Massachusetts' Murder Case Investigations: A Closer Look

Have you ever wondered how murder cases are solved in Massachusetts? True crime writer Susan Zalkind has been looking into this, and she's got some interesting things to say. The Karen Read trial brought some attention to the Massachusetts State Police. While they have a high solve rate, around 94% between 2019 and 2023, Zalkind thinks there are some big problems behind the scenes. She says that without the feds stepping in, we might not know as much about the Read case. For example, blood from the crime scene was kept in red Solo cups and stored in a grocery bag. That's not exactly how you'd expect important evidence to be handled. The Read trial is set to start again in January, but there's been a request to delay it. This case has been a big topic on social media and has raised some questions from legal experts. For Zalkind, it was an eye-opener. Massachusetts doesn't have a centralized, statewide major crimes unit like other New England states. Instead, state police detectives work with local district attorneys. This can lead to issues, like in the Read case where a Boston Police Officer wasn't questioned for days, even though the victim was found on his lawn. Zalkind points out that this "protect your own" culture can lead to important leads not being followed. She's not the only one who thinks so. A criminal justice professor, James Bigelow, who used to be a trooper, says the Read case was an exception, not the rule. Even with these issues, Massachusetts has a high solve rate. Nationally, it's around 50%. But is that because of good investigating, or because of how they define a "solved" case? Zalkind has been digging into these issues. She worked on a Hulu docuseries and wrote a book about a triple homicide in Middlesex County. She wonders if a sloppy investigation let the Boston Marathon bomber get away with murder before the 2013 attack. Next week, there's a new series launching called Commonwealth Confidential: State of Policing. It'll dig deeper into how policing works in Massachusetts.