Page 50 - Aug Sept 2016

A Personal and Indepth Interview with Dennis Hillard
Several items of evidence were submitted for the crime scene including the victim’s

high heel and the electric cord that was used to bind the victim’s hands and legs.
A suspect had been taken into custody the next day, Evidence from the suspect in-

cluded a red sweater that he was wearing at the time of his arrest, a high school
ring he was wearing and the ends of an electrical cords that were recovered from
the trunk of his car. Red fibers were recovered from the submitted heel from the

victim’s shoe. This was microscopically compared to the fibers from sweater from
the suspect. The fibers were microscopically similar in all class characteristics.

The suspect’s ring had apparent reddish brown stains this case occurred prior to the
introduction of DNA analysis. The ring was swabbed and the sample tested posi-
tive for human blood and a blood type was obtained. The blood type was the same

as the victim’s blood type, more class characteristic evidence. The electrical cords
recovered from the victim were then compared to the electrical cord ends (plug and

outlets) recovered from the suspect’s vehicle. They were similar in class character-
istics. The laboratory’s firearms examiner was able to examine the cut ends of the
cords, microscopically and concluded that the electrical cod ends from the suspect’s

vehicle were cut from the cords recovered from the victim. The work of the labora-
tory and additional evidence developed by the police department led to the suspect

being convicted of first degree murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. The
same suspect was also convicted of a kidnapping and murder that occurred one day
prior in a neighboring state. The victim’s body was discovered in Rhode Island. He

received a second life term for that murder.

Sonya Trippett: You have a very extensive and impressive career, in 1999 you and
two of your colleagues Jimmie Oxley and Everett Crisman established the Forensic

Science Partnership which led to the University of Rhode Island being recognized
internationally as a leader in forensic science research. Please tell me about this ac-
complishment.

Dennis Hilliard: The Forensic Science Partnership is essentially a codification of
the cooperation of many departments at the University with the state crime labora-

tory. The laboratory had its origins in the department of chemistry under Professor
Harold Harrison, Ph.D.; he offered his services to the local police departments and
began training law enforcement officers in crime scene investigation, which is the

program we continue to offer. He would work with faculty and staff in a variety of

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