On the morning of Dec. 21, 1999, William Fyfe went to a clothing drop-off at Trinity Church in Toronto and left three pairs of running shoes. An undercover Ontario Provincial Police officer was tailing him, and retrieved the shoes for forensic analysis. What they revealed was important: on one of the shoes, the tread pattern matched a shoeprint taken from the room where, only a few months earlier in the Quebec town of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, a woman named Monique Gaudreau had been murdered.
The police arrested Fyfe the next day. And what eventually came to light was shocking: over the last two decades in Quebec, between 1979 and 1999, he had murdered at least nine women, making him the most notorious serial killer in the province’s history.
The case illustrates the importance of physical evidence in solving crimes-in this example, shoeprints taken at the crime scene. For a shoeprint to be useful, its tread pattern must be meticulously coded and entered into a shoeprint database.
Vincent Mousseau, a Ph.D. student at UdeM’s School of Criminology, decided to investigate the reliability of manual coding for shoeprints. He conducted his research in collaboration with Quebec’s forensic science lab, the Laboratoire de sciences judiciaires et de médecine légale (LSJML). The findings were recently published in the Canadian Society of Forensic Science Journal.
Shoeprints are part of a range of circumstantial evidence that can move an investigation forward, said Mousseau. They can help steer the investigation in the right direction by determining the number of people present at the time of the crime, ruling out suspects, or linking crimes that police initially thought were unrelated.
Mousseau and the forensic analysts from LSJML’s forensic intelligence service analyzed the validity of the coding in the shoeprint database. They extracted a set of about 30 shoeprints and coded them using an analytical grid. Each analyst coded the shoeprints twice, two weeks apart.
The results showed that two of the three analysts demonstrated near-perfect consistency in their coding between the two testing times, with a strong consensus among all three analysts. While there were some minor variations, the coding system developed by the analysts generally exhibited a satisfactory degree of reliability.
While there is a growing interest in automated coding systems, Mousseau’s research suggests that manual coding of shoeprints is still an appropriate method for generating forensic intelligence. Computers currently struggle with analyzing 3D shoeprints and making the same connections that a human can.
As Mousseau’s research demonstrates, shoeprints play a crucial role in criminal investigations. They provide valuable insights that can help law enforcement narrow down suspects, determine the number of people involved in a crime, and establish links between seemingly unrelated cases. By meticulously coding and analyzing shoeprints, forensic analysts contribute to the generation of crucial forensic intelligence.
Vincent Mousseau’s interest in shoeprints was sparked by Sherlock Holmes’ observation that any criminal who remains on two legs leaves behind some form of trace that can be detected. Mousseau’s passion for criminal investigation led him to specialize in forensic science and study shoeprints extensively. His research not only contributes to the field of forensic science but also helps law enforcement agencies solve crimes more effectively.
The study conducted by Mousseau and the forensic analysts from LSJML offers valuable insights into the reliability of manual coding for shoeprints. While technological advancements continue to shape forensic science, the human expertise and attention to detail provided by forensic analysts remain crucial in accurately analyzing and interpreting shoeprints.
As criminal investigations continue to evolve, the importance of physical evidence, such as shoeprints, cannot be understated. By staying at the forefront of research and innovation, forensic scientists and analysts play a vital role in ensuring that justice is served and crimes are effectively solved. Their dedication to the meticulous coding and analysis of shoeprints contributes to the development of forensic intelligence, helping law enforcement agencies navigate complex cases and bring criminals to justice.
