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Big Names, Big Crimes
Henry C. Lee has been a member of the UNH faculty since l985, though his connection to the school dates back to around 1975.
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Business New Haven
5/13/2003
By:
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Henry C. Lee has been a member of the UNH faculty since l985, though his connection to the school dates back to around 1975.
The famed criminologist, retired state Commissioner of Public Safety and former director of the Connecticut State Crime Laboratory in Meriden, Lee continues as a consultant to the state and has been called on to consult in some of America's most notorious criminal cases, providing analysis of evidence and, sometimes, determining how mishandling of evidence compromised or destroyed its viability or the credibility of investigators.
Lee has prominently figured in homicide cases involving O. J. Simpson, Jon-Benet Ramsey and Chandra Levy. The Ramsey and Levy cases remain unsolved, but forensics science and DNA-typing are being used in the investigations.
“Of course, regarding the Laci Peterson case, finding out if that body found was in fact Laci Peterson, involves DNA typing of human bone remains,” says Lee.
Peterson's husband Scott was arrested and charged April 18 with killing his wife and their unborn baby.
Lee may consult in the Peterson case, but he is being kept busy these days closer to home. At the request of the Rhode Island State Police, he is working on helping to reconstruct the events of the February 20 nightclub fire in West Warwick, R.I. that killed 99 people.
Earlier this year, at the request of the Smart family and the Salt Lake City Police, Lee did a complete re-study and reconstruction of the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case.
“Sure enough, Mary Jean, the little sister, helped us come up with a new sketch and said, 'Oh yeah, I recognize him.' We made a new poster and the investigation moved in a different direction because of that turning point.” A vagabond couple was arrested in the kidnapping about a month after the new composite was released to the public.
“Now we're working with the New Jersey district attorney and the New Jersey State Police in the Jayson Williams basketball player case,” Lee says. Williams, a former NBA star, is charged manslaughter in the shooting death of a limousine driver.
- M.N.
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