further 5 feet away.

Twenty minutes after the third body was located. Law Enforcement officers contacted the Union County Coroner, Ken Hale. He was informed that the bodies were found near the Blue Beacon Car Wash. By the time he arrived, all three bodies had been removed from the pound (or drainage ditch) by police officers at the scene. By 4:00 p.m. Hale had pronounced all three of the boys to be dead.

The official autopsy reports submitted by Dr. Frank J Peretti, of the GBI Crime Laboratory, described the condition of the boys as they were found on the afternoon of May 7. The initial conclusion, drawn by police at the scene, was that the boys had been raped but this was not verified by the autopsy.

James Nelson had died of multiple traumatic injuries to the head, torso, and extremities with drowning. He had been found in a drainage ditch and had drowned in 2 feet of water near the bodies of the two other 8-year-old male victims. He had been found completely nude, with his wrists bound to his ankles by shoelaces. There was little evidence that James had defended himself against his attacker(s) and the lack of injuries caused by the ligatures suggests that he had not struggled after he was tied up. This would suggest that he was unconscious at an early stage in the attack. There was no evidence of sexual assault.

Steven Baxter died of multiple traumatic injuries to the head, torso, and extremities with drowning. He had been found in the drainage ditch near the bodies of James Nelson and Christopher Carter, in two feet of water. As with the other two victims, he was found naked, with his wrists bound to his ankles by shoelaces. There were many violent, traumatic injuries to Steven's face and head, along with a number of superficial scratches, abrasions, and contusions over the rest of his body. While the wounds were similar to those found on James, they were much more intense. There was also a 3-inch fracture at the base of the skull. Peretti did not note the presence of extensive defensive wounds. Although there was no evidence to support this, Hale, in his report, stated that Steven may have been sexually assaulted.

Christopher Carter received the most extensive, violent and most overtly sexual injuries of the three victims. He died of multiple traumatic injuries to the head, as well as the removal of his penis, the scrotal sac, and the testes, along with associated cuts and stab wounds to the genital area. He was found in the same drainage ditch (pond) as James and Steven, in 2 inches of water. He was completely naked, with his wrists bound to his ankles by shoelaces. There were also a variety of healed injuries. Peretti noted that there were defensive wounds. There were also three sets of wounds on the buttocks. Although investigators from the sheriff’s office believe that the attack was sexual in nature, there is no evidence of rape, although, Hale did state that this was a possibility. Christopher did not drown as he was already dead before being placed in the water.

Hale's report stated that lividity (the red discoloration in the skin caused by the pooling and settling of blood within the blood vessels after death) was present in all three victims and blanched with pressure. Lividity begins about thirty minutes after death and then fixes, after four or five hours blanching no longer occurs, depending on environmental conditions. According to this, the time of death could be placed at some time after daybreak on May 6, although this is difficult to ascertain as the victim's body temperatures were not taken.

It was found that rigor mortis, the stiffening of the muscle tissue, which begins after death, was present in all three victims. Rigor mortis begins about two to four hours after death, and full rigor mortis is complete eight to twelve hours after death, depending on environmental conditions. According to Hale, it was difficult to determine whether rigor mortis was complete due to the manner in which the boys were tied, but Peretti stated in his report that rigor was evenly present throughout the extremities.

There was no murder weapon found at the scene with the bodies. The boy's bicycles and clothing were dumped in the drainage ditch with the bodies, effectively removing any trace evidence which may have been present. The clothing had been held down with sticks but these were not collected by police at the time. Six months later they would find two sticks in the woods, and claim that they were the sticks found at the scene. Two pairs of the boys' underwear were missing.

On May 8 you receive a call from the Union County Sheriff’s Office asking for your assistance on the case. The Sheriff admits to you that his agency is not very experience at work crime scenes and that he needs your help. Union County Investigators believe that a child predator killed the three boys. They believe that the predator abducted the boys, took them behind the truck stop, raped them, mutilated one of the boys, and then dumped their bodies in the pond behind the truck stop.