Leading criminal investigators to speak at CSC

Dr. George Watson, senior member of the CSC Criminal Justice Department, said this year’s conference will be the biggest that the college has ever hosted. More than 75 investigators and detectives from the four-state area and at least 80 criminal justice majors from colleges in Nebraska and Wyoming have registered.

Among the speakers will be Skip Palenik, a senior forensic microscopist from Elgin, Ill. He will be telling of his experiences all day Wednesday, beginning at 8 a.m.

Palenik has worked on dozens of high-profile cases. It’s said that when the trail turns cold, the FBI, Scotland Yard and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are likely to call him.

Using his microscope, Palenik has assisted in many high profile cases, including the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the Unabomber, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King and the notorious 2000 presidential election ballots in Florida. He also determined by studying the fiber in the cloth that the Shroud of Turin may be a fake and concluded that remains found in Bolivia were not those of the Sundance Kid after examining a hair that was sent to him.

Also on the program will be Hal Deadman, a former FBI agent who pioneered the use of DNA as a tool in solving crimes, and Bob Spalding, who has been a forensic serology instructor at the FBI Academy and an instructor in crime scene processing with the FBI’s Evidence Response Team.

Other speakers will include two Chadron State graduates who have become well-known for their expertise in helping solve crimes. They are Gary Plank, an investigative sergeant for the Nebraska State Patrol, and Ron Rawalt, an FBI agent who lives near North Platte.

Plank will discuss “Forensic Psychology/Profiling” at 1:15 p.m. Monday.

Rawalt has testified as an expert witness in 48 states and three foreign countries. He was among those investigating the attempts to assassinate Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan.

Rawalt will be speaking at 7 p.m. both Monday and Tuesday. He will discuss his role in solving the Enrique Camerena murder case in Mexico the first night. The next night, he will tell about the investigation of the murder and dismemberment of 3-year-old Adam Gomez in Scottsbluff in 1999.

In the latter case, Raymond Matta Jr. was resentenced to die in the electric chair by a panel of three judges in Ogallala this past September.