Lieutenant Josh Moulin supervises the Central Point Police Department’s Technical Services Bureau and is the Commander of the Southern Oregon High-Tech Crimes Task Force. He is one of approximately 470 Certified Forensic Computer Examiner’s worldwide and has been trained by a variety of organizations in digital evidence forensics. Lt. Moulin has also been qualified as an expert witness in the area of computer forensics and frequently teaches law enforcement, prosecutors, and university students about digital evidence.
Beginning his public safety career in 1993, Josh started in the Fire/EMS field working an assortment of assignments including fire suppression, fire prevention, transport ambulance, and supervision. After eight years Josh left the fire service with the rank of Lieutenant and began his law enforcement career. As a Police Officer Josh has had the opportunity to work as a patrol officer, field training officer, officer in charge, arson investigator, detective, and sergeant.
For further information about the Central Point Police Department please visit www.cp-pd.com, and for the Southern Oregon High-Tech Crimes Task Force visit www.hightechcops.com. To reach Sgt. Moulin you can e-mail him at joshm@hightechcops.com.
How computers are used in Missing Persons cases
Many law enforcement agencies across the United States are incorporating computer forensics into traditional missing persons investigations. There are few things that provide a better window into a person’s life than the hard drive of a computer.
In our digital evidence forensics lab we regularly assist law enforcement agencies who are trying to locate missing people. After obtaining a computer used by the missing person we pour through the hundreds of thousands of files in an attempt to determine who they were last talking to, where they may be going and why they left.
In one particular case our lab assisted in locating an adult female who had been missing for several weeks. We uncovered some deleted Internet history files showing her using Google maps to find places in an adjoining state. We also found deleted files of her using her credit card to purchase travel tickets to a specific area that later proved to be exactly where she was at.
There have been documented cases where the forensic examination of a computer has led to finding a missing person, and in some cases has led to the arrest of a suspect. On the East Coast of the United States a law enforcement agency performed a forensic examination of a computer that belonged to a missing young woman. During the forensic examination, electronic correspondence was found between the missing woman and another person. After court orders were issued to reveal the true identity of the person she was communicating with, police identified the person as a man living in an adjoining state.
When the police arrived at this man’s door and continued their investigation they ultimately discovered the missing woman’s body buried in the backyard.
Other items of interest can be found on a missing person’s computer as well. E-mail messages, blog postings, MySpace comments, online banking activities, computer journals, etc. can all be used to help locate someone.
Sometimes the computer isn’t as important as knowing what accounts are used by a missing person. For example, during a forensic computer examination, online accounts are located such as MySpace, Yahoo!, Gmail, Hotmail, etc. By serving simple subpoenas on these companies information can be obtained about where they are checking their e-mail or logging into a website from. Sometimes this information is particularly useful in runaway cases where a juvenile doesn’t want to be found but continues to check their web-based e-mail accounts while they are on the run.
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The Bulletin Board
Author SJ Rozan is running a contest on her blog http://www.journalscape.com/sjrozan/2008-10-19-08:34. Stop by and win an ARC of her her wonderful new book SHANGHAI MOON. If you’ve never read any of SJ’s books do yourself a favor and pick up a copy right away. She’s a brilliant writer.
This week is urban fantasy week on literary agent/author Lucienne Diver’s blog http://varkat.livejournal.com/ . Today’s post is a wonderful and original short story by author
Rachel Caine. She’ll also have Faith Hunter, Marjorie M. Liu, Laura Anne Gilman, Diana Pharaoh Francis and Susan Wright blogging, among others. By the way, Lucienne has a new book coming out. I had the chance to see the cover art and it’s fantastic.
Don’t forget to enter the 200 word short story contest right here on The Graveyard Shift. Your stories will be judged by Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine editor Linda Landrigan. For details click here.
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