Month: June 2021

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News

Director Christopher Wray has named Michael D. Nordwall as the special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh Field Office. Mr. Nordwall most recently served as a section chief in the Criminal Investigative Division at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Nordwall began his career with the FBI as a special agent in 2002. He was first assigned to the Phoenix Field Office, where he worked counterterrorism, violent crime, crimes in Indian Country, and organized crime matters. He was also a member of the SWAT team and an EMT.

In 2009, Mr. Nordwall was promoted to supervisory special agent in the Operations Unit of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate at Headquarters, where he managed FBI investigations of and responses to WMD threats in the U.S. and internationally.

Mr. Nordwall transferred to the Tampa Field Office in Florida in 2011 to oversee an organized crime drug enforcement strike force known as Panama Express. The interagency strike force countered transnational criminal organizations trafficking drugs on the high seas.

In 2014, Mr. Nordwall was selected as an associate director in the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces Executive Office, serving as the primary representative for federal law enforcement. He also oversaw the attorney general’s Consolidated Priority Organization Target program, which focused government efforts on disrupting and dismantling the most significant criminal organizations.

Mr. Nordwall returned to the Tampa Field Office in 2016 to oversee the Joint Terrorism Task Force. In June 2018, he reported to the Denver Field Office as the assistant special agent in charge of the Criminal Branch and all Colorado resident agencies.

He was promoted in 2019 to chief of the Transnational Organized Crime Global Section in the Criminal Investigative Division at Headquarters. The section manages investigations and intelligence collection against transnational criminal organizations based in the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

Mr. Nordwall earned a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from Auburn University in Alabama. Prior to joining the FBI, he worked in the petrochemical industry.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News

On April 21, 2021, one of the most successful investigative tools available to U.S. law enforcement reached a major milestone: the 20 millionth DNA profile was contributed to the national DNA database via the CODIS software. CODIS links unknown DNA left during the commission of a crime to offenders who are legally required to provide samples for the database.

The FBI introduced the national DNA database in 1998. The program began with nine states and soon expanded to all 50 states. CODIS is currently installed in 203 federal, state, and local participating laboratories in the United States. It is used to share DNA profiles across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, federal law enforcement agencies, and the Department of Defense. The CODIS software is also used by 58 countries for their own law enforcement identification purposes; the international databases are not connected to the national DNA database in the United States.

Through the amendment and expansion of the DNA Identification Act of 1994, CODIS continues to help public forensic laboratories link crime-scene evidence to other cases or to persons already convicted of or arrested for specific crimes. The expansion of DNA collection laws at the state and local levels has broadened CODIS, which has helped more criminal investigations and led to more prosecutions throughout the nation.

A separate but equally important part of the national DNA database can help identify missing and unidentified individuals. This remarkable crime-solving tool has aided over 545,000 investigations since its inception in 1998, thanks to the dedicated efforts of the FBI’s CODIS Unit staff, participating laboratories, law enforcement, and other stakeholders.

For more than two decades, the continual development of the CODIS software has been a collaborative effort among the DNA and CODIS communities and other stakeholders, including laboratory accrediting bodies, law enforcement, defense attorneys, prosecutors, victims, and Congress. This collaboration has helped evaluate new technologies, create and update procedures and standards, and introduce legislation.

For additional information, visit the FBI’s CODIS page.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI Crime News

According to statistics reported to the FBI, 93 law enforcement officers died in the line of duty last year—46 from felonious acts and 47 in accidents. Last week, the Bureau released complete data about the incidents, including narratives of the fatal attacks. The information is available on the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) portion of the Crime Data Explorer website.

This fall, the FBI will release information about officers who were assaulted in the line of duty in 2020.

See the 1996 to 2019 editions of the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted publication on the FBI website.

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

ST. LOUIS, MO—Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Richard Quinn is pleased to announce the selection of the Missouri Masonic Children’s Foundation for the FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award. Specifically, the FBI is recognizing the foundation’s Missouri Child Identification and Protection (MoChIP) program. The program generates a comprehensive identification kit that can be invaluable when a child goes missing and is free to any Missouri family. Parents and guardians simply bring the child to a MoChIP event to have the kit completed within minutes. “Child ID kits act as force multipliers in helping to protect children,” said SAC Quinn. “Quick, easy, and free, I encourage all parents to take advantage of this invaluable resource by attending a MoChIP event where volunteers will complete the kits.”

The Missouri Masonic Children’s Foundation is the sole sponsor and administrator of the program and buys all the necessary equipment and materials. The child ID kits contain digital photographs, digital fingerprints, child information and emergency contacts, two laminated ID cards, and a dental bite impression. The Missouri Freemasons volunteer at the events to complete the kits. President Emmett Bryson of the foundation’s board said, “The Masonic Children’s Foundation is very excited to receive recognition for our MoChIP program which has been serving families in Missouri for over 15 years. On behalf of the more than 30,000 Freemasons of Missouri who volunteer and support this program, we thank the FBI for recognizing its success.”

The MoChIP program was started in 2006. To date, the Missouri Masonic Children’s Foundation together with the Freemasons of Missouri, have generated approximately a quarter of a million ID kits for Missouri kids.

The MoChIP program complements the FBI’s Child ID app, which can be downloaded for free to your mobile device. The app provides a convenient place to electronically store photos and other vital information about your children so that it’s literally right at hand if you need it. You can also quickly email the information to authorities.

Previous FBI St. Louis honorees*

• 1990 Joseph Cunningham, former St. Louis Cardinals baseball player
• 1991 Martin Mathews, Mathews-Dickey Boys’ & Girls’ Club
• 1993 The late Jean Leible, Neighborhood Activist
• 1995 Pastor Harry Douma, Camp Penuel
• 2005 Martin Mathews (two-time honoree)
• 2006 Karen Aroesty, Anti-Defamation League
• 2007 Pastor B. T. Rice, New Horizon Seventh Day Christian Church
• 2008 Dave Sinclair, Dave Sinclair Auto Group
• 2009 Bill Wilkerson, “Reach Out St. Louis!”
• 2010 Dr. Stephen Bander, Bander Center for Medical Business Ethics
• 2011 Anthony Thompson, Kwame Building Group
• 2012 Kimberly Ritter, Nix Conference & Meeting Management
• 2013 Angel Baked, a social enterprise program empowering inner-city teens
• 2014 Wehrenberg Theatres
• 2015 Emerson’s Ferguson Forward Initiative
• 2016 Shubert Design Furniture (in conjunction with Gary Sinise Foundation honored by FBI HQ)
• 2017 Danny Ludeman, President & CEO, Concordance Academy of Leadership
• 2018 National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse—St. Louis Area
• 2019 Missouri Masonic Children’s Foundation (announcement delayed due to COVID-19)

*unlisted years did not have a recipient

Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News

BERKELEY, MO—The FBI and Berkeley Police are asking for help with information about a cold-case homicide and carjacking that happened on November 9, 2017, in Berkeley, Missouri.

The victim, 30-year-old Jayvon Vance, was shot and killed around 9:40 p.m. Earlier in the day, the victim was communicating with a person in a Facebook group using the moniker “Tony King.” The two agreed to meet later that night in the 6800 block of Friarwood Drive in Berkeley for a sales transaction.

The victim drove alone to the meeting place in a 2008 white Saturn SUV. At the time of the meeting, two black males were seen standing next to a white vehicle (possibly an SUV) and a black vehicle (possibly a Chevy Monte Carlo). A few minutes later, one gunshot was heard and both vehicles were seen leaving while the victim was left lying on the road.

If you have information about the homicide and carjacking, you can remain anonymous by calling St. Louis Regional CrimeStoppers at 1-866-371-TIPS.

A subject is presumed innocent unless and until convicted through due process of law.