J Police Crim Psych (2014) 29:44–51
DOI 10.1007/s11896-012-9114-6
Crime Scene Staging in Homicide
Louis B. Schlesinger & Ashley Gardenier & John Jarvis &
Jamie Sheehan-Cook
Published online: 16 November 2012
# Springer Science+Business Media New York 2012
Abstract A nonrandom national U.S. sample of 946
homicide crime scenes–supplied by the FBI Behavioral
Science Unit for purposes of research–was studied to delin-
eate the prevalence, types, levels, and motives for staging in
domestic, nonserial sexual, serial sexual, and general felony
homicides. Stagers were found to be a relatively small group
who employ a variety of methods to alter the crime scene in
an attempt to redirect the investigation away from them-
selves as logical suspects. Results also suggest that different
types of homicides have different staging rates based pri-
marily on the relationship (or connection) between offender
and victim. Implications for investigations and understand-
ing this type of crime scene behavior are discussed.
Keywords Homicide . Staging . Crime scene . Investigation
Introduction
The first step in a homicide investigation is an analysis of
the crime scene, with particular attention to the victim's
body. According to Keppel and Weis (2004), in the vast
majority of murders, the body is simply left where it drops.
In their study of 5,224 homicides, these authors found only
1.3% of victims were placed in an unusual or awkward
position, with 0.3% posed and 0.1% staged. There are
several reasons why an offender might move, position, or
pose the body. For instance, sexual motivation might result
L. B. Schlesinger (*)
Department of Forensic Psychology,
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 524 W 59th Street, 10th Floor,
New York, NY 10019, USA
e-mail: LBSchlesinger@aol.com
A. Gardenier : J. Sheehan-Cook
John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, NY, USA
J. Jarvis
Behavioral Science Unit, FBI Academy, Quantico, VA, USA
in the victim being left in an unnatural or degrading posi-
tion, perhaps with foreign object insertions (Meloy 2000;
Ressler et al. 1988; Warren et al. 1996). Or a contract
murderer might want to leave the body in a particular way
to send a specific message to those who find the victim
(Hoffman and Headley 1992; Schlesinger 2001). The dif-
ferent ways an offender can leave a body are varied and, in
many respects, limited only by his or her creativity, motiva-
tion, and various other restrictions such as an offender's
physical strength and capabilities, state of the victim's body,
as well as the body's size, shape, and maneuverability.
Crime scene staging–altering the crime scene to redirect
the investigation (Douglas et al. 1992)–is yet another motive
for changing the murder scene. In a staged homicide crime
scene, the offender tries to make a murder appear to be
something that it is not (Douglas and Munn 1992). The
offender can make one type of murder appear like another
in order to lead the investigation away from himself or
herself as the most likely suspect. For example, an offender
can physically alter elements of the scene to try to make a
domestic homicide appear as an accident (perhaps by setting
a fire), a suicide (by leaving a note), a sexual murder (by
exposing a female victim's genitals), or a robbery-gone-bad
(by removing the victim's valuables). Or the offender can
alter the scene by destroying evidence (such as setting a fire)
to impede the work of law enforcement.
The perpetrator can also engage in another type of
staging–what Hazelwood and Napier (2004) refer to as
verbal staging–by physically disposing of the body (or
sometimes without physical manipulation of the body) and
then filing a false missing-person's report with the police.
Verbal staging can include many different activities by the
offender, with the central behavior being self-initiated contact
with the authorities and filing a false missing person report. In
essence, the perpetrator can stage the scene with varying
levels of refinement depending on "the stager's desired pic-
ture, limited by the elements of the scene and the sophistica-
tion of the stager" (Adair 2002, p. 137). Crime scene staging
J Police Crim Psych (2014) 29:44–51
must be distinguished from body posing, which is positioning
of the body for the offender's own sexual gratification
(Geberth 2003, 2010; Hazelwood and Warren 1995), or to
shock the finder of the body (Keppel and Weis 2004).
Staged crime scenes have been recognized for over a
century (Gross 1907) and have been discussed periodically
(O'Connell and Soderman 1936; Svensson and Wendel
1974; Geberth 1983, 1996). But notwithstanding the refer-
ences to, and discussions about, staging for over 100 years,
Meloy (2001) points out that there has not yet been any
systematic or "controlled empirical research" on the topic
(p. 395). In fact, only a few attempts have been made to collect
some type of data on staging. For example, Turvey (2000)
studied 25 cases of domestic homicide with staged crime
scenes and found the majority of offenders (52%) staged the
murder to appear as a stranger-burglary, while 16% staged a
suicide, and 15% hired a hitman to carry out the act (the
remaining 17% used various other staging methods such as
a roadside robbery, accidental drowning, execution, motor
vehicle accident or sexual homicide). The author concluded
that "staging is most commonly used to conceal the offender's
close relationship with the victim" (p. 8).
Hazelwood and Napier (2004) conducted a retrospective
survey of 20 experienced law-enforcement officers who
estimated that fewer than 3% of their cases involved crime
scene staging. According to the officers' recollections (with
its inherent limitations), staging in homicide typically in-
volved a white male, 26 to 35 years old, who had been an
intimate partner of the victim. More recently, Geberth
(2010) conducted a survey of 43 homicide experts with
respect to crime scene sexual posing, which Geberth con-
siders to be a subtype of staging. He found posing to occur
in less than 1% of homicides, consistent with Keppel and
Weis' (2004) findings. Geberth also found the motivation for
this type of crime scene behavior to (a) satisfy a perverse
fantasy, (b) express retaliation or anger at the victim, or (c)
make a non-sexual homicide appear as a sex-related murder.
Methods
In order to empirically study crime scene staging in homi-
cide, a nonrandom national U.S. sample of 946 homicide
crime scenes–which involved 961 offenders and 1,101
victims–was examined. The cases for this research were
obtained from the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit and were
closed, fully adjudicated state and local cases that were
contributed by law-enforcement agencies from around the
country for the purpose of research. The offenders in our
sample either pled guilty or were found guilty of homicide at
trial. We know of no case of a wrongful conviction, false
confession, or successful appeal as to guilt. We had access to
the entire case file for these crimes which included police
45
reports, medical examiner/autopsy/hospital reports, state-
ments of witnesses and offenders, crime scene photos, maps,
forensic evidence and forensic reports, etc. All identifiers,
including names of victims, offenders, officers, depart-
ments, and correctional agencies have been removed. Only
aggregate data are reported. There were no criteria for
inclusion of a case except for availability. Our sample con-
sisted of U.S. offenders who committed homicides primarily
during the 1990s.
This nonrandom sample of convenience should not in
any way be considered representative of the prevalence of
the different types of homicides in the general population,
since our sample included a greater percentage of domestic
and sexual homicides. For instance, the prevalence of sexual
homicides are estimated to be less than 1% of all murders
(Meloy 2000) while our sample included 39.74% sexual
homicides. Specifically, our sample consisted of 276
domestic homicide (DH) crime scenes, 181 nonserial sexual
homicide (SH) scenes, 195 serial sexual homicide (SSH)
scenes, and 294 nonsexual general felony homicide (FH)
crime scenes.
Homicide and murder were used interchangeably and
defined as the willful (nonnegligent) killing of one human
being by another (U.S. Department of Justice 2010).
Domestic homicide was operationally defined as the killing
of a family or household member (including common-law
relationships) by another member of the household
(Douglas et al. 1992). Sexual homicide was operationally
defined using Ressler et al.'s (1988) criteria. Serial sexual
homicide was operationally defined as the commission of at
least two or more sexual murders by the same offender in
separate events (Morton and Hilts 2008). Our use of the
term general felony homicide is not meant in a legal sense
but used as a residual category to indicate a homicide that
was neither domestic nor sexually motivated. In those
cases where there was initial disagreement, the case was
discussed and agreement was achieved. The inter-rater
reliability as determined by Cohen’s kappa for domestic
homicide was 0.992, for nonserial sexual homicide
0.972, for serial sexual homicide 0.997, and for general
felony homicide 0.970.
Operational Definitions of Staging
Crime scene staging is the alteration of a crime scene in
order to redirect the investigation (Douglas et al. 1992).
Presence or absence of staging, types of staging (including
verbal staging), and levels of staging were based on analysis
of the entire case file applied to our operational definitions.
There was no case where our judgment about presence or
absence of staging differed from that of law enforcement.
Where there was initial disagreement, the case was
discussed and agreement was achieved. The inter-rater
46 J Police Crim Psych (2014) 29:44–51

reliability as determined by Cohen’s kappa for the presence Table 1 Ethnic, racial, and gender composition of offenders and
victims
of staging was 0.986, for the methods of staging 0.903, and
0.864 for the levels of staging. The staging levels used in Offenders DH SH SSH FH Total
this study are detailed below. Verbal staging, attempted/
failed and unclassified-other staging efforts were not Male 250 200 44 370 864
grouped into levels. Female 60 5 1 31 97
Caucasian 221 136 22 239 618
(a) Minimal staging involves a minimum amount of effort African Amer. 52 48 18 106 224
put forth in order to alter only one or two elements Hispanic 17 9 0 32 58
(either property or body) of the scene (for example, Asian 4 0 2 2 8
placing a gun in the victim's hand to make a homicide Other 5 4 1 13 23
appear as a suicide). Unknown race/eth 11 8 2 9 30
(b) Moderate staging involves a sufficient amount of effort
Victims
put forth in order to alter more than two elements
Male 105 26 55 214 400
(normally three or four) of the scene (for example,
Female 245 173 154 129 701
undressing the victim, placing her in a bathtub, and
Caucasian 270 164 128 242 804
turning on the water to make a domestic homicide
African Amer. 49 22 63 67 201
appear as an accidental drowning).
Hispanic 17 5 5 20 47
(c) Elaborate staging involves an increased amount of
Asian 4 3 2 2 12
effort put forth in order to alter five or more elements
Other 6 5 0 6 17
of the scene (for example, moving the victim into the
Unknown 4 0 11 6 20
woods, removing outer clothing, removing underwear,
inserting a foreign object, and leaving a used condom
on the body in an attempt to make a nonsexual homi-
Results
cide appear sexual).
Verbal staging is a conscious and intentional act of filing Staging Prevalence
a false (verbal or written) missing-person report about the
victim in order to redirect the investigation away from the Total Homicides
homicide that the author of the report knew occurred. This is
not simply lying about facts of the case; rather, it is lying for Out of the 946 homicide crime scenes studied, staging
a specific purpose. In these cases, the offender takes an occurred in 79 (8.35%) cases; accordingly, 867 (91.64%)
affirmative step in that he/she seeks out the police to report homicide crime scenes were not staged. For the staged
a missing person. In many cases, the crime scene itself may group as a whole (n079), arson was the most prevalent
not have been altered because the murder may have taken staging method and occurred in 20 (25.31%) cases. Verbal
place away from the victim's or offender's residence staging occurred in 17 (21.51%) cases, 14 (17.72%) cases
(Hazelwood and Napier 2004). were staged as burglary/robbery/breaking and entering, 11
Attempted/failed staging is an unsuccessful, yet credible, (13.92%) as accidents (including automobile accidents or
attempt to stage a crime scene, but the offender was unable falls), 6 (7.59%) as suicides, 4 (5.06%) as homicide-suicide,
to complete the staging effort (for example, a subject and 1 case (1.26%) was staged to appear as a sexual homi-
begins to start a fire when the police enter and stop the cide by exposing the victim's genitals. Two (2.53%) cases
staging effort). involved attempted/failed staging, 1 (1.26%) sexual homi-
cide was staged as a nonsexual homicide, and 3 (3.79%) of
Subjects the cases did not fit any of our criteria for a specific type of
staging. Table 2 displays the methods of staging and the type
Offenders and Victims of homicide studied. An Appendix provides an example of
each type of staging method.
Our sample of 961 offenders committed a total of 1,101 In 15 cases, there were multiple victims; 11 (73.3%)
homicides. The ethnic and racial diversity of our sample of domestic homicides, 3 (20.0%) general felony homicides,
offenders and victims is reported in Table 1. The gender and and 1 (6.6%) nonserial sexual homicide all involved staged
race/ethnicity of the subjects were clearly documented in the scenes with more than one victim. The 11 domestic homi-
various case materials. Since there was no judgment needed, cides with multiple victims included 3 cases of verbal
inter-rater reliability was not calculated for these demo- staging, 3 cases of arson, 2 cases of homicide-suicide, 2
graphic variables. burglaries, and 1 staged as a suicide. The 3 general felony
J Police Crim Psych (2014) 29:44–51 47

Table 2 Staging methods and

type of homicide DH SH FH Totals
Staging method (k) n (%) n (%) n (%) n (%)

Verbal (0.880) 15 (28.8) - 2 (12.5) 17 (21.51)

Accidents (0.945) 10 (19.23) - 1 (6.25) 11 (13.92)
Burg/rob (0.955) 10 (19.23) 2 (18.18) 2 (12.5) 14 (17.72)
Arson (0.773) 6 (11.53) 7 (63.63) 7 (43.75) 20 (25.31)
Suicide (0.902) 4 (7.69) - 2 (12.5) 6 (7.59)
Hom/sui (0.799) 4 (7.69) - - 4 (5.06)
Nonsex hom (*) - 1 (9.09) - 1 (1.26)
Sex hom (*) - - 1 (6.25) 1 (1.26)
Att/failed (*) 2 (3.84) - - 2 (2.53)
k 0 inter-rater reliability using Unclassified - other (0.794) 1 (1.92) 1 (9.09) 1 (6.25) 3 (3.79)
Cohen’s kappa. * 0 due to small Totals 52/276 (18.84) 11/181 (6.07) 16/296 (5.44) 79/946 (8.35)
n, k was not calculated.

cases with multiple victims involved 1 staged as an arson, 1
as a burglary, and 1 unclassified-other. And the one non-
serial sexual homicide with multiple victims was staged as
an arson.
The level of staging was also studied. Minimal staging
occurred in 24 (30.37%) crime scenes, moderate staging in
22 (27.84%) crime scenes, and elaborate staging in 10
(12.66%) scenes. The level of staging excludes cases of
verbal, attempted/failed, and unclassified-other other stag-
ing. The level of staging for the various types of homicides
studied is shown in Table 3.
Domestic Homicide (DH)
The greatest number of staged crime scenes occurred in
domestic homicide. Of the 276 domestic homicide scenes
studied, 52 (18.84%) involved staging. The most frequent
staging method in domestic homicide was verbal staging,
which involved 15 out of 52 (28.84%) instances. Of the 37
instances of nonverbal staging, 10 (19.23%) crime scenes
were staged to appear to be an accident, and 10 (19.23%)
were staged to appear to be a burglary or robbery. There
were 6 (11.53%) instances of a staged arson and 4 (7.69%)
instances of a staged suicide. In addition, 4 (7.69%) domes-
tic homicides were staged to appear as a homicide-suicide, 2
(3.84%) cases of attempted/failed staging, and 1 (1.92%)
case was unable to be classified. Minimal and moderate
staging levels both occurred in 14 instances (26.92%), while
elaborate staging occurred in 7 instances (13.46%).
Nonserial Sexual Homicide (SH)
Staging occurred in 11 out of 181 (6.07%) nonserial sexual
homicide scenes. The most prevalent method of staging in
nonserial sexual homicide was arson (7 instances, 63.63%),
followed by 2 (18.18%) cases staged as burglary/robbery, 1
(9.09%) case staged as a nonsexual felony homicide, and 1
(9.09%) instance of an unclassified attempt. Moderate level
of staging (5 instances or 45.45%) was most common, with
minimal staging occurring in 3 cases (27.27%) and no cases
of elaborate staging were found.
Serial Sexual Homicide (SSH)
The 45 serial sexual homicide offenders committed a total of
209 homicides, creating 195 crime scenes. Among these
crime scenes, staging–according to our criteria–did not
occur in any instance.
General Felony Homicide (FH)

Table 3 Level of staging* and type of homicide Among the 294 cases of general felony homicide, 16
(5.44%) crime scenes were found to be staged. The most
DH SH FH (k) Totals prevalent method of staging in this group was arson (7
instances, 43.75%), followed by 2 (12.5%) cases staged as
Staging Levels
suicide, and 2 (12.5%) staged as burglary/robbery. There
Minimal 14 3 7 (0.904) 24
were also 2 (12.5%) instances of verbal staging, 1 (6.25%)
Moderate 14 5 3 (0.794) 22
instance of staging the scene as an accident, 1 (6.25%)
Elaborate 7 - 3 (0.875) 10
instance of staging the scene to appear as a sexual homicide,
* Excluding cases of verbal, attempted/failed, and unclassified-other and 1 (6.25%) scene unable to be classified. The most
staging efforts prevalent level of staging for this homicide category was
k 0 inter-rater reliability using Cohen’s kappa minimal staging (7 instances, 43.75%), followed by 3
48 J Police Crim Psych (2014) 29:44–51

(18.75%) instances of moderate staging and 3 (18.75%)
instances of elaborate staging.
Offender-victim Relationship Patterns
Total Homicides
Offender-victim relationship patterns among the 79 staged
homicides (which involved 94 offenders and 108 victims)
were also studied. Table 4 reports the various documented
relationship patterns among the different types of staged
homicides. The relationship patterns involving partners,
parent–child, and siblings were well documented in the case
materials and not a matter of judgment. With respect to an
acquaintance relationship (documented repeated contact
between offender and victim) and stranger relationship (no
documented prior contact) we calculated the inter-rater
reliability using Cohen’s kappa. When there was initial
disagreement, the case was discussed and agreement was
achieved. The kappa coefficient for acquaintance relation-
ship was 0.944 and 0.952 for stranger relationship. There
were 5 cases where the relationship was unclear or poorly
documented, and there was not enough information to make
judgment. In these cases, we listed the relationship as
“unclassified.” Of those offenders identified as having
staged a homicide, 73 were male and 21 were female. The
racial composition of these stagers was 70 Caucasians, 16
African- Americans, 1 Asian, 3 of other racial backgrounds,
and 4 whose race was unknown or undetermined.
Domestic Homicide
Among the 52 staged domestic homicides, there were 58
offenders; 38 offenders were male and 20 were female. The
racial composition of the offenders was 42 Caucasian,
8 African-American, 1 Asian, 3 of other races, and 4 whose
race was unknown. Seventy-two relationship patterns were
studied. The most typical offender-victim relationship was
partners (either spouses or those in a committed relation-
ship) killing partners, which occurred in 30 (41.60%)
instances, followed by 19 (26.38%) cases of parents killing
children, 10 (13.88%) cases of children killing parents, and
2 (2.77%) cases of siblings killing siblings. There were also
7 (9.72%) cases where an offender–who was not a member
of the household (an acquaintance or stranger)–took part in
the homicides as an accomplice to the family member
offender, and 4 (5.56%) cases where the relationship
between offender and victim, could not be classified.
Nonserial Sexual Homicide
Eleven staged nonserial sexual homicides involved 13 male
offenders and no females. Nine offenders were Caucasian
and 4 African-American. The following relationship pat-
terns were found: 7 (63.63%) offenders were acquaintances
of the victim, 3 (27.27%) were strangers to the victim, and 1
(1.09%) relationship was not able to be classified. In the 3
cases where the offender and victim were apparent strang-
ers, 2 offenders were identified by witnesses who saw the
victim and offender together, and in one case an informant
learned of the offender's identity.
General Felony Homicide
The 16 staged general felony homicides involved 23
offenders of whom 22 were male and 1 was a female.
Nineteen offenders were Caucasian and 4 were African-
American. These cases involved 25 relationship patterns
(since almost all cases involved multiple offenders), of
which 15 were acquaintances and 10 were apparent strang-
ers. In 5 cases, strangers participated with an acquaintance-
offender in the homicide. Accordingly, in 11 of the 16
staged homicides (68.75%) at least one offender was an
acquaintance to the victim. In 5 cases (31.25%), there was
a stranger relationship between both victim and offender. In
these 5 cases, 2 witnesses (who observed offender and
victim together) led to an arrest; one arrest was made by
an anonymous informant, and in 2 cases an arrest was made
by other means.

Table 4 Relationship patterns in staged homicides by homicide type Discussion

Relationships DH (52) SH (11) FH (16) Total (79)
The exact prevalence of crime scene staging in homicide is
Partner/partner 30 - - 30 unknown. Out of the 946 homicide scenes that we studied,
Parent/child 19 - - 19 79 were found to have been staged, indicating a prevalence
Child/parent 10 - - 10 of about 8%. This is much higher than prior calculations, an
Sibling/sibling 2 - - 2 expected finding given the over-representation of domestic
Acquaintance/Acquaintance 6 7 15 28 homicides–which were found to have the highest staging
Stranger/stranger 1 3 10 14
rates–in our sample.
Unclassified 4 1 - 5
Different types of homicides seem to have different stag-
Total relationships 72 11 25 108
ing rates, with a key factor being that when staging occurs,
there seems to be a connection between offender and victim,
J Police Crim Psych (2014) 29:44–51
primarily by relationship. For example, our findings indicate
that about 19 percent of domestic homicides are staged;
here, there is an obvious close connection between offender
and victim in that they were from the same household. In
cases where the individuals were outside of the same house-
hold, defining their relationship is often difficult. In fact,
operationalizing an acquaintance (repeated contact) and
stranger (no documented prior contact) relationship can be
problematic (see Safarik et al. 2000 for a discussion of this
issue). Of the 11 staged nonserial sexual homicides, 7
offenders (63.63%) were acquaintances of their victims; in
the 16 general felony homicides that involved staging there
were 23 offenders and 25 different relationship patterns
where 15 (60%) offenders were acquaintances of the
victims. Our findings are consistent with those of Turvey
(2000) and Hazelwood and Napier (2004) to the extent that
we also found staging to occur primarily where offender
and victim had a relationship. However, our results also
indicated that, in those few cases where there was no
documented relationship, an arrest was often made due to
a witness (who typically observed offender and victim
together) or an informant.
Although there was no evidence of staging in serial
sexual homicide–which we consider to be an unexpected
and important finding–body posing (for example, leaving
the victim in a sexually degrading position, with foreign
object insertions, or engaging in some other type of ritual-
istic behavior with the victim) occurred in almost all of these
cases. Body posing is done to satisfy the offender's perverse
sexual fantasies and sexual arousal patterns (Schlesinger et
al. 2010). In these cases, it seems that the offenders' strong
need to satisfy their sexual fantasies superseded any need to
redirect the investigation.
In domestic homicide, we found the most common stag-
ing method was making a false verbal (or written) report of a
missing person. Verbal staging involves taking an affirma-
tive step–including making police contact–which indicates
the significant effort expended to redirect the investigation
in such matters. This finding differs from that of Turvey
(2000), who found staged burglary to be the most frequent
method of staging in the domestic homicides he studied.
The most common staging method in the nondomestic
homicides was arson. Arson meets our operational defini-
tion of staging in that the offender is attempting to re-direct
the investigation by setting a fire. Geberth (1983) also con-
siders arson to be a form of staging. In some of these arson
cases, the offender is likely to also be concerned with
destroying evidence in order to impede the investigation.
In several cases, the staging method was rather unique
which we listed as an unclassified-other method. For
example, staging the scene to make a homicide appear
as self-defense, or staging the scene to frame another
person did not fit any of our classifications. In all the
49
types of staged homicides studied, most offenders used
a minimal level of staging, altering one or two elements
of the scene, followed by moderate staging and then
elaborate staging.
Implications for investigation seem clear: these patterns
suggest that if there is evidence of staging in a homicide
crime scene, there is an increased likelihood that the offend-
er is someone who had a relationship (or connection) with
the victim, and would conceivably consider himself or
herself a probable suspect. Missing-person reports made
by someone in a family (such as a partner or child) should,
at least, include the investigative possibility of verbal stag-
ing in some cases.
Our results lend empirical support to the impressions of
prior investigators that the primary motive offenders have
for staging a homicide crime scene is that they view them-
selves as a logical suspect based mainly on their relationship
to the victim. In 8 cases (3 SH and 5 FH) the scene was
staged and there was no documented relationship between
offender and victim. In these cases, it is always possible that
a relationship may have indeed existed and could just not be
documented by the information that was evident. In 4 of the
8 cases, an arrest was made because of a witness (who saw
victim and offender together), raising the possibility that the
offender may have (correctly) believed he or she may have
been seen with–and therefore connected to–the victim,
perhaps motivating the staged crime scene. And in some
cases, the offender may have simply wanted to frustrate and
impede the investigation; in the majority of these cases, the
staging method was arson.
Hazelwood et al. (1983) described cases of accidental
death as a result of the subject engaging in dangerous
autoerotic activity. In typical cases of autoerotic asphyxia-
tion a male, frequently nude or dressed in female clothing,
hangs himself accidentally (Dietz and Hazelwood 1982).
When a family member comes upon a relative in this
situation, he or she might cut down and re-dress the subject
in order to preserve the dignity of the deceased, thereby
altering the scene. Although these cases do involve scene
alteration, there generally is really no underlying criminal
intent, no homicide (but rather accidental suicide) and, with
admission of what they had done to the police, no real
attempt to redirect an investigation to avoid apprehension.
We agree with Geberth (1996) that such cases should not be
considered crime scene staging in homicide–as Hazelwood
and Napier (2004) suggest–but alteration of the scene for
motives and purposes specific to this rare autoerotic
behavior.
Several areas for future research are raised by this study.
For instance, the reason some offenders stage a homicide
and others do not–even in cases of domestic homicide where
there is an obvious relationship or connection between vic-
tim and offender–is a topic future research should explore.
50
Also, it would be important to further understand staging
cases involving multiple victims versus those with a single
victim. The staging methods used in cases involving multi-
ple victims were varied and not dissimilar to the varied
staging methods used in cases with single victims. The only
discernible difference between single and multiple victim
cases with respect to method was the absence of staging the
scene to appear as an accident with those cases involving
multiple victims. Since most staged homicides with
multiple victims occurred in domestic homicide (73.3%),
the higher number of victims may just be a consequence
of the homicide occurring within a household where more
individuals are typically gathered. Perhaps interviewing
offenders who stage and do not stage crime scenes, and
those with multiple victims, could shed further light on
these issues.
Those offenders who engaged in a moderate or elaborate
level of staging might have had a greater cognitive capacity,
a greater desire to avoid detection, or perhaps even utilized a
greater degree of prior planning. The more complex crime
scene behavior of such offenders might also be of some use
at trial regarding their ability to form intent. Finally,
although advances in forensic science capabilities over the
past 20 years (e.g. Saferstein, 2011) has not had a direct or
specific effect on increasing the detection of staged scenes,
identifying and understanding staging remains critical.
Forensic evidence can be removed, damaged, contaminated,
planted or destroyed by the stager, greatly complicating an
investigation. We hope that our study makes a modest
contribution towards stimulating additional interest in, and
further understanding of, the various aspects of crime scene
staging in homicide.
Acknowledgements The authors would like to express their
gratitude to the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit for coordinating access
to the data used in this study. The authors' opinions, statements, and
conclusions should not be considered an endorsement by the FBI or the
Department of Justice of any policy, program, or service.
Appendix
Examples of Observed Staging Methods
Verbal A husband killed his wife while she slept by
smashing her head. He dismembered her, buried some
of the body parts, and threw the remaining body parts
in a dumpster. The offender then contacted the police
and said his wife had been missing for the past two
weeks.
Accident A woman severely beat her mother to death.
She washed the body, changed the victim’s clothes, and
placed the body at the bottom of the staircase to make
J Police Crim Psych (2014) 29:44–51
it appear as if her mother accidentally fell down the
stairs.
Burglary An adult female was killed by her boyfriend. She
died of numerous stab wounds and her throat was cut. The
boyfriend called the police and said he came home, found
the apartment burglarized with valuables taken, and his
girlfriend was also killed by the intruders. The offender
had purchased gasoline with cash, and specifically asked
for a receipt, in an effort to prove he was elsewhere at the
time of the homicide.
Arson A mother stabbed to death her two young children
out of anger. She then set the house on fire, using matches to
light several blankets.
Suicide A man shot his girlfriend in the head after she
laughed at him during target practice. He placed a gun in
the victim’s hand, pointed at her head, to make it appear as if
she shot herself.
Homicide/Suicide An adult male shot his father and brother.
The brother was shot four times in the head, the father was
shot in the head once. The offender put the gun in the
father’s hand and told the police that he thought the father
had shot his brother and then committed suicide.
Non-sexual Homicide A husband shot and killed his wife.
He then lured a man to his home by asking him for a
ride to the airport. The husband then shot and killed the
would-be driver. He told the police the driver shot his
wife and he was forced to shoot the driver after he took
the gun from him.
Sexual Homicide A husband killed his wife by suffocation
with a pillow. He unbuttoned, unzipped, and pulled down
her pants, exposing her underwear. He also lifted up her
shirt and removed her bra. She had not been sexually
assaulted.
Attempted/Failed A man killed an elderly woman who was
selling drugs and alcohol. He robbed her, cut her neck
with a knife, and stabbed her with a screwdriver. The
offender then turned on the gas and unsuccessfully tried
to set a fire. A welfare worker came upon the scene and
called the police.
Unclassified-Other An older man got into an argument with
a much younger man who was his live-in companion. He
shot and killed the young man, then shot into the ceiling and
in the wall where he said he was seated. He told police the
young man shot at him, and he was forced to shoot the
victim in self defense.
J Police Crim Psych (2014) 29:44–51
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