Original Release Date: December 6, 2024
In the final episode of our Case Studies season, Just Science sat down with Ashleigh Berg, Senior Forensic Investigator for the Denton County Sheriff’s Office, to discuss a capital murder case, where a combination of a variety of forensic evidence types aided the resolution of the case.
When a homicide occurs in a dynamic environment, like inside a moving vehicle that was involved in two car crashes, it can pose challenges for reconstructing the timeline of events and differentiating incident-related evidence from post-incident artifacts. For a fatal shooting case that took place in Denton, Texas, forensic practitioners needed to utilize a wide range of forensic evidence, such as bloodstain patterns, surveillance footage, and real-time tracking data, to help locate the suspect and provide insight to the investigative questions in the case. Listen along as Ashleigh describes her role in collecting and analyzing evidence in this capital murder case, the importance of considering all evidence and forensic findings in the context of a case, and how a combination of physical and digital evidence was crucial in bringing this case to justice.
This episode is funded by the National Institute of Justice’s Forensic Technology Center of Excellence (Award No. 15PNIJ-21-GK-02192-MUMU).
Some content in this podcast may be considered sensitive and may evoke emotional responses or may not be appropriate for younger audiences.
View or download the episode transcript here:
Coming Soon!
Episode Citation
Martin, M. & Berg, A. (2024, December 6). Just Science. Just Resolving a Capital Murder Case in Denton, Texas. [Audio podcast episode]. The Forensic Technology Center of Excellence. https://forensiccoe.org/podcast-2024-case-studies-ep4/
Guest Biography
Ashleigh Berg is the Senior Forensic Investigator for the Denton County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) in Denton, Texas, where she has served since 2013. Prior to her time at DCSO, she spent three and a half years serving as a Crime Scene Investigator with the Wise County Sheriff’s Office in Texas where she was responsible for creating and building both the Crime Lab and the in-house Automated Fingerprint Identification System. Ashleigh holds a Master Peace Officer license and is a Texas Commission on Law Enforcement (TCOLE) instructor who holds a Bachelor’s degree with a split major in Forensic Science and Criminal Psychology and a Master’s degree in Forensic Psychology. Ashleigh is certified by the International Association for Identification (IAI) as a Certified Latent Print Examiner (CLPE), a Certified Bloodstain Pattern Analyst (CBPA), and a Certified Senior Crime Scene Analyst (CSCSA). She has been qualified as an expert in the areas of crime scene investigation, latent print identification, bloodstain pattern analysis, shooting incident reconstruction, and crime scene reconstruction in multiple Texas district and federal courts and consults on major cases in multiple jurisdictions. She also serves as an adjunct instructor and course-content developer for the Texas A&M Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) Texas Forensic Science Academy and is fortunate enough to get to travel across the state teaching various forensic topics to law enforcement. She is a published author and a member of the Association for Crime Scene Reconstruction (ACSR), where she previously served on the board of directors, a member of the International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts (IABPA), the IAI, and the Texas Division of the IAI (TDIAI).
The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this podcast episode are those of the presenter(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Department of Justice.
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