Digital Evidence
Wendy Grove
Everest University
Computer Evidence

Digital Evidence Digital evidence is information stored or transmitted in dual formation that may be used in court. It can be found in a computer hard drive, cell phones, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a CD, flash card in a digital camera, are just a few places were this type of information can be found. Digital evidence is normally connected with electronic crime, or e-crimes, for example child pornography or credit card fraud. (Justice, 2010) The case that I have chosen is Dennis Lynn Rader or better known as the BTK killer. Mr. Radar was arrested on February 25, 2005, after a 31 year investigation that began on January 15, 1974 with his first four victims. Mr. Radar terrorized the Witchita, Kansas, area from the 1970’s to the 90’s he was finally caught and charged with 10 counts of first degree murder and sentenced to 10 consecutive life terms in prison. (Findlaw, 2005) Mr. Radar sent three letters in the 1970’s to the media and the police taking pride in the horrific crimes that he committed. After a 25 year silence during which there were no confirmed communications from Mr. Radar he resurfaced from his silence in March 2004 leaving packages and clues for authorities. One of these clues was a floppy disk which was sent to a local television station. This disk was promptly traced to Rader through a computer at his church. Law enforcement also noticed Mr. Radar white van at drop-off areas in which security cameras filmed. Law enforcement was also able to obtain a DNA sample from Rader's daughter, which helped strengthen their case against him. Finally, bringing the 31 yearlong investigation to a close. (Hansen, 2006) In the BTK case this disk helped law enforcement locate who the BTL killer was, by using a forensic tool called EnCase discovering a deleted file on the drive. The recovered file was a word document containing metadata. Information such as the creator’s name, the computer’s details, time created and more. Using this data, law enforcement was able to link a name Rader, exposing the name of a church: Christ Lutheran Church to Mr. Radar. Although the document itself contained nothing of interest, the metadata provided police with more than enough information to start pursuing new leads. (Press, 2005) With this information they were able to do an online search discovering that Mr. Radar was the head of the Christ Lutheran Church. With all this information and other pieces of evidence gather throughout the years, leading to a conviction.

Reference:

Findlaw. (2005, March 1). State of Kansas vs. Dennis Radar. Retrieved from news.findlaw.com.
Hansen, M. (2006, April 26). How the Cops Caught BTK. Retrieved from www.abajournal.com .
Justice, N. I. (2010, 5 November). Digital Evidence and Forensics. Retrieved from nij.gov.
Press, A. (2005, March 3). Computer disk may have cracked the BTK case. Retrieved from www.nbcnews.com.