Elgin forensic scientist aids Ramsey case

By George Houde
Special to the Tribune (original web link)
Published August 25, 2006

Skip Palenik knew something was up when a police detective from Boulder, Colo., called his Elgin lab about retrieving a sample in a murder case.

It was evidence from the JonBenet Ramsey saga that Palenik, who owns and operates Microtrace, a forensic research laboratory, had custody of for nearly 10 years, receiving it in the aftermath of the 6-year-old girl's murder.

What was up was the arrest of John Mark Karr, a teacher working in Thailand who implicated himself in JonBenet's death. Karr was returned to the U.S., waived extradition in a California courtroom this week and arrived in Boulder on Thursday.

Using an array of microscopes, Palenik delves into the secrets held by the tiniest bits of debris left at a crime scene. In the Ramsey case, it was evidence taken from her body.

"I examined the particles left behind on her clothing," he said. "It was just a very small sample, picked up by evidence technicians using tape."

Palenik, 60, wrote a report about the particles, which he declined to discuss because of the case. The report went to the Boulder County district attorney's office and the Boulder Police Department in 1997 and Palenik hadn't heard back until the call this month from Detective Tom Trujillo.

"You want to see what happened in the contact, who she may have been in contact with at the time," Palenik said. JonBenet was found strangled in her home on Dec. 26, 1996.

Boulder Deputy Police Chief David Hayes said Palenik also has helped the department investigate the unsolved 1983 slaying of Sid Wells, a University of Colorado student who was dating Robert Redford's daughter.

"He has done some work for us on the [Ramsey] case," Hayes said. "He provided us with expertise and guidance which was very helpful in both cases. He was on the leading edge of a lot of this stuff."

Boulder authorities and Palenik were brought together by the late Walter McCrone, a Chicago forensic scientist who was Palenik's mentor. McCrone may be most famous for debunking the Shroud of Turin and was a master of forensic investigation, Palenik said.

The unassuming Palenik, a former intelligence analyst in the Army, has helped in dozens of famous cases, from the Green River murders near Seattle to the crash of Swissair Flight 111 in 1998. He has taught hundreds of forensic students, lectured across the country, and is well known in crime investigation circles, but he remains a behind-the-scenes figure.

"I'm not generally known to the public," he said.

His case list is a different story. Palenik worked on the Atlanta child murders, the Martin Luther King murder re-investigation and the Jaclyn Dowaliby and Jeanine Nicarico cases. He also works on civil cases, often analyzing material in corporate thefts or plane crashes.

Located in an office building on Elgin's west side, Palenik's laboratory of technological equipment supplements what he bases much of his reports on: logic, reasoning and scientific fact based on observation.

For guidance, he points to one of his favorite literary figures: Edgar Allan Poe.

"All you have to do to find out the principles of modern crime investigation is read Poe, especially `The Purloined Letter,' `Murders in the Rue Morgue' and `The Mystery of Marie Roget.' It's all right there," Palenik said. "Those will tell you more about crime investigation than the `CSI' show."

Palenik scoffed at TV's version of how murders are solved, saying he rarely goes to crime scenes. "I can't stand to watch those shows," he said.

A graduate of St. Rita High School and the University of Illinois at Chicago, Palenik said he has been studying the world through a microscope since he got one for his 8th birthday.

"The microscope wasn't very good, but there was a book with it that had this section on being a vacuum cleaner detective," he said. Palenik began examining the contents of the household vacuum bag.

Although he maintains a dispassionate attitude about his work in examining clothes worn by slaying victims, the child murders disturb him.

"These child murder cases are horrible, especially if there is sexual assault or torture," Palenik said. "You consider the child's last moments on Earth, and you can hardly bring yourself to think about it."