Session Spotlight

Hidden Homicides:

Case Studies in Staged Crime Scenes

Gael Strack, J.D., Dr. Bill Smock, & Det. Joe Bianco (ret.)

Crime scene staging research has found that most offenders who stage crime scenes are male, most victims are female, and the most common victim-offender relationship involving staging is intimate partner relationships. Seasoned investigators, medical examiners, and prosecutors can be misdirected by killers and can close highly suspicious cases as accidents, suicides, or undetermined cause of death cases. 

In this session, Gael Strack J.D., Dr. Bill Smock, and Det. Joe Bianco (ret.) will discuss the classic signs of a staged suicide, share what murderers typically do to throw off law enforcement to cover up a homicide by manual strangulation, discuss the common mistakes in homicide investigations, and discuss lessons learned from recent cases handled by the Institute through its Justice Legal Network. They will also discuss key steps in reopening a closed case.

Watch the Dateline episode "The Sisterhood" Now

One of the great passions of our work in the last few years has been working on staged crime scene cases where women are murdered and then it is made to look like a suicide or accident. Law enforcement and even medical examiners get fooled and murderers escape justice. Our very first case was the death of Stacy Feldman in Denver, Colorado featured in the Dateline episode "The Sisterhood". She died in 2015 and the Denver Medical Examiner's Office ruled her cause of death was "Undetermined."  Making it almost impossible to prosecute the prime suspect, her husband, Robert Feldman.  

The family asked us to to review the case a number of years ago, but we needed the Denver Police Department to ask us for help. Then-detective Randy Dennison got permission to reach out to our team at the Training Institute on Strangulation Prevention to review the case.  After we reviewed autopsy reports and photos and all available information about the history of the relationship, we provided the opinion that Stacy Feldman was murdered by either strangulation or suffocation. She did not die by accident. The Denver Police Department finished their investigation and submitted the case for prosecution. The Denver DA filed murder charges against Robert Feldman based on our opinion. The case has taken years to move through the criminal justice system.

Robert Feldman was convicted of first-degree murder and immediately sentenced to life without possibility of parole. He has been out of custody for seven years spending his wife's life insurance proceeds on his defense and his own living expenses. He was remanded to custody and will never experience freedom again. Special congratulations to Denver District Attorneys Maggie Conboy J.D. and Laura Mullin J.D.

Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina

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May 9-11, 2023



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