Celebrating Emerging Writers - Methodist University

Office of University Relations
5400 Ramsey Street • Fayetteville, North Carolina 28311-1498
(800) 488-7110 • (910) 630-7043 • FAX (910) 630-7253
www.methodist.edu
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 18, 2011
PAM MCEVOY
DIRECTOR OF UNIVERSITY RELATIONS
FAYETTEVILLE, NC—Homicide, Suicide, Accident or Natural Death Assessing
Equivocal Deaths & Open Cold Case Presentations will be the focus of a training held at Methodist
University on November 28, 2011.
Methodist University is proud to announce a unique opportunity for criminal justice professionals
and educators to learn innovative perspectives that will enable them to evaluate and investigate homicides
in ways they may not have previously considered. This opportunity is open to ALL law enforcement
officers, crime analysts, and crime scene investigators, and is CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC. The
Center for Excellence in Justice Administration is funding the entire cost of this seminar and there is no
cost to seminar participants.
This training will begin with a brief review of Crime Assessment and the sub-types of crime that
were presented in March 2011 in the university’s Crime Assessment Course. The remainder of the
morning will be devoted to assessing a variety of cases that have proven difficult for investigators to
understand and presented challenges in developing effective investigative strategies. Mr. Richard D.
Walter will present criteria to aide in the decision making when deciding the nature of a death.
The afternoon will be spent in reviewing cases presented by attending members to the audience
and panel of experts. Participants will gain hands on experience analyzing the manner of death and
investigative protocols. Those investigators who are interested in having a case examined should contact
Mr. Dave Pauly, M.F.S., Seminar Coordinator, for details on presentation format and time requirements.
Mr. Pauly is a member of the Vidocq Society.
This is an opportunity for an investigator and his/her agency to receive immediate input for a
troubling cold case from your peers and guest speakers.
This seminar will be facilitated by Richard D. Walter who retired after more than 22 years as a
Prison Psychologist for the Michigan Department of Corrections. He is an international expert in Crime
Assessment, Profiling and Risk Evaluation. Mr. Walter has consulted with various agencies and
governments in the United States, Great Britain, Australia, and Hong Kong. He lectures to law
enforcement and academic groups on murder sub-types and signature aspects of interpersonal violence.
He is the author and co-author of published and non-published articles relating to forensic casework.
Also, he is a co-founder of the Vidocq Society, a group comprised of 82 forensic specialists worldwide
who assist local criminal justice agencies in solving cold cases. Mr. Walter’s forensic skills were
acquired through academic, collegial and “hands on work”. From a practical perspective, he has
interviewed thousands of felony prisoners. Additionally, he has advised on forensic cases relating to
Bitemark Evidence, Child Abuse, Sexual and Non-sexual homicides, Auto-eroticism, Munchausen
Syndrome, and in the areas of Clinical versus Meta-Sadism.