Page 111 - CFDI Guide

Certified Forensic Death Investigator (CFDI) Program
Dean A. Beers, CLI, CCDI, CFDI-Expert and Karen S. Beers, BSW, CCDI, CFDI-SME
Associates in Forensic Investigations, LLC
Criminal Defense Investigation Training Council (CDITC) Accredited

and the medical examiner to have and review for their investigation. All interviews should be recorded, if
only by audio if outside of a law enforcement facility and with video otherwise. As previously mentioned,

911 calls are important.

All aspects of the investigative process should be photographed – including cabinets, storage, trash (home
and exterior), laundry and hampers, refrigerator, closets and more. Everything should be photographed

fully and extensively.

Evidence and Disposition

Child death or SBI investigations should have more evidence than usual, and all items collected from any
location – the child, location of incident, hospital, home, etc. should be logged and photographed. Any
items sent for laboratory testing should be accompanied by request forms and reports of results. If the

child has deceased, the medical examiner will also have more evidence than usual, and more testing from

autopsy. The autopsy itself will produce more evidence, as the physical examination is more extensive to
determine any injuries and cause, and absence of injuries.

Summary and Case Disposition

Specific information from any case summary, including search and arrest affidavits, will include the scene
detectives and the medical examiner have developed. The CFDI will review and analyze the evidence in

general and specific to child deaths – and specific to the age and activity of the child, as well as
environment of the incident. This will develop into the assessment and plausibility of the official findings,

and any alternatives the evidence provides and supports. This will include medical and social history of the
child and caregivers, as well as siblings, and also the environment – whether home or outside the home,

and specifically within where the child was last known alive, injured, or found. The totality of the
circumstances developed in the official investigation is important.

The following should be determined in the official investigations:

Who were the child’s primary and secondary caregivers – parents, siblings, other relatives and
extended family, friends, neighbors, schools, daycare, etc.?

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