Forensic animators seek clues in Colo. mom's death
When "48 Hours" began investigating the death of Ashley Fallis, we needed professional assistance to re-create the details of the night she died, based on the available evidence. That's why we called in Scott Roder, a leader in the field of demonstrative evidence and forensic animation, to create several animations to show what could have happened in the early hours of 2012. Roder is the owner of The Evidence Room, LLC, and has consulted on hundreds of cases in his 17 years of experience demonstrating crime scenes. Below is his account of working with us on this story.
EVANS, Colo. -- When arriving on the scene at the former home of Tom and Ashley Fallis, all seemed very normal. A nice little home in Evans, Colorado.
As I toured the residence and was briefed on the case, a different picture started to emerge. A very sad story, no matter the outcome of the investigation. A wife and mother was dead. A single gunshot to the side of the head. Ashley's death was ruled a suicide by the local authorities, rather quickly. In an apparent "open and shut" case.
The gunshot wound was not overly suspicious. It could have very possibly been a suicide -- if you looked at nothing further than that and
the version put forth by the husband, Tom Fallis.
This incident happened over two years prior, so we came into an empty house. We had to rely heavily upon the data in the form of CSI photographs and the original Evans Police Department report. The importance of evidence recording procedures is taught to rookie cadets, but these officers seemed to have forgotten. Even though the police report shows evidence was collected and numbered, there are no numbered evidence tags in the crime scene photos to show where each piece of evidence was. With credit to them, they did take acceptable photographs.
In those pictures we found evidence that would suggest a struggle. There were broken family photos that fell from the wall onto the bedroom floor, near where the body was found, which is odd, because Tom Fallis stated there was no physical confrontation between himself and Ashley.
A police-style Maglight flashlight was also documented on the floor directly at the scene of the shooting.
Who did this flashlight belong to? Was it Tom and Ashley's? Was it a crime scene tech's, left behind? It was not reported of note in the autopsy, but Ashley had evidence of pre-death bruising on her legs, which were similarly shaped to the flashlight. Was the flashlight a weapon used to cause these bruises?
Another compelling aspect to the crime scene was the angle of the bullet passing through Ashley Fallis's head and then striking the wall of the bedroom. We performed a trajectory analysis on the defect in the bedroom wall, and it demonstrated that Ashley Fallis was most likely on her knees at the time the bullet entered her head, which accounts for the severe upward trajectory.
Was a young mom’s death a suicide or murder? Watch these forensic animations and tell us what you think. [Note: Animations are without audio.] Learn more about how #48Hours worked with forensic animator Scott Roder for this week’s investigation here: http://cbsn.ws/1GTz6zx
Posted by 48 Hours on Friday, April 10, 2015
We found this trajectory by measuring the distance from the ground to the entrance hole of interior wall and comparing the difference (in inches) between the measurement on the exterior wall hole and using a simple mathematical technique to determine the angle of incident.
When Tom was interviewed by the detectives about the case, the investigating officer asked Tom about the scratches on his neck and chest. Tom's explanation was that his chest was itchy and he had been scratching it because he had recently shaved it.
The police investigator believed, rightly so, this was suspicious enough to deduce that the scratches may have been caused by Ashley defending herself against Tom just prior to the shooting. When we did our analysis, though Ashley's fingernails had been collected, they were not tested. This would be a dramatic piece of evidence once provided.
This is substantiated, in part, by witness testimony of neighbors who heard an argument and then crashing just prior to the gunshot.
A different picture of the incident is starting to emerge.
In summary, we prepared a series of analytical animations reconstructing the bedroom, the autopsy, the position and approximate location of the trace evidence, factored in the different witness testimony and put it together in the most logical plausible scenarios, so that you can decide what happened.
After 17 years in the business, I've seen it all. One thing I can assure you is that, oftentimes people lie, but the evidence never lies.
Forensic animator Scott Roder appears on "48 Hours'" all-new investigation into Ashley Fallis' death, "Death after Midnight," airing Saturday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.