Today, this headline in the Chicago Tribune stopped me cold, “3 kids die, 5 hurt in rash of shootings: City schools chief cites ‘heartbreaking’ weekend.”
 
Kadeidrah Marsh, 15: Shot Sunday night. A victim of a vendetta.
 
Paris Bassett, 16: Shot Sunday night. His death may have been gang-related.
 
Jose Garcia, 18: Shot Saturday night. Killed in a parked car.
 
These kids bring the death toll of Chicago schoolchildren up to 17 this year. Last year there were 18 kids killed in the same period.
 
What is going on here? More importantly, what are we doing to stop what is going on here?
 
A couple of months ago, I saw this picture spray-painted on the sidewalk in Logan Square, by the California stop on the Blue Line.

Photo by Brenna Ehrlich
 
I wondered who put it there. I’m not a religious person, but at times like these I remember this painting and wonder and wonder: Where is this person? Who is he? And is anyone listening?

Remember how I showed you that awesome cop-shaped air freshener that arrived in the mail this week? Well, today I went to write a post on WTD and noticed… IT’S GONE!
 
I was about to start combing the apartment. I mean, sometimes I misplace things. I could have lost it, right? But something caught my eye.
 
There was a glass next to my computer.
 
I did not leave that glass there.
 
Something was definitely rotten in the state of Illinois, and I was determined to find out what. This was no ordinary case of absent-mindedness—this was theft, through and through.
 
Watch the video below to learn how I caught the culprit.
 

 
Dusting for prints in the real crime world is a much more involved process than what I went through to find my missing cop air freshener. Take a look at these sites to see what the real cops do.
 
In the Digital Whorled
How the FBI classifies prints
The FBI Fingerprint Training Manual
The Fingerprint Society
 
Special thanks to forensic investigator Herb Keeller and Amy Campbell from the CPD for advising on this video.

Ok, I know that this is my third post about message board commenters this week, but I find them to be a fascinating phenomenon. They remind me of those people who gather around an accident scene or a crime scene. There they stand, in morbid appreciation, like the characters from Ray Bradbury’s “The Crowd.”
 
For my purposes, I’m going to give them a name– Murkers (short for morbid lurkers). This week, the Murkers were in fine form on the message boards. Read on for some real gems.
 
From the Chicago Tribune
 
Under the story “Man charged in fatal stabbing of girlfriend” one Murker wrote:
“I wants to know if she pervoked this.”
 
“Villa Park man indicted in DuPage drug-related homicide” provoked another Murker to say, “If he didn’t learn anything from his 18 months inside maybe this judge will give him the whole 30 years and stipulate that he does it all. Otherwise someone needs to just kill him out here on the streets so our kids are safe from him.”
 
After reading “Police warn of 2 armed robbers in Beverly neighborhood,” one Murker joked, “Just a couple of Obamamaniacs starting early with the redistribution of wealth in this country!”
 
So what exactly provokes the Murkers to speak with such reckless abandon? Is it the anonymity? Most likely. I’ve also noticed that Murkers are serial crime story commenters. I guess, in that respect, I’m a Murker too– digging around the dark side of Chi-Town. But I like to think I do so with a little finesse. Maybe it’s because I sign my name after all of my Murker-like comments.