Forensics

S01E04 An abandoned car is discovered in a quiet Hamilton street. Police are called and they find an envelope with money in it, an IOU note and a suitcase with women’s clothing in it. They trace the car’s owner as a young mother, Carmen Thomas, who lives in Auckland and hasn’t been seen for several days. Her ex-partner, Brad Callaghan, says that she missed a scheduled pick up of their young son and that he is concerned for her well-being. A scene examination reveals some blood spatter in the kitchen which ESR deduce as being a pattern that can only have resulted in death to the victim. Carmen’s wheelie bin is also missing from outside her flat. Police now up-scale their search from a missing person to a missing body. Carmen’s mother makes a plea to the public for information about her daughter. Who killed Carmen? Why does she owe money? Where is her body? Callaghan appears to be co-operative and claims that he has been in regular contact with Carmen by text, but police have him in their sights as their number one suspect. They search his house and seize his computer, car, and a wheelie bin which has had its serial number gouged out. The evidence is damning. ESR forensics reveals that the car upholstery is heavily blood-stained and there are marks on the back window which match the wheels of a wheelie bin. Forensic testing on the bin shows it to be the one missing from Carmen’s address. Police do a history search on the computer and find multiple searches on how to dispose of a body. Police also research phone data and find that the text communication between Brad’s and Carmen’s phones are the work of one person; not only does the phone data show that both phones are in close proximity to each other but the language in Carmen’s texts is not typical of her style or spelling. The Police are sure they’ve got their man. But they still don’t have a body.