The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "circumstantial evidence" ...
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"Missoula shaken baby conviction relied on science, expert"
Three-month old Gabriel sustained and eventually died from severe neurological injuries from what investigators determined was "shaken baby syndrome." Gabriel's father, Robert J. Wilkes, was not the initial suspect. However, through the testimony of a child abuse expert from Minnesota and convincing circumstantial evidence, he was eventually found guilty.
Tags: child abuse; shaken baby; pediatrics; Rick Kaplan; National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse; American Academy of Pediatrics
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Gone Forever: A True Story of Marriage, Betrayal, and Murder
Susan McFarland was reported missing in November, 2002. Her charred, decomposed body was found 53 days after her disappearance, and investigators suspected her husband Richard McFarland. He maintained his innocence as circumstantial evidence mounted, but finally admitted his guilt on the first day of jury selection. Author Diane Fanning examines the months leading up to the crime, and delves into information about Richard and the details of the police investigation.
Tags: Murder; domestic violence; missing persons; jury trials; plea bargains; murder confessions; non-fiction book
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Decade of Doubt: The John Hartman Murder
The series explores the possibility four young men, three of whom are Alaska Native, were wrongfully convicted of murdering a Fairbanks teenager. The series focuses on apparent flaws in the police investigation into 15-year-old John Hartman's 1997 murder.
Tags: murder; evidence; police; Alaska; DNA; circumstantial evidence; John Hartman; misconduct; jury
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Shadow of Doubt
David Junior Brown will soon become the first black man to be executed in North Carolina since the death penalty was reinstated in 1996. He might also be the first innocent man. With no confession, no eyewitnesses, no DNA evidence, no blood, and no fingerprints that place him at the scene of the crime, prosecutors relied entirely on circumstantial evidence to convict Brown of an 18-year-old murder.
Tags: None
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Richey case revisited
Scotland native Kenny Richey, convicted in the 1986 arson death of a 2-year-old child, has spent 11 years on death row in Mansfield, Ohio. A month-long Blade investigation finds that the basis for Richey's death sentence -- that he unhooked a smoke alarm -- cannot be proven. But a quirk in Ohio law allows judes to draw conclusions based on circumstantial evidence, even in death penalty cases.
Tags: Courts Murder Witness
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Prisoners in Paradise
James and Penny Fletcher, a Huntington couple, were imprisoned for nine months on the Caribbean island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines on murder charges. The couple faced deaths by hanging if convicted. The reporter made several unsettling discoveries. The evidence presented against the Fletchers in a preliminary hearing was thin and entirely circumstantial, yet a magistrate ruled that there was enough evidence to go to trial. The Fletchers, wealthy business owners, were offered a chance to buy their freedom for $100,000, but the deal was pulled off the table when a South African man went public with the allegation that he paid the St. Vincent government $25,000 to avoid being charged with his wife's death. The Fletchers were locked up in damp, vastly overcrowded jails and were kept alive with meager prison rations of rice and bread. A pattern of human right violations by police and government officials in St. Vincent was discovered.
Tags: None
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No title (id: 14016)
This story explores how the criminal justice system may have failed in the case of Luis Rojas, a teen-ager who was sentenced to 15 years to life for a Manhattan shooting many believe he didn't commit.
Tags: Connolly Who Framed Luis Rojas Murder Homicide Legal system failure Circumstantial evidence
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No title (id: 10684)
TWIST Weekly examined an extensive collection of circumstantial evidence that favors the idea that the AIDS virus was man-made, Mar. 17, 24, 31, April 7, 14, 1994.
Tags: WA MacKenzie HIV Hepatitis-B WHO US House of Representatives Robert Strecker CIA 17 pages
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No title (id: 9801)
Clear Lake Independent cites extensive collection of circumstantial evidence poiting to the man-made nature of the AIDS virus; findings include military funding and research for an infective microorganism which would destroy human immune functions, June - July 1993.
Tags: WA CA Mackenzie 19 pages
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No title (id: 2566)
Knoxville (Tenn.) Journal puts forth strong circumstantial evidence showing that a small cadre of Knoxville police officers regularly used excessive force; their names and actions were known but they were protected by colleagues and supervisors, July 1983.
Tags: Henderson Copeskey TN