Retired FBI special agent to discuss 1999 Panhandle murder case

Rawalt is a 1971 graduate of CSC who joined the FBI Lab Firearms Unit in 1972. He was promoted to special agent in 1976 and was assigned to the Los Angeles Field Division. In 1979, he transferred to the FBI Lab, Mineralogy Unit and became one of the FBI’s leading authorities on forensic mineralogy.

While a student at CSC Rawalt, cut his eyeteeth in soils by helping with the excavation of the Hudson-Meng Bison Kill Site northwest of Crawford.

Rawalt’s role in the 1985 investigation of the homicide of Enrique Camarena Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent was included in a book by John McPhee, Pulitzer Prize winning author.

Rawalt testified as an expert witness in Forensic Mineralogy over 230 times in 48 states and three foreign countries before retiring in 2006. 

He received the Chadron State College Distinguished Alumni Award in 1997 for his work in the Camarena case.

Rawalt's program is sponsored by the CSC Justice Studies department.

—CSC College Relations