Decades-Old Cold Cases Solved in Record Numbers with Advanced DNA, Computer Voice Stress Analysis Technology

LEWES, Del., April 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the National Association of Computer Voice Stress Analysts, two things happen when a loved one is murdered and the killer is not caught - one, there is deep sorrow, pain and suffering and 2, it never goes away.  Just ask the family of Krystal Beslanowitch. 

DNA - Krystal was only 17 and living in Utah when she was murdered in 1995, the case went cold until, in 2013, a newly developed form of DNA technology was able to extract 'touch' DNA from the rock that was used to kill her.  The DNA matched Michael Simpson.  Mr. Simpson was arrested in Florida this year and charged with Krystal's murder.

DNA, CVSA Work Together - In April, 2001, 36 year-old Angela Coleman was found strangled to death in an abandoned house in Columbia, SC.  Her body had been set on fire in an apparent attempt to hide evidence of the crime.  Her killer was never caught.  Seven years later as DNA advanced, a DNA profile was developed and pointed to Clarence Terrelle Myers.  Police began looking for him and discovered that he was being held in a Volusia County (FL) jail.  When detectives interviewed him, he admitted that he had found the victim already dead and had sex with the body.  However, he denied killing her or setting her body on fire.  At an impasse, Daytona Beach Detectives offered Myers a Computer Voice Stress Analysis (CVSA) examination to help verify his story.  Myers showed deception on all of the relevant questions and after being shown the voice graphs that clearly indicated deception, Myers confessed that he was mad at Coleman for ripping him off and that he strangled her in an abandoned house.  He said that he left and came back after an hour and a half and had sex with her to prove something to her.  "The use of the CVSA in this case and others like it provide a unique investigative tool for law enforcement officers and our use of this technology in Daytona Beach will only insure that our city is a safer place to live, work and visit," stated the Daytona Police Chief.                

CVSA Succeeds Where Polygraph Fails - Vestavia Hills, AL, police were asked by the local sheriff's department to conduct a CVSA exam on a subject that they believed may have murdered his sister-in-law fourteen years ago. Over the years, the subject had taken 4 polygraphs from 3 different examiners, all of which had been inconclusive. The subject agreed to the CVSA exam and failed.  After being shown the charts and informed of the results, the subject confessed to the murder. Following his confession, the subject took the detectives to the site where he buried his sister-in-law's body, providing the only direct evidence of his crime.

15-Year-Old Murder Solved - In New York, Professor James Chapman, noted criminologist and CVSA examiner was summoned to the Sheriff's Department to assist with the interview of an individual that had been the main suspect in a 1981 murder. He had taken a polygraph which was inconclusive and, without other leads, the case grew cold. The same suspect was again requested to take a polygraph in the same case ten years later in 1991. This time the suspect passed the polygraph and was dropped as a suspect. Many years later the investigator in the case requested that the same suspect take a CVSA exam from Professor Chapman. After reviewing his own CVSA charts, which clearly showed that he was the killer, the suspect made admissions and provided written statements regarding his participation in the murder.

Technology Analyzes Recordings To Detect Deception - Cocoa (FL) Police formed a new Cold Case Unit to review the 'cold' homicide cases at their department.  While reviewing the first case which involved the brutal murder of a young woman and after six years, the case had gone cold, Detectives noticed that both suspects had voluntarily taken and passed polygraph examinations and because of that, were no longer considered suspects. They also discovered that both had given sworn, tape recorded statements in which they had denied any involvement in the murder. Detectives analyzed the taped statements utilizing the Computer Voice Stress Analyzer (CVSA) and while they were able to clear one suspect, the other suspect displayed deception when she denied committing the murder.  Detectives located the second suspect and requested that she come in for questioning. When she appeared for questioning, the suspect agreed to take a CVSA exam. The CVSA exam clearly indicated that she was the one that had killed the young woman six years earlier. After forty minutes of interrogation, the suspect admitted to the murder and also how she had disposed of the murder weapon.

These scenarios are quietly being repeated day-after-day throughout the US in law enforcement agencies as small as the Bay Harbor Island P.D. (FL) and as large as the Atlanta P.D., Nashville P.D., Miami P.D., Salt Lake City P.D., California Highway Patrol and the US Federal Courts in cases involving murder, rape, child molestation, thefts and employment screening.  The Computer Voice Stress Analyzer™ (CVSA®) is a voice-based investigative truth verification tool that is now used by nearly 2,000 US law enforcement agencies.

For further information on the NACVSA, contact Diana Montoya at 888-358-5025 or email.  For further information on the CVSA visit CVSA1.com or call 561-798-6280.

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SOURCE National Association of Computer Voice Stress Analysts