How LPA Solves the Unsolvable...98% of the time

OVERVIEW OF VICTIM-CENTERED
DEATH INVESTIGATION METHODOLOGY (VCDIM)
Invented by Dr. Laura Pettler

"Investigatory form follows function" 
The structure needs to meet the purpose. In order to successfully investigate a death, one must choose a framework or a system by which to follow. “Methodless”, non-systematic death investigations are equivalent to disordered piles of raw data collected with disregard to the ethical constructs of validity and reliability of instrumentation, data processing, valid and reliable metric design, and integration of scientific methodology aimed at maximizing  objectivity and minimizing investigator bias both independently and via intra and inter-agency collaboration towards analytical congruency.  

“Our investigatory system determines our outcome…” - Dr. Laura Pettler
Failure can result from attempting to change a tire with a hammer just as failure can result from attempting to investigate a death without a method. Death cases where manner of death, cause of death, crime scene staging, criminal or justified are in question; homicides, wrongful deaths, death case reviews, and death investigations require a systematic, scientific, multidisciplinary, quantitative, qualitative, victim-centered method in order to ensure results are valid and reliable based on all case-related materials available at a particular moment in time towards publication of a final report.

Laura Pettler & Associates (LPA) conducts systematic, scientific, multidisciplinary, victim-centered death investigations, death case reviews, and death case consultations. Pursuant to scientific query, LPA's investigatory system is designed to study and report interrelationships. Benjamin Bloom’s 1956 Hierarchy of Cognitive Domains (i.e., Bloom's Taxonomy) serves as both case study theoretical framework and as a six-stage operating system for Pettler’s "Victim-Centered Death Investigation Methodology” (VCDIM). VCDIM is quantitative and qualitative in that it identifies, describes, defines, analyzes, synthesizes, and evaluates every physical, behavioral, environmental, societal, cultural, and biological piece of evidence in every case. VCDIM enables users study each piece independently then reassemble the pieces into a newly understood whole. VCDIM prevents users from drawing conclusions too early, like at the death or crime scene and is equipped with built in “safeties” preventing ascension to the next level if the subordinate domain is incomplete. While specific metrics in VCDIM are strictly quantitative, the methodology is flexible in the right places making it adaptable on a per case basis. The analytical study of the victim is the foundation, baseline, and/or litmus test for comparison of every piece of evidence throughout the process. The development and structural soundness of VCDIM is grounded by the empirical research constructs of quantitative validity (i.e., trustworthiness, the ability of the instrument to measure what it is intended to measure) and reliability (i.e., consistency, the ability to apply the results to the intended population) within the scope of the qualitative aspects of the case in terms of the credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability of the instrumentation and results of each case study.  
 
Like doctoral dissertations, LPA final reports contain six chapters reporting from the onset of casework to LPA’s findings, recommendations, and options. The following is the Table of Contents of an LPA Final Report published to the Client. *All items below may or may not be applicable in all cases and therefore included or excluded from a final report.

Chapter 1: VCDIM Case Setup

• Engagement of Services

• Case Summary

Chapter 2: VCDIM Casework Plan Development

• Outcomes & Objectives

  • Phase I

  • Phase II (tentative, if necessary)

• Client-Submitted Case Materials Audit

Chapter 3: VCDIM Phase I Plan Application

• Questions & Answers List

• Crime Scene Photo Index

• Physical Evidence Inventory Audit

• Victimology Interview Query Database

• Research-Based Forensic Victimology Collection

• Victim's Relationship Database

• Intimate Partner Violence Lethality Assessment

• Suspect Relationship Database

• Research-Based Forensic Suspectology Collection

• Master Witness Database

• White Noise Sequestration Database

• Critical Witness Database

• DelvePoint and IRBfocus Digital Database Background Investigations

• Master Timeline

• Victim-Suspect Time, Distance, and Location Worksheet

Chapter 4: VCDIM Evidence Analysis

• Victimology Content Analysis

• Victim Intimate Partner Violence Lethality Screening Instrument

• Victim Suicidality Indicators Worksheet

• Victim Psychological Autopsy

• Victim Autopsy Findings & Wound Pattern Analysis

• Victim Time of Death Indicators Worksheet

• 911 Call Analysis Worksheet

• Death Scene & Physical Evidence Inventory Analysis

• Bloodstain Evidence Index

• Ballistics Evidence Index

• Suspectology Content Analysis

• Suspect Statement Analysis

• Suspect Statements Comparison Chart

• Comprehensive Statement Analysis Chart

• Critical Witness Interview Matrix: Victim Borderline Traits

• Critical Witness Interview Matrix: Victim Psychopathy and Anti-Social Traits

• Critical Witness Interview Matrix: Suspect Borderline Personality Traits

• Critical Witness Interview Matrix: Suspect Psychopathy and Anti-Social Traits

• Critical Witnesses Statement Analyses

• Case Review Checklist

• Death Scene Reconstruction: The Scientific Method & Theory Development

• Legal Summary

Chapter 5: VCDIM Literature Review & Mixed-Methods Synthesis

• Literature Review:

  • Introduction to Scientific, Multidisciplinary, Victim-Centered Death Investigation Methodology

  • Introduction to Intimate Partner Violence

  • Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence

  • Introduction to Intimicide: Intimate Partner Homicide

  • Intimicide: Power and Control Plus or Minus Anger Continuum

  • Criminal Profiling and Its Value Towards Predicting Risk and Preventing Lethality in Intimicide

  • Introduction to Crime Scene Staging

    • Homicides Staged as Suicides

    • Homicides Staged as Burglary/Home Invasion/Robbery Homicide

• LPA Expert Roundtable Associate Review

• LPA Expert Consultant Review

• LPA Field Operations Review

• Synthesis of Critical Information

• The CRB Matrix: Conflict>Resolution>Benefit

• The BDA Behavior Matrix: Before>During>After Behavior

• The ESM: Event Synthesis Matrix

Chapter 6: VCDIM Case Evaluation

• Findings & Conclusions

• Recommendations & Options

  • Phase II

• Request to Amend/Reopen

• Proposed Resolution

Appendix A: LPA's Research-Based Forensic Victimology Worksheet
Appendix B: LPA's Victim Personality Worksheet
Appendix C: LPA's Victim Suicidology Risk Worksheet
Appendix D: LPA's Victim's Intimate Partner Violence & Lethality Risk Worksheet
Appendix E: LPA's Research-Based Forensic Subject/Suspect/Person of Interest Worksheet

Appendix F: LPA's Subject/Suspect/Person of Interest Personality Worksheet
Appendix G: LPA's Subject/Suspect/Person of Interest Suicidology Risk Worksheet
Appendix H: Incident Worksheet

Curriculum Vitae: Dr. Laura Pettler
Curriculum Vitas All Additional Experts