Can modern-day Sherlock Holmes solve crime based on physical evidence? The world’s foremost forensics expert Prof. Dr. Henry C. Lee of Connecticut, USA, recently made a low-key visit to the Philippines to be the keynote speaker at the International Pacific Medical & Forensics Science Conference at the Manila Hotel. He delivered a speech on the future of forensic science in solving the world’s crimes before 300 forensics experts and top law enforcement officers from over 30 countries.
Co-author of 25 books and the star of Fox TV’s Dr. Henry Lee Cracking More Cases drama series, Dr. Lee’s testimony figured prominently in the world-famous OJ Simpson trial, and in convictions of the "Woodchipper" murderer as well as hundreds of other big murder cases. He has assisted police worldwide in 6,000 cases, including war crimes in Bosnia and Croatia, also high-profile US crimes like the murder of Jon Benet Ramsey in Boulder, Colorado, the controversial 1993 suicide of the Clinton White House Counsel Vincent Foster, the most recent Kobe Bryant rape case, the world-famous mysterious shooting of Taiwan President Chen Shui Bian just before the election, and the reinvestigation of the John F. Kennedy assassination.
Born in Shanghai and later educated in Taiwan and the US, Dr. Lee is now the chief emeritus for the Scientific Services and was the commissioner of Public Safety for the State of Connecticut. He was also the state’s chief criminalist. Dr. Lee earned his doctorate degree from New York University and received five honorary doctorates, plus numerous medals and international awards.
Before he flew back to the US with his Malaysian-Chinese wife Margaret Song Lee, he gave The Philippine STAR an exclusive interview.
The Philippine STAR: Is it true that your former students include the present police chief of Shanghai and top police officers in Taiwan and other places?
Dr. Henry Lee: If you commit a crime or get into trouble in Shanghai, just show the police chief my calling card (laughs). I have a lot of former students, and I am adviser to the government of China’s Shantung province. The ruling party and opposition leaders of Taiwan invited me to investigate the controversial shooting of President Chen Shui Bian, and I have been asked to help investigate the killing of a Thai opposition legislator from a wealthy business clan who died with a single gunshot in his home.
Have you followed the case of the 1983 assassination of Senator Ninoy Aquino in the Philippines?
I stay away from political cases like that. In terms purely of the crime scene itself, if you want to know the whole truth, first you have to investigate the weapon thoroughly, the source of the weapon, does the alleged bullet match the gun? Do a trajectory of the shooting. How many suspects were there? What are the motives? What about opportunity? You have to carefully investigate all the physical evidence, the crime scene, the motive.
Is it still possible for the Philippines to reinvestigate a 21-year-old assassination case?
Of course you can, if there’s political will. We recently solved a case in the US which was 30 years old. Right now in this short trip to the Philippines, the US government has exhumed four Americans in the Manila American Cemetery in Fort Bonifacio, Makati, and they are asking my help to investigate their true identities. The investigators are led by Dr. Bob Manin. These were four American pilots shot down during World War II more than half a century ago, and they want my help to identify them.
You’ve been involved in solving so many crimes worldwide, what is your view of criminality and murder?
Crime is nothing new to mankind, it started since the dawn of human history. Studies show that there has been a 45 percent increase in crimes worldwide. The trends in crimes are tied up with economic conditions. When the economy is good, you have more sex crimes and other related felonies. But when it’s bad there’s an increase in property crimes like kidnapping, burglary and theft. Homicides are committed 90 percent of the time by acquaintances of the victims. There are 16 different motives for murder – financial gain is the No. 1 motive, second is male-female relationships, third is revenge, the other motives include drug-related, gang-related, political disagreements and assassination, family feuds, drinking arguments, and many others.
Can you share some of your fascinating cases?
I recently helped solve a serial murder case involving 14 women killed from 1992 to 2000 in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. In all these murders, the criminal had the same modus operandi, luring prostitutes or bar workers, then this man had sex with these women in remote and abandoned buildings where they were choked or strangled to death. He used blunt objects. In my investigations in the crime scenes, I found cigarette butts, I used DNA analyses, found all the DNA evidence which we linked to a single person. The mystery was the identity of this person, who was he? We searched the data bank of all previously convicted sexual offenders, and finally we got a hit in January this year and the serial killer was convicted.
We heard Discovery Channel is going to do a special on you solving a historical mystery in America?
That is the mystery of Billy the Kid or William H. Bonney, the 19th-century teenage outlaw and gunfighter. A story about his death at age 19 or 20 claimed that he visited his girlfriend and was ambushed by the sheriff, who killed him. Another version claims that Billy the Kid had a secret agreement with the sheriff that allowed him to escape, and that buried on his grave was not his corpse. For this Discovery Channel project, we’ll go to Lincoln county in New Mexico state to reconstruct the old scenes. Next, we shall dig up the body from the grave to find out whether it was really Billy the Kid or not. In Texas state also, there are now three tombs claiming to be the burial place of Billy the Kid.
I read about your recent involvement in the rape case of basketball star Kobe Bryant. Can you update on this?
Before coming here to Manila, we had a big meeting about the Kobe Bryant case. Kobe had a medical check-up in Colorado, then he went to a hotel where a young 18-year-old employee volunteered to show him the rooms and to get his autograph. Both of them flirted and somehow was said to be engaging in consensual kissing. Then in the middle of the sexual act, she said "Stop!" but Kobe allegedly raped her. At first when the case made world headlines, Kobe Bryant publicly denied it. But I found his DNA in her underwear, so he later changed his stand and said yes they both had sex, but he insisted that it was consensual. On the young woman’s underwear I found three types of DNA, now the defense lawyers tried to cross-examine her about her past sexual activities, and due to my testimony on the three types of DNA, and the involvement of another man whether before or after the alleged rape, the judge allowed the cross-examination and the suspension of the Rape Shield Law in this case. This caused the young woman to withdraw the criminal case, because she no longer wanted to testify in court. I guess it is more likely that both the young woman and Kobe Bryant would settle out of court the remaining civil case.
In my talks with your police officers, I found out that the Philippines has no standard rape kit to do DNA testing. I hope your government will give enough funding to do this.
Do you have a dream case or mystery you want to help solve?
There is one case I want to solve, which involves England and the US, and is now 400 years old. In 1617, there was an Indian princess named Pocahontas who traveled to England on a peace mission. She met the Queen of England and later on got married to a British ship captain. When she became homesick, the then 16-year-old princess planned to return to America. Unfortunately, Pocahontas died in the town of Gravesendtown of smallpox while waiting for the boat. She was buried there. Centuries later, people forgot about her. But during World War II, US President Franklin Roosevelt headed a commission that visited England and wanted to bring her remains back to America, but they didn’t find her body. They tried digging up the church grounds but never found Pocahontas.
Why did you become interested in this Pocahontas mystery?
The famous pop singer Wayne Newton five years ago called me up and asked for an appointment. He came and asked my assistance to bring back Pocahontas to America. Wayne Newton said he had one-quarter Indian blood and from the same tribe as Princess Pocahontas. When I was once in England in 1997, I asked a friend in Scotland Yard for help and my wife and I visited the town. My friend Dr. Peter Dean is the chief coroner for that area, the three of us researched and found historic records of her death in 1617 which said she was buried in church grounds. The records didn’t say which church. We found that there were then two churches in that area – St. George Church in the center of town and St. Mary Church in the outskirts. My theory is that since she died of chickenpox, it was very likely they wouldn’t bury her in the center of town at St. George but in the St. Mary Church on the outskirts. While St. George Church had been rebuilt twice in the past 400 years, a fire once burned St. Mary Church and what we found standing on its original site was a new drinking place called White Horse Tavern. The owner brought us to the sub-basement of the tavern. Then she said that Pocahontas was buried there. I was tempted to immediately start a dig, but I feared that tavern might all collapse without proper planning. That’s perhaps my career dream, to coordinate with the British and American governments to dig that tavern, bring back Pocahontas to America and help give her a proper heroine’s burial.
Speaking of historical cases, we heard that the US government has invited you to reinvestigate the assassination of the John F. Kennedy case.
In 1998, the US Congress had a Kennedy Review Board to review this case. If all the evidence is well preserved today, we can resolve this case. There was this one bullet – called Exhibit 399 – that bullet supposedly hit President Kennedy at the back, came out then hit Texas Governor Connelly’s hand, then exiting and hitting the thigh. Unfortunately, this bullet had been touched so many times and handled by so many people, it is difficult to ascertain the DNAs of JFK and the governor.
Didn’t you help investigate Clinton’s scandal with the White House intern Monica Lewinsky?
It was the FBI that did the test, and I was asked to review the tests. Then President Bill Clinton initially said in public that he didn’t have sex with Monica, but we found his DNA, and he later changed his story and claimed that it wasn’t sex what he did. (laughs).