UTC Lecturer in Biological Anthropology Derek Boyd, left, takes McCallie School students Ethan Wagner, Isaiah Summey, Alex Senter, James Adams and Aubrey Raff through a mock crime scene. Photo by Angela Foster.
Two mysterious occurrences happened in the Collins Street Annex on the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga campus on Wednesday, Jan. 10.
Thanks to 10 high school students from McCallie School who spent the day at UTC, the case is now closed.
Fortunately, the “bodies” they found only included a dummy and fake human bones, part of a mock crime scene investigation hosted by the Department of Social, Cultural and Justice Studies at UTC.
UC Foundation Associate Professor of Criminal Justice Rick Dierenfeldt, a former police officer and criminal investigator, helped facilitate the crime scene investigator (CSI) forensic experience.
“This will not only enhance the students’ familiarity with UTC,” Dierenfeldt said, “but also provide an opportunity for hands-on experience and the chance to interact with academics and practitioners working in some exciting fields like forensic chemistry, arson investigation, blood spatter analysis and forensic anthropology.”
During their investigations, the students practiced hazard assessments, collected evidence and pointed out potential clues as to what could have been responsible for the “deaths.”
Sara Knox, a senior lecturer at UTC and former fire investigator, helped lead the investigations.
Knox said she wanted the students to see what the experience would be like if it were a real crime scene.
“It’s a lot more work than what you see on TV,” she said. “You don’t get your lab results back in 24 hours. You don’t have a lab inside that can do everything.”
Senior Lecturer Sara Knox demonstrated techniques used in blood spatter analysis.
Members of the Chattanooga Police Department (CPD) and a forensic chemist joined for a Q&A session.
Sgt. Joseph Neighbors of the CPD Crime Scene Unit explained that the department works with some of the most violent offenders in Chattanooga.
He said the purpose of the CSI experience is to teach students how to identify, document, preserve and collect evidence, as well as some of the profession’s nuances.
“Working a crime scene is very meticulous work,” Neighbors said. “A crime scene investigator must know how to identify, properly document, sketch, collect evidence and search.”
James Adams, a sophomore at McCallie, was pleasantly surprised with what he learned.
“I really liked the science aspect of it. I’m really interested in DNA,” Adams said. “There’s actually a lot more science to it than I thought there was and more specialties.”
Upon discovering UTC offers forensic science and has faculty members with experience in the field, sophomore Isaiah Summey decided to sign up for the trip.
“I watch a lot of ‘CSI,’ so when the forensics program was offered … I wanted to come and learn and see what it’s like on a day-to-day basis,” Summey said.
“I learned how complicated it is, just the amount of steps and procedures that you have to go through—and that’s just for one person, considering how many people go into the investigation.”
Dierenfeldt expressed excitement about leveraging the University’s partnerships.
“We are giving the students a glimpse of the academic pathways available to them in the field of forensics and the career opportunities that come with it,” he said. “The best part is that this is a product of the relationships we’re building between criminal justice agencies and practitioners, local schools and our academic programs.”
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Photo gallery by Angela Foster
