GROUP 4

Musa, Darwin S.

Aquino, Trixie Mae S.

Edradan, Anjaneth P.

Garcia, James

Jumapao, Justine Daniel

Razon, Mary Rose Ann

Graham Backhouse Case

Summary

On April 9th, 1984, in Horton, England, Graham Backhouse attempted to kill his wife,
Margaret Backhouse, by exploding her car while she was in it so that he could claim her
life insurance. His plan did not work and his wife was left with severe injuries to her
legs. Backhouse told the police that he was a victim of hate campaign and that the bomb
was meant for him. In order to protect him, Backhouse was given a panic button that
was connected to the local police station. On April 30, 1984, the button was activated.
When the police arrived, Backhouse said his neighbor Colyn Bedale-Taylor had attcked
and stabbed him multiple times and he had killed the man with his shotgun in self
defense. Backhouse staged this crime scene so that police would believe that he was
being targeted and he wouldn’t be on the suspect lists for the attempted murder of his
wife. His story didn't check out and he was taken to court and convicted of murder and
attempted murder.

Evidence

 Dr. William Kennard examined Backhouses stab wounds and stated that they
were self inflicted.
 Colyn Bedale Taylor's blood was all over his hand but not the knife, which would
not have been the case if he had inflicted the wound before being shot.
 The blood splatters were the wrong shape for Backhouse to have been stuggling
when he was stabbed, suggesting that he had been standing still when the blood
had dripped.
 There were chairs thrown all over the room that had apparently been knocked
onto the floor during the struggle but they had somehow landed on top of the
blood splatters.
 There was blood smeared on one of the chairs, apparently from Backhouse's hand
but there was no blood on the gun.

Legal Outcome

On February 19th, 1985 Backhouse was found guilty of attempted murder and murder
and was given two life sentences.
Howard C. Rile, Jr.

Graduated from California State University at Los Angeles in 1968 with a Bachelor of
Science degree in chemistry. From 1968 to 1972, he worked as a chemist at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Then in 1972 to 1974, he trained as a
forensic document examiner with John J. Harris at the firm of Harris and Harris, Los
Angeles, California. Between 1974 and 1979, Mr. Rile was a document examiner with the
Los Angeles County Auditor-Controller. In 1979 to 1983, he was the questioned
document examiner for the State of Colorado at the Colorado Bureau of Investigation in
Denver. In 1983, he was again affiliated with the firm of Harris and Harris until 1996.

Mr. Rile later was associated with Frank Hicks in the firm of Rile & Hicks in Huntington
Beach, California. He retired from the practice of document examination in 2013.

Mr. Rile became a Regular Member of the Society in 1988 and a Life Member in 2010.
Prior to his election as President of the ASQDE, Mr. Rile served the Society as a
Director, Secretary, Vice President and a number of committee positions. He was a
Diplomat and President of the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners. He
was also a member of the Southwestern Association of Forensic Document Examiners,
the Questioned Document Section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the
Canadian Society of Forensic Science, and the Questioned Document Subcommittee of
ASTM International.

Howard Rile was the author of a number of professional papers and was well known for
his signature workshops. He was one of a group of authors that revised Scientific
Examination of Questioned Documents, 2nd Edition.

Howard C. Rile, Jr. was the 29th President of the American Society of Questioned
Document Examiners (2006-2008). In 2014, Mr. Rile received the Albert S. Osborn
Award of Excellence for his many contributions to the ASQDE or American Society of
Questioned Document Examinersand the field of forensic document examination.
Howard C. Rile, Jr. was the 29th President of the American Society of Questioned
Document Examiners. He passed away In 2019

Thomas W. Vastrick

Thomas W. Vastrick is a forensic document examiner in Orlando and Tallahassee,

Florida with 45 years of experience working in both a government law enforcement
crime laboratory and in private practice. He is board-certified through technical testing
by the American Board of Forensic Document Examiners and is a Life Member of the
American Society of Questioned Document Examiners, a Retired Fellow of the
Questioned Document Section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and a
member of the Southeastern Association of Forensic Document Examiners.

Thomas W Vastrick conducts a wide range of examinations for criminal, civil and
administrative matters to include:

Signatures

Handwriting

Hand Printing

Alterations to documents

Anonymous letter examinations

Counterfeit document examinations

Indented writing examinations

Typewriter and Printer examinations

Checkwriters, staple holes, staplers

Non-destructive ink and paper analyses

Take handwriting specimens from subjects

Alfred Dreyfus

The controversy centered on the question of the guilt or innocence of army captain
Alfred Dreyfus, who had been convicted of treason for allegedly selling military
secrets to the Germans in December 1894.

ALPHONSE BERTILLION a photography expert and the renowned head of the French
Identification Service, testified against ALFRED DREYFUS, that Dreyfus writes a
document which becomes the basis for his conviction.