In September of 2020, Kendra Owen was murdered in her apartment in Watertown, SD. Her body would not be discovered for several days and when it would be noted that she had been decapitated. Jeremiah Peacemaker was arrested and charged with her murder. He remained in jail for 3 ½ years awaiting trial. That trial finally began in February, 2024. In March of 2024 Peacemaker was acquitted on all murder charges against him. During the 3 ½ years leading up to trial additional evidence was found (that had not been collected during the initial investigation) and tested and Daubert hearings were held on CODIS issues and issues of overstated reports and testimony. When the trial finally did occur, the state Attorney General himself prosecuted the case. Throughout the trial it was apparent that grievous transgressions had occurred from the beginnings of the case including issues with crime scene evidence collection (or lack thereof), improper packaging and handling of evidence, overstated analytical reports misrepresenting the stringency of the data, myopic viewpoints that purposefully failed to look into or follow up potentially exculpatory leads, and unwavering testimony by state experts who refused to concede that alternative explanations might exist that were supported by the underlying science. Independent defense experts were brought in to assist the court with interpretation of the time and cause of death and the latent prints and serology/DNA evidence. A pivotal piece of evidence was what the state kept referring to as a bloody fingerprint belonging to the defendant in the victim’s blood recovered from a tube of toothpaste in the victim’s bathroom. Although the court had denied the defense’s pre-trial motions to exclude overreaching testimony by the state, informing counsel that the issues could be argued at trial, when presented with arguments and explanations from both sides, the jury found that there was, in fact, reasonable doubt and voted to acquit. This case highlights the dangers of overstating conclusions, veering off the path of being a “neutral” expert, and law enforcement and prosecutors following only one path while ignoring potential leads and alternative scenarios because they don’t “fit their narrative.” It could serve as a primer on what not to do for law enforcement, crime scene investigators, laboratory personnel, counsel and even the bench.
In September of 2020, Kendra Owen was murdered in her apartment in Watertown, SD. Her body would not be discovered for several days and when it would be noted that she had been decapitated. Jeremiah Peacemaker was arrested and charged with her murder. He remained in jail for 3 ½ years awaiting trial. That trial finally began in February, 2024. In March of 2024 Peacemaker was acquitted on all murder charges against him. During the 3 ½ years leading up to trial additional evidence was found (that had not been collected during the initial investigation) and tested and Daubert hearings were held on CODIS issues and issues of overstated reports and testimony. When the trial finally did occur, the state Attorney General himself prosecuted the case. Throughout the trial it was apparent that grievous transgressions had occurred from the beginnings of the case including issues with crime scene evidence collection (or lack thereof), improper packaging and handling of evidence, overstated analytical reports misrepresenting the stringency of the data, myopic viewpoints that purposefully failed to look into or follow up potentially exculpatory leads, and unwavering testimony by state experts who refused to concede that alternative explanations might exist that were supported by the underlying science. Independent defense experts were brought in to assist the court with interpretation of the time and cause of death and the latent prints and serology/DNA evidence. A pivotal piece of evidence was what the state kept referring to as a bloody fingerprint belonging to the defendant in the victim’s blood recovered from a tube of toothpaste in the victim’s bathroom. Although the court had denied the defense’s pre-trial motions to exclude overreaching testimony by the state, informing counsel that the issues could be argued at trial, when presented with arguments and explanations from both sides, the jury found that there was, in fact, reasonable doubt and voted to acquit. This case highlights the dangers of overstating conclusions, veering off the path of being a “neutral” expert, and law enforcement and prosecutors following only one path while ignoring potential leads and alternative scenarios because they don’t “fit their narrative.” It could serve as a primer on what not to do for law enforcement, crime scene investigators, laboratory personnel, counsel and even the bench.
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President, SciLawForensics, Ltd
Anjali Ranadive is the President of SciLawForensics, Ltd, a forensic science and legal consulting firm in Phoenix, AZ. Ms. Ranadive is an Advisory Commissioner on the American Academy of Forensic Science’s Forensic (AAFS) Science Education Programs Accreditation Commission (FEPAC), has served on the AAFS program committee in various capacities for the last twenty years and is a former member of the AAFS Board of Directors.
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