3 ms·

I once unsolved a murder I discovered online, causing very unwelcome consequences for the victim's family. So I can relate to some aspects of this story. First

I once unsolved a murder I discovered online, causing very unwelcome consequences for the victim's family. So I can relate to some aspects of this story. First, trying to solve a cold-case can utterly consume you in a way that is impossible to truly comprehend unless you've lived it. It haunted my dreams and waking hours, even ones when all I wanted to do was think about something else for long enough to relax. Second, no matter how good your intentions or how just your cause, there will be people who resent your work. It could be law enforcement or forensic experts, who don't want an "amateur" to expose their mistakes and oversights. It could be the victim's family, who don't want to revisit the loss of their loved one, even if the reality they've made peace with is built on falsehoods and errors. I was fortunate that my work freed an innocent man who was serving life in prison, which retroactively validated my otherwise bizarre decision to start obsessing over a 15-year-old murder. It would be really, REALLY difficult to develop a similar obsession, feel like your time and effort produced a breakthrough, and then not get any closure. That doesn't excuse their behavior, but I understand the emotional frustration.

akudha 8y ago
my work freed an innocent man who was serving life in prison If you are allowed to, can you share the story?
- ClintEhrlich 8y ago
  Sorry, I didn't mean to imply the story was a secret. It was the murder of Michelle O'Keefe, for which Sgt. Raymond Jennings was wrongfully convicted. I wrote about Ray's exoneration in the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-jeff-sessions-can-offer-justice-to-the-wrongfully-convicted/2017/04/12/ea3b3a3e-0e42-11e7-ab07-07d9f521f6b5_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-jeff-sessions-ca... There's more details in a prior post on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12010760 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12010760 NBC News also did an episode of Dateline about it: https://www.instagram.com/p/BMnDkslA3wi/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BMnDkslA3wi/
  - minhazm423 8y ago
    How did you train yourself to solve cases? I cant help but let the hacker mindset speak for all of us and ask how did you "disrupt" this case, how did you learn, self teach? yourself what's necessary to solve a case? What were the legal channel you took to get someone exonerated? What hunch inspired you to investigate in the first place? And why that case? Surely there are many cases where the evidence just isnt compelling? What steps did you and your father take to go about getting this man out? How did you convince the DA?
    - ClintEhrlich 8y ago
      These are great questions, but I feel awkward hijacking a thread that isn't really about my experience. The Dateline NBC episode does a great job telling the whole story, including how I got involved. My Washington Post article explains how we persuaded the DA's office. I am an autodidact, so diving into new subjects is something I naturally enjoy doing. The obsessive focus and intellectual flexibility that helped me in other areas, like computer programming and missile-defense research, worked just as well for forensics and criminal-profiling. One example that sticks out is how I was able to refute the opinion of the FBI's top criminal profiler by going through and reading the reference text that is the equivalent of the DSM, but for behavioral analysis. He was listed as a co-author, so it would have been easy to assume that he was applying the standards correctly, but I was able to show that his thesis did not match the evidence. The hardest question to answer is "why this case?" It is as close to a miracle as I've ever experienced ... some force I can't explain caused me to stay up late one night and watch an old TV-special about the murder on my computer, even though I don't watch TV and had zero prior interest in the true-crime genre. The words of the accused professing his innocence before God were so powerful that, even as an atheist at the time, I felt compelled to look into the case more. Being used as an instrument to correct a horrible injustice made me reconsider my belief in a higher power.
      - minhazm423 8y ago
        Well congrats man. That's impressive and im glad it was such an intellectual as well as spiritual journey for you. Teach me, or share with me some of your self lerning tips. You seem to be a high functioning autodidact, whats your method? Where do you get your knowledge? sources? Also, what is DSM? Missile-defense research? That sounds impressive, how would someone even get started on that?? And now forensics And criminal profiling. Now that you have a working proficiency in these subjects, what would you recommend others use to learn these subjects?
taway0623 8y ago
Have you considered becoming a detective in the police force? Why were the police not the ones to solve it?

akudha 8y ago

my work freed an innocent man who was serving life in prison If you are allowed to, can you share the story?

ClintEhrlich 8y ago
Sorry, I didn't mean to imply the story was a secret. It was the murder of Michelle O'Keefe, for which Sgt. Raymond Jennings was wrongfully convicted. I wrote about Ray's exoneration in the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-jeff-sessions-can-offer-justice-to-the-wrongfully-convicted/2017/04/12/ea3b3a3e-0e42-11e7-ab07-07d9f521f6b5_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-jeff-sessions-ca... There's more details in a prior post on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12010760 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12010760 NBC News also did an episode of Dateline about it: https://www.instagram.com/p/BMnDkslA3wi/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BMnDkslA3wi/
- minhazm423 8y ago
  How did you train yourself to solve cases? I cant help but let the hacker mindset speak for all of us and ask how did you "disrupt" this case, how did you learn, self teach? yourself what's necessary to solve a case? What were the legal channel you took to get someone exonerated? What hunch inspired you to investigate in the first place? And why that case? Surely there are many cases where the evidence just isnt compelling? What steps did you and your father take to go about getting this man out? How did you convince the DA?
  - ClintEhrlich 8y ago
    These are great questions, but I feel awkward hijacking a thread that isn't really about my experience. The Dateline NBC episode does a great job telling the whole story, including how I got involved. My Washington Post article explains how we persuaded the DA's office. I am an autodidact, so diving into new subjects is something I naturally enjoy doing. The obsessive focus and intellectual flexibility that helped me in other areas, like computer programming and missile-defense research, worked just as well for forensics and criminal-profiling. One example that sticks out is how I was able to refute the opinion of the FBI's top criminal profiler by going through and reading the reference text that is the equivalent of the DSM, but for behavioral analysis. He was listed as a co-author, so it would have been easy to assume that he was applying the standards correctly, but I was able to show that his thesis did not match the evidence. The hardest question to answer is "why this case?" It is as close to a miracle as I've ever experienced ... some force I can't explain caused me to stay up late one night and watch an old TV-special about the murder on my computer, even though I don't watch TV and had zero prior interest in the true-crime genre. The words of the accused professing his innocence before God were so powerful that, even as an atheist at the time, I felt compelled to look into the case more. Being used as an instrument to correct a horrible injustice made me reconsider my belief in a higher power.
    - minhazm423 8y ago
      Well congrats man. That's impressive and im glad it was such an intellectual as well as spiritual journey for you. Teach me, or share with me some of your self lerning tips. You seem to be a high functioning autodidact, whats your method? Where do you get your knowledge? sources? Also, what is DSM? Missile-defense research? That sounds impressive, how would someone even get started on that?? And now forensics And criminal profiling. Now that you have a working proficiency in these subjects, what would you recommend others use to learn these subjects?

taway0623 8y ago

Have you considered becoming a detective in the police force? Why were the police not the ones to solve it?