Steve Mensing, Editor
♦ It came to the Rowan Free Press’s attention almost a week ago that the illegal trading of “death cards” is taking place in Salisbury and Rowan County. For readers unfamiliar with death cards, they are:
• Crime scene photos of grisly murders.
• Accident photos of victims in gory detail.
• The charred remains of fire victims.
The challenge with this off-key “death card” hobby is these death scene photos should never leave law enforcement evidence rooms. We understand through anonymous present and former law enforcement sources this grisly hobby may go well beyond the borders of Salisbury and Rowan County–all the way to death scene investigations in Iraq.
Last evening, I interviewed former Salisbury Police Officer Kenny Lane about the trading of “death cards” and the challenges it creates for law enforcement as well as the emotional effects on victims’ families:
Steve Mensing: Kenny, it would occur to me that these crime and accident scene photos should never leave an evidence room under any circumstances. Could you tell us why?
Kenny Lane: First off, if crime and accident scene photos are released, this displays a break in the chain of custody for evidence in a case. This brings into question the proper storage of all evidence. This serious business, Steve. For example, if the photo contains items that might specifically tie an individual to a crime scene, posting it may remove a valuable tool from investigators as the item is now known to be present. For instance, a dropped wallet, ring, or other identifiable piece of evidence can then be explained away by the suspect who realizes he dropped it at the scene and needs to create a fictitious reason why it would be there. They might claim the stolen item was borrowed earlier by the victim.
Steve Mensing: These death cards getting out of the evidence room could deny prosecutors of valuable evidence and might squash a case, freeing a killer in the process.
Kenny Lane: Absolutely.
Steve Mensing: I could imagine, too, the emotional challenges that family members might experience when viewing a deceased loved one in one of those extraordinarily gory photographs.
Kenny Lane: Death card photos have been known to make their way onto social media. Such photos are psychologicially devastating to family members. Maybe more so when family members discover the careless way the department failed to safeguard these pictures.
It also should be mentioned that the failure to safeguard the photos leaves openings for claims that other photos existed which would clear someone’s client but were carelessly lost when improperly emailing the rest to people uninvolved with the investigation.
Steve Mensing: It seems these death card photos are somewhat easy to obtain. How is that?
Kenny Lane: It’s a large concern that these photos are so obtainable. I know from my days with the Salisbury Police Department that photos are stored online, attached to a case file. Anyone with access to the system such as officers, detectives, administration, records staff, and civilian support positions can download the photos. These photos can also be deleted by anyone with access to the system where all or selected photos can be gone in seconds.
Steve Mensing: That’s not good.
Kenny Lane: Even a report narrative can be changed by anyone accessing the system. An initial report of a female returning home from work and being sexually assaulted in her apartment can be changed to something like, “She reports coming home heavily intoxicated and can’t remember if she invited the male in or not.” This can be done without any special clearance or notification to the officer taking the report.
Steve Mensing: Thanks, Kenny.
In the near future, the Rowan Free Press will do a follow up story on death cards. We note that a Charlotte TV station will soon be doing a large scale investigative report on the death card phenomenon. We suspect this story could very well draw national attention because it also involves U.S. military.