Forensic Center Named For Dr. Henry Lee

Transcription

1 Saturday, October 16, 2010 Forensic Center Named For Dr. Henry Lee Steven H. Kaplan, Ph.D., President, University of New Haven says a few words about Henry C. Lee, Ph.D., second from right, a distinguished Chaired Professor of Forensic Science and the founder of the Henry C. Lee during the building dedication ceremony at the University of New Haven on Amy Mortensen /. (27 more images after the article) Linda Conner Lambeck, Staff Writer WEST HAVEN -- Step into the crime scene reconstruction room in the new Henry C. Lee Institute Building and students can be virtually transported into the snowy woods near Lake Zoar in Newtown where in 1986 Richard Crafts disposed of his wife Helle's body with a wood chipper. On the ground floor, there is ground-penetrating radar equipment and other cutting edge crime-solving tools that can be used by local law enforcement to solve tough, and even cold, cases.

2 Upstairs, a forensic crisis management command center, can allow criminal investigators to connect globally by satellite with FEMA and even Dr. Lee, to weigh in on complex cases. "Now, instead of begging me to come there, they now can transmit an image so I can assist them," said the famed, and "retired," forensic scientist minutes before the building bearing his name was dedicated Friday on the University of New Haven campus. The ceremony and ribbon cutting drew a crowd of several hundred people. The $11.5 million institute will be part training lab for the university's 500 forensic science and criminal justice students and part interactive museum designed to appeal to all ages. It will take visitors through all of the cases that made Lee a household name, including the O.J. Simpson trial, the JonBenet Ramsey case, and the Ottilie Lundgren anthrax case in Oxford. At many stations, visitors can look at images of pieces of evidence and court documents in each of the cases, with the touch of a screen. "I gave my first lecture in this space last night," Lee told a bevy of reporters from a top floor lecture hall. "I tell them, I am the past and transfer my knowledge to you." Several members of the media at the ceremony came from China where Lee was born and Taiwan, where he grew up. Lee called the new facility, "wonderful." "Each part, every part, just like my baby," he smiled, handing out miniature gold police badge pins to everyone in the top floor lecture hall. He drew attention to the institute's work to delve into cold cases. It has solved 17 such cases to date and helped train more than 10,000 police officers. As for current cases, Lee called the Cheshire triplemurder case so straight forward that physical evidence is basically icing on the cake. "There is no doubt in nobody's mind that this is a judicial, justice issue," he said of the trial. Lee said he supports the death penalty in cases that warrant it and where there is no question about guilt. Lee is chief emeritus of the Connecticut State Police and former top forensic scientist in the state. He helped found the forensic science program at UNH 35 years ago in an area the size of a closet. Today the forensic science program commands an entire floor of Dodds Hall, an academic building. "We really need the new building," said Samantha Lynes, 19, a sophomore from Meriden. "It's going to be so cool." Susan Williams, a forensics science graduate school alum from Seattle, said she would have loved to have had such a facility before she graduated in 2007, but said what the university already had was pretty great. She said she came across country to attend the school because nearly all of her undergraduate professors had studied at UNH. Now she works for the Boeing Corporation in industrial forensics. Kelli Derleth, a sophomore from Rochester, N.Y. said she has been hooked on forensic science since she dissected a fetal pig in her freshman year of high school. She said she sees Lee around campus on occasion and hears he teaches upper level classes. "We now have a facility to match our instructors," UNH President Steven H. Kaplan told the crowd. Tim Palmbach, director of the forensic science department at UNH said the center pays homage to where the profession has been, is now, and is going. In addition to

3 standard crime scene rooms with mannequins and walls waiting for their first blood spatter patterns, there is the virtual crime scene lab with 360-degree imaging and a training center for area law enforcement officials, crime scene investigators and lab personnel. Jerry Narowski, Derby's new chief of police, who also teaches a class in forensic imagining at UNH, said his department has a great working relationship with Lee and the institute. Because the new center has equipment that no one else can afford will only advance the relationship, he said. (This article also appeared in the Stamford Advocate; Greenwich Time; Danbury News Times; SciMedia.com) Steven H. Kaplan, Ph.D., President, University of New Haven; Henry C. Lee, Ph.D., second from right, a distinguished Chaired Professor of Forensic Science and the founder of the Science and Kenneth W. Biermacher, J.D. '76 B.S. and Chairman of the Henry C. Lee applaud during the building dedication ceremony at the University of New Haven on Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, third District of Connecticut, speaks during Henry C. Lee dedication ceremony at the University of New Haven on

4 Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, third District of Connecticut, speaks during Henry C. Lee dedication ceremony at the University of New Haven on Kenneth W. Biermacher, J.D. '76 B.S., Chairman of the Henry C. Lee, speaks during Henry C. Lee dedication ceremony at the University of New Haven on Kenneth W. Biermacher, J.D. '76 B.S., Chairman of the Henry C. Lee, speaks during Henry C. Lee dedication ceremony at the University of New Haven on Friday, Oct. 15, To the right of Biermacher are Steven Kaplan, President of the University of New Haven and Henry C. Lee. Photo: Amy Mortensen / Connecticut Post Freelance

5 Science building dedication ceremony at the University of New Henry C. Lee, Ph.D. speaks during the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science dedication ceremony at the University of New Henry C. Lee, Ph.D. speaks during the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science dedication ceremony at the University of New

6 Henry C. Lee, Ph.D. speaks during the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science dedication ceremony at the University of New Henry C. Lee, Ph.D., at left, is presented with a commemorative plaque by Steven H. Kaplan, Ph.D., President of the University of New Haven, during the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science dedication ceremony at the University of New Haven on Kenneth W. Biermacher, J.D. applauds as Henry C. Lee, Ph.D., center, is presented with a commemorative plaque by Steven H. Kaplan, Ph.D., President of the University of New Haven, during the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science dedication ceremony at the University of New

7 Officials gather on the steps of the Science during the Henry C. Lee dedication ceremony and ribbon cutting at the University of New Steven H. Kaplan, Ph.D., President of the University of New Haven and Henry C. Lee cut the ribbon during the Henry C. Lee dedication ceremony at the University of New Haven on

8 Lt. Governor Michael Fedele, President of UNH Steven Kaplan and Henry C. Lee smile during the ribbon cutting ceremony at the Science at the University of New Henry C. Lee walks Kenneth W. Biermacher through a tour of the Science at the University of New Henry C. Lee walks Kenneth W. Biermacher, J.D. Chairman of the Science, through a tour of the Science at the University of New

9 Henry C. Lee demonstrates the fingerprint identification exhibit to Kenneth W. Biermacher, J.D. Chairman of the Henry C. Lee, through a tour of the Henry C. Lee at the University of New Haven on Henry C. Lee points to an exhibit about forensic anthropology during a tour of the Henry C. Lee at the University of New Haven on Forensic anthropology exhibit at the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science at the University of New Haven on Friday, Oct. 15, 2010.

10 Forensic anthropology exhibit at the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science at the University of New Haven on Friday, Oct. 15, An exhibit which demonstrates a shooting incident reconstruction at the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science at the University of New Haven on Friday, Oct. 15, 2010.

11 University of New Haven Forensic Biology students Joshua Low, of NJ, Kirstie Nicholson, of NJ and Renee Heroux, of RI, try out the fingerprint identification simulator at the Henry C. Lee at the University of New Haven on University of New Haven Forensic Biology students Renee Heroux, of RI and Kirstie Nicholson, of NJ cast their reflections on the fingerprint identification simulator at the Science at the University of New Fingerprint identification simulator at the Henry C. Lee at the University of New Haven on

12 University of New Haven Forensic Biology students Joshua Low, of NJ, Kirstie Nicholson, of NJ and Renee Heroux, of RI, try out the fingerprint identification simulator at the Henry C. Lee at the University of New Haven on University of New Haven Forensic Biology students Joshua Low, of NJ, Kirstie Nicholson, of NJ and Renee Heroux, of RI, try out the fingerprint identification simulator at the Henry C. Lee at the University of New Haven on