There is a common scene on TV and in the movies where there has been a murder. The body has been removed, but its outline is preserved on the floor in white tape or chalk. Do the police really do this, or is it only done for dramatic effect?
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I have no personal knowledge of this. When you’re the quiet, careful type like me, they never find the body. But I knew who to call–my old high school classmate Allen Jaglowski, a Chicago homicide detective and president of the Chicago Police Detectives’ Association. When I reached Al, he was at a pretrial conference for a murder case along with two other homicide detectives and a police forensic investigator. Al said neither he nor the other guys, who collectively represented 100 years of crime-fighting experience, had ever seen chalk or tape used to outline a body–and for good reason. While chalk or tape might make for dramatic TV, it also contaminates the crime scene.
A Michigan state trooper: “They do not outline bodies with chalk anymore. They come in, photograph and videotape the scene. They measure where the body is lying from a known fixed point in the room or area. They will also mark a point, usually near the head, using a plastic marker or a small paint spot. Of course before they do they collect any trace evidence from the area.”
“1. Walk through the scene with your hands behind your back.
“Vernon J. Geberth, in his book Practical Homicide Investigation [1996], makes reference to the ‘chalk fairy’ in two photo captions: ‘You are not to draw lines around the body at a crime scene unless the body is to be removed. This photo shows evidence that the crime scene had been visited by a “chalk fairy.” “Chalk fairy” is a term used to describe mysterious police officers who feel the need to draw lines around the body and then disappear when investigators attempt to find out who contaminated the scene.’ ‘Here you see the deceased lying in the position in which he was found. This crime scene photo may possibly be “inadmissible.” While the first officers were securing the scene, a “chalk fairy” suddenly had the irresistible impulse to draw chalk lines around the body.’”
