The true content of the crime has never been more popular, and technology is making citizen investigations more and more accessible. But anyone can be a detective? Kumi Taguchi of Insight joins the guests who have been in charge of finding answers when the authorities fall short and ask if they are finally helping or hindering. Look at citizen detectives in .
When Madison McGhee lost his beloved father at the age of six, he was told that he had suffered a heart attack.
He had no reason to doubt this, until he knew 10 years after he had been killed, shot and killed at the door of the family house in the rural area of Ohio.
“He changed the course of my life,” Madison told Insight.
“I always say that my dad died twice. I lost my dad for a heart attack when I was six years old. And I lost my dad to kill when I was 16 years old.”
No one was convicted of the murder, which left Madison in a state of Limbo.
“You really don’t have any place to put your energy and emotion. I can’t get angry with someone because I don’t know who it was.”
Not willing to accept his unsolved murder, Madison began his own investigation during the Covid-19 pandemic when he was 23 years old.
“I called the Sheriff’s department to get access to case files,” he said.
“And that opened a great can of worms in my life.”
Madison (on the right) learned that he was 16 years old that his father (left) had not died of a heart attack when he was little, but in fact had been killed. Fountain: Supplied
He began interviewing friends and family, convinced someone close to the family who must have answers.
“I still have relatives who don’t talk to me,” he said.
“I had some people who supported suspiciously at that time, and some people who really remained inflexible in which they should let it go.”
Public Power
Haylee O’Connell also became a citizen detective in the hope of discovering what happened to a lost loved one.
His brother Corey disappeared in 2021. At that time, Haylee denounced him to the police as missing, but felt that “there was no urgency” when trying to find him.
“I didn’t feel that I was taken seriously,” he told Insight.
Haylee (right) says he decided to investigate his brother’s disappearance when he felt that the police “did not take it seriously.” Fountain: Supplied
. She established a Facebook group, which attracted the attention of a search and rescue dogs provider. With his help, he coordinated a large -scale search for the bushes near Nannup in Western Australia, where Corey’s car had been found.
He also started talking to a Canberra headquarters, which offered his services for free.
“He ended up taking 41,000 images of the marriage where my brother disappeared,” said Haylee.
The drone operator charged the images to a place where the public could approach to scan some interest.
“One of the group members sent me a message. She said: ‘I think you need to send that photo to the police.'”
She had seen some bones.
Haylee believes that he would never have found his brother’s remains without the help of citizen detectives. Fountain: Supplied
The drone operator provided the coordinates, which eventually led the police to the remains of his brother.
Haylee said that the citizen detective community kept her in progress throughout her terrible experience.
“I wouldn’t have found Corey if it weren’t for them.”
When detectives are an obstacle
But not everyone sees citizen detectives as valuable.
The associated professor Xanthe Mallett at the University of Newcastle, who has an extensive career in Forenso and Criminology, says that people who investigate outside the official channels can be an obstacle.
“It can be a sword a little double edge. Many people are now becoming citizen detectives that the police are literally overwhelmed. They are obliged to follow up on the councils that enter,” he said.
“How do they really go through to determine what can be useful?”
Beyond police investigation, Xanthe says that detectives can also affect the result of judgments.
“There are quite strict rules around this, what people can share online. They can be trying to help, but sometimes it can actually cause problems in the criminal justice system.
“The information that is shared during judicial cases, for example, that can make it very problematic.”
She adds that detective theories are rarely found in money.
“I have still presented information that has really progressed in one of the cases I am working on.”
Despite this, Xanthe can empathize with the desire for answers when the authorities have fallen short.
“I understand why people want to get involved in cases, especially in those with whom they feel a personal connection, when they have not received the answers they need.”
The detectives ‘bring a new eye game’
The Trevor Gross driver has been interested in solving crimes since he was six years old.
“I would go to a store with my mother and dad. I would get home with a complete list of numbers and I would say: ‘This guy did not use his indicator, this guy was doing this badly, this guy was doing that badly.'”
Now, during his long hours behind the steering wheel, he reflects on cold cases.
“When I’m on the way at work, there is a lot of time to kill,” he told Insight.
His research was at the next level when he discovered that what he thinks is a link between some of the most famous cold cases in Australia.
“There are the boys of Beaumont, the kidnapping of Adelaida disappeared from the two girls and the cruel Mr..”
Beaumont’s children were three young brothers who disappeared from Glenelg Beach near Adelaida in 1966. The cruel Mr. is the nickname of a unidentified Australian children rapist that attacked three girls in the suburbs of Melbourne in the late eighties and early nineties.
Trevor says that detectives like him sometimes have an advantage over the police when investigating, particularly with cold cases.
“He brought a new set of eyes and a mind for it and, they also have a lot in … while I can concentrate in these cases during all the time I need.
“I enjoy only investigating the cases that the police have lost things.”
During his long hours on the road as a truck driver, Trevor reflects on cases of crimes for the cold. Fountain: Supplied
Despite being inflexible about the validity of his theory, which has never been demonstrated, Trevor says that his research is paralyzed.
Three months ago, he went to a local police station and presented his findings.
“They took their notes and said they had to tell other people in other states. I don’t think they have done anything,” he said.
“I can only do a lot without being a detective or application of the law.”
Trevor has been fascinated by the cold cases of Australia since he was a child. Fountain: Supplied
Trevor says that it is disappointing that his information had no more impact because he is investigating where others lack resources.
“There are too many families in Australia who want answers.
“And I want to help you answer.”
Madison continues to look for answers about the death of his father, even turning his research into a podcast series, Ice Cold Case.
“Saying ‘this is my father, this is someone who was a member of the community, brother, a son’, and sharing his story from a really human perspective was really important to me,” he said.
“20 years had passed since he was killed and there was no movement, there was no traction. And it was the only way I could really think [of] that had control and power over “.
As a result of the podcast, people began to present information, which Madison is in the process of collecting to rebuild a case file to present the police.
“To solve this case, I don’t feel that you have any other option,” he said.
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