Expert: Dick Rogers - 2/9/2008

Question
I'm writing a murder mystery where I need the detective conducting the investigations to be able to discuss information regarding the cases with my protagonist, who is a civilian but who is also the son of the first victim.  There are four killings in the story.  How much and what type of information may the detective share with the civilian?  I do not intend any sensitive information, such as names and addresses of witnesses, etc. to be conveyed, just information related to the investigations, like how did the victims die, was anything stolen and what, various leads that have been discovered or reported to the police that are  being investigated, etc.

Thanks for your help.

Answer
Joseph, I normally do not answer questions dealing with background info for stories, but your brief description of your mystery is very similar to one I wrote about 10 years ago.  First off, homicide detectives generally are tight lipped about most everything dealing with their cases...even with close relatives of victims.  There is good reason for this.  For example, giving you a rather simplistic case...let's say the victim was killed with a fireplace poker.  This information would be closely guarded.  If and when a suspect was questioned regarding the case and is asked to take a polygraph and during this test is asked in the middle of routine questions, "...do you have a fireplace?"  A fairly innocuous question and the needle goes ape, there is something to pursue. Detectives frequently keep in touch with relatives of victims to keep their cooperation at a good level, but the information shared with them is very routine. Your question relative to "anything stolen" also applies to the potential for polygraph use.  If a diamond bracelet was stolen and it was reported in the newspaper, it would not be of use in the test due to the fact that anyone could have the knowledge of it being part of the case.  The same restrictions apply to evidence, i.e., that tire impressions were taken at the scene.  If this information was printed, how long before the suspect would either sell, abandon the car or change tires.  I'm giving you rudimentary examples but I'm doing so to make the point easier to grasp.  Hope this helps.