COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE EDUCATION

Internship (On-the-Job Training) 1

INVESTIGATION ON THE CASE OF

LYNN BREEDENS MURDER

A Case Analysis
presented to the Faculty of the
COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE EDUCATION
King’s College of the Philippines-Bambang, Inc.

A Requirement for the Course,

Internship (On-the-Job Training) 1

by
MOISES H. GUINILING

September 2021
 CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE 1
CONTENTS 2
RATIONALE 3
ANALYSIS OF THE CASE 4
I. Summary of the Case
II. Conduct of Investigation
III. Evaluation on the Conduct of Investigation
and/or Application of Criminalistics
RECOMMENDATIONS 11
REFERENCES 12

Page 2 of 12
 RATIONALE
Identifying the victim is probably one of the first step in a homicide
investigation but what if the victim is not identified. What would you if you were
the investigator? In this analysis we will see how did the police identified the
victim if the nature of the case makes it difficult to do so.
Identifying the victim can sometimes not be as simple as looking at their
face and matching them to a description given by a worried relative or loved
one. Sometimes there are extraneous forces at work, which make identifying the
victim a long and laborious task.
The main reasons for difficulty in identifying the victim are:
Massive head trauma
Submergence in water for long periods of time
Decapitation
Disfigurement
All of these are of course grisly in their own right and the task of
identifying a victim can be made much trickier if any of these issues arise.
Ways of Identifying a Body
Normally dental work, blood tests and fingerprinting would go some way
in making a positive identification of a corpse but there are other things to take
into consideration.
Firstly are any of these methods applicable in this particular instance?
Some people are fortunate enough never to have required any great amount of
dental work. Others may not have ever had to have blood work carried out
during hospital visits and therefore no records exist and in some extreme cases
wounds inflicted to the corpse post mortem may make fingerprinting
impossible. This is also very difficult if the victim has been involved in a fire or
explosion.

Of course one of the first things a forensic scientist will look for in their quest to
identify the deceased is what they are wearing. Does the deceased's clothing
match the description given to the police? If so this is a good place to start and

Page 3 of 12
items of clothing or footwear can - as much as the task is unpleasant and
upsetting - be shown to the family of the deceased. Certain items of clothing
and footwear are unique to individuals and can be identified easily. Items of
jewellery are also used in an attempt to identify the victim as many items of
jewellery can be personalised with engravings.

The forensic science officer will also collate the individual's personal
effects and look for forms of identity such as a driving licence, banker's card or
anything that may hold a name and address.

This is of course not to say that this method of identification is foolproof;

it is not unheard of for misidentifications due to the victim of a crime wearing
similar clothing to that of a missing person. But it is a good indicator from
which DNA can be taken from the parents or siblings of the missing person for
comparison.

Mitochondrial DNA - a strain of DNA that is present through the

bloodlines of many families down many generations - can be used to identify
the victim but this is normally only used when no other forms of identification;
such as dental work, blood work and fingerprints are not available.

It is important to note that cases of misidentification are rare and that

every effort is made on behalf of the authorities and the forensics team to make
sure identification is as quick as possible and without adding any further
anxiety to the family of the victim.

Page 4 of 12
 ANALYSIS OF THE CASE
I. Summary of the Case
One afternoon in Vancouver, British Columbia, in a deserted parking
lot. A witness in the name of Milton Diaz noticed that something is
burning in a garbage bin and latter identified as a human body beyond
recognition. The body was badly burned, it was charred to the extent that
they could find any fingerprint on the body and left no means of
identifying the victim.
The police exerted all efforts and resorted to the use of forensic
Odontology to identify the victim who is a 30 year old woman in the
name of Lynn Breeden a part time model and involved in the dealing and
use of cocaine.
Further investigation reveals that the murderer together with a
companion had tried to withdraw all the money of the victim in her bank
but the bank teller noticed that it was not their real client. The said
attempt was recorded in the security camera which gives lead to the
identification of the murderer staying outside the bank.
The murderer was identified as Mr. Chris Cruz because of the pieces of
evidence found in his car during the investigation.
However there is still no means of proving that Mr. Cruz indeed killed
the victim because there was no specimen for comparison on the blood
found on the car of Mr. Cruz. The Police now decide to extract a genetic
material inside Breeden’s teeth from the tooth pulp in order to generate a
DNA profile. The DNA from the said tooth pulp was then compared on
the blood found at Mr. Cruz’s car and it was a match which provides
proof together with some circumstantial evidence that indeed it is Mr
Cruz who killed the victim.

Page 5 of 12
II. Conduct of Investigation
The burned body was subjected to autopsy by Dr. Laurel Gray although
there is only 35% of the body was left. The Doctor cannot find any
recognizable skin but did find a small patch of hair that appeared to be
reddish-blonde in colour but the fire left no specimens for DNA. They had
conducted an x-ray on the victims skull and revealed pieces of metal and
fractured skull, evidence of gunshot wound. Bullet fragment recovered
from the brain is coming from a .22 caliber but it is badly damaged they
could not be used for ballistic examination. By this time police now know
that it was a homicide case through further examination of sinus cavity
and the lungs which shows that the victim is dead before it was set on
fire.
Police now resulted to ask help from Dr. Larry Cheevers a forensic
odontologist. He estimated that the victim is between 24-30 years old. He
also discovers some important clues on the identification of the victim.
The victim has a rare dental condition called mesiodens, it is an extra
tooth which never grew into place on top of the two front teeth inside the
gum. Police now think that there is very little chance of solving the case
because time already had passed and they has still no idea of the identity
of the victim.
Greg Middleton a member of the media had covered the search for for
the identity of the victim and her killer for the “province newspaper” in
Vancouver.
The police exerted efforts but still could not identify the victim or her
murderer. When they reviewed the recent missing persons reports, one
particular caught their eye. It was a 30 year old woman named Lynn
Breeden. She has blonde hair, and was last seen on that day before the
charred remains were discovered. When dental records for Lyn Breeden
were compared it was a match. Dr. Cheevers was completely convinced
that Lynn Breeden was the victim.

Page 6 of 12
Detective Crook was able to determine about the background of the
victim and found out that she was a part time model for Playboy
Magazine and was involved in dealing and use of cocaine in Vancouver.
Lynn Breeden was last seen late Friday night bar hoping with her
former boyfriend Mr. Chris Paycook. During questioning he admitted that
he was with the victim for most of the night on the Friday night but left
her in a Club that was the last time he saw the victim. Mr. Paycook’s
alibi was confirmed and left the Police at a dead end.
How ever police had receive an interesting tip from the manager of
Breeden’s Bank. Accordingly, a woman posted as Lynn Breeden
attempting to with draw all the fund from her account. The said attempt
of the woman was taken from the security camera of the bank. The
security photographs show that the woman was looking out the window,
possibly from an accomplice standing outside, but the glare from the sun
hid the identity of whomever.
The police launched an all out effort to find the woman who posed as
Lyn Breeden it was their only hope to the murderer. Within hours the
police received another tip identifying the woman as Tonya Forrester.
Forrester was questioned and told that Breedens wallet was given to
her by a man named Chris Cruz who told her it was stolen.
Chris Cruz was a model and actor and an student at a university and
also went by the name of Tony Devons the stage name he used as a
stripper and professional escort. He is also involved in the dealing and
used cocaine.
Chris Cruz was put under surveillance and police was able to searched
his car parked right down the street they found blood, his own clothing’s,
a .22 caliber riffle, a five gallon gasoline container,suit jacket, playboy
bunny pendant stained with blood and many items were covered with
blood in his car. Despite of all those evidence, police had serious
problem, they had no way of knowing to whom the blood in the car

Page 7 of 12
belonged. Now the difficulty in this case is there is no specimen left on
the charred body of the victim to compare it with.
Here comes another forensic odontologist in the name of Dr. David
Sweet who suggested that they should try to extract the genetic material
from inside the Breeden’s teeth from the tooth pulp on the wisdom tooth
to generate a DNA profile.
The said pulp were sent to the lab along with blood collected from Chris
Cruz’s car. The pulp was subjected sophisticated laboratory process for
DNA profiling and compared with the blood found in the Cruz’s car and it
was a match, which shows that the blood from the Cruz’s car belonged to
Breeden.
Another evidence is the security photograph found on the Breeden’s
bank, in which photographic experts reprocessed the photographs to
remove the window glare from the sun for the police to see who is the
person standing outside when Tonya Forrester attempted to withdraw
Lynn Breeden’s money. The said processed revealed that it was Chris
Cruz. Based on the forensic evidence Chris Cruz is charged with murder
of Lynn Breeden.
What really happened on that night is when Lynn Breeden together
with her boyfriend got into an argument when she flirted with some other
men in the nightclub. Following the argument Paycook left the club
without Breeden. Witnesses said that Breeden was looking for cocaine on
that night. And at some point made the acquaintance with Chris Cruz
there were evidence that the two already knew each other, both were
models and frequented same night spots.
Shortly after daybreak, they left after hours club together and some
sort of disagreement took place possibly over the payment for some
Drugs Cruz might have provided. They drove home that morning and the
argument escalated. Cruz stopped the car, and the argument turned
violent, Cruz grabbed a tire iron from the trunk and struck Breeden on
the head and face. Cruz grabbed his .22 caliber rifle and shot her three
times in the head. Cruz placed the body in the trunk and drove to the
deserted parking lot, were he dumped the body inside the garbage bin,

Page 8 of 12
 and emptied a five gallon container of gasoline. No one saw the fire as it
burned for hours, shortly after daybreak on July 6, 1991.

III. Evaluation on the Conduct of Investigation and/or Application of

Criminalistics
In this investigation, I would commend the police for making a good job.
The police faced so many dead ends on this investigation but still
persisted and were able to continue such dead ends in my humble
opinion were the following:
 Police was left no means to identify the victim because the body
was badly burned but they went through it by resulting to forensic
odontology in which they have compared dental records and were
able to identify the victim.
 The investigation somewhat came to an end when they questioned
the victims boyfriend and stated his confirmed alibi. However the
community was helping in the investigation and gave a crucial tip.
The police then did not lose hope and continued with the
investigation.
 The police were able to find evidence that linked Chris Cruz and
the victim but were left with no means of proving that those blood
were from the victim. The police then considered some suggestions
from experts that lead to the proof that the said evidence is from
the victim.

In this investigation, they had extensively used various fields in forensic

science like the following:
 Forensic pathology when they conducted autopsy on the charred
body of the victim although what is just left is only 35% of the
body.
 Forensic Odontology is also indispensable in this investigation
without which the victim could have been identified.

Page 9 of 12
  Forensic Photography is likewise used when they removed the
glare from the sun to be able to see who the person is standing
outside the bank when an impostor posted as Lynn Breeden and
it revealed that it is actually the murderer.
 Forensic Serology was also used in examining the blood samples
from the suspect’s car and compared it with the specimen coming
from the victim.
 DNA analysis along with forensic odontology also plays a role in
the investigation when they extracted DNA from the tooth pulp
left unburned on the victim.
I would also commend the participation of the community in the
investigation. They are also indispensable in the investigation because of
their tips and participation as witnesses.
The most difficult part in the investigation is the fact that the body of
the victim is charred not leaving any means of identification except on
what is left on the charred body. The police were so persistent that they
find every means to solve the case.

Page 10 of 12
 RECOMMENDATIONS
 The victim was only identified through her dental records because of the
fact that it was burned. With this reasons I would recommend that the
police here in the Philippines in coordination with concerned individuals
should also keep a file on dental record of its population for it can be
used on identification when all other means were not available.

 The police were only able to find their suspects through publications in
news papers of the photograph of the woman who posted as Lynn
Breeden. Thus, I would recommend that the police in coordination with
newspapers should also consider publishing names or photographs of
their suspects under investigation.

 I would also recommend the extensive use of CCTVs for it can also be
indispensable during investigation just like what happen on this case.
Where the impostor were caught attempting to withdraw all the money of
the victim.

 In the Philippines one problem on the part of the police is the lack of
participation of the community in the investigation. I would recommend
that the community should play an active role in the investigation done
by our police by giving information or tips to our police.

Page 11 of 12
 REFERENCES

Identifying the victim by Jack Claridge Updated: 10 Nov 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXHi3N9NjWA

Page 12 of 12