Her body had been set on fire in an apparent attempt to hide evidence of the crime. Her killer was never caught. This year a DNA profile was developed and pointed to Clarence Terrelle Myers. Police began looking for him and discovered that he was being held in a Volusia County (FL) jail. When detectives interviewed him, he admitted that he had found the victim already dead and had sex with the body. However, he denied killing her or setting her body on fire. At an impasse, Daytona Beach Detective James Brodick offered Myers a Computer Voice Stress Analysis (CVSA) examination to help verify his story. Myers showed deception on all of the relevant questions and after being shown the voice graphs that clearly indicated deception, Myers confessed that he was mad at Coleman for ripping him off and that he strangled her in an abandoned house. He said that he left and came back after an hour and a half and had sex with her to prove something to her. He then went on to give detectives details of the crime known only to investigators. “The use of the CVSA in this case and others like it provide a unique investigative tool for law enforcement officers and our use of this technology in Daytona Beach will only insure that our city is a National Institute For Truth Verificationsafer place to live, work and visit” stated Daytona Police Chief Michael Chitwood.
This scenario is quietly being repeated day-after-day throughout the US in law enforcement agencies as small agencies as the Bay Harbor Island P.D. (FL) and as large as the Atlanta P.D., Nashville P.D., California Highway Patrol and the FBI in cases involving murder, rape, child molestation, thefts and employment screening. The Computer Voice Stress Analyzer™ (CVSA®) is a voice-based investigative truth verification tool that is now used by more than 1,700 law enforcement agencies. Even though more than 1,700 law enforcement agencies utilize the system, including most major metropolitan agencies and the US military’s Special Operations Forces; the CVSA is not well known outside of the law enforcement community. Like the polygraph, results of the CVSA are not normally used in court, but rather as a guide to help eliminate individuals as suspects. A recent Department of Defense survey of law enforcement users of the CVSA reported that 86% found the CVSA to be either “very” or “extremely” accurate. The DoD survey also found that 75% of deceptive results were validated by obtaining a confession with “a very small error rate” utilizing the CVSA.
The US Patent Office recently awarded Charles Humble, the founder of the National Institute for Truth Verification (NITV), which manufactures the CVSA, a patent on an automated scoring algorithm for use on the CVSA. Humble was the first to quantify voice CVSApatterns and also discovered delayed stress reaction in voice stress analysis. The CVSA II's ® current scoring algorithm, known as the Final Analysis Confirmation Tool® (FACT®), uses advanced mathematical algorithms and a built-in learning feature to recognize, evaluate, categorize and quantify the output from the CVSA II. The widely acclaimed CVSA II accurately scores each voice pattern for stress levels and then evaluates the entire examination to render a ‘No Deception Indicated’ or ‘Deception Indicated’ result, eliminating possible bias from the exam. Since the release of the CVSA II in early 2007, over 700 CVSA II’s have been delivered. “This is a tremendous investigative tool that has quietly solved thousands of cases over the past twenty years and has proven itself invaluable in the field” stated John Slater, a former Captain with the White Co. Sheriff’s Dept. (AR) and current Coordinator of Law Enforcement and Training for the NITV. Once restricted for sale only to law enforcement, the CVSA is now available for some commercial applications.
Although widely acclaimed in the law enforcement community, the CVSA is regarded as a threat by the entrenched polygraph establishment as it displaces both them and their technology. Despite this heavy resistance, the CVSA has built an impressive 20-year track record as an investigative tool helping to solve tens of thousands of crimes and helping many innocent people along the way. To see more cases like the Rowan Ford case, go to NITV1.com and click on Real Cases Solved.
The NITV, established in 1988, is located in West Palm Beach, FL, and is the acknowledged world-leader in truth verification technologies and training.
If you would like more information on the NITV, the CVSA II or the NITV’s widely acclaimed training program, call 561-798-6280, go to NITV1.com, or email to nitv@cvsa1.com.
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Additional Information - Case Studies and Image Downloads
Ohio, Springfield Township P.D. - Analyst/Det. Pat Kemper reports that a 12-year-old girl accused a 31-year-old man of abducting her and attempting to have her perform oral sex on him. The suspect was questioned and the detectives became convinced that he was guilty and that he was very close to a confession. At this point, a CVSA exam was requested. Analyst/Det. Kemper, an 18 year veteran, was also convinced of the suspects guilt by both his verbal and nonverbal responses. However, the CVSA showed that the suspect was innocent. The investigating detectives then went to the victim's house to question her again and she admitted that she had made up the entire story. Det. Kemper states that without the CVSA, the suspect would probably have been charged.
Florida, Casselberry P.D. - An adult female made allegations that her boss had made arrangements for her to come to work early one day and then had sexually assaulted her prior to the other employees arriving for work. The suspect was contacted and it was requested that he voluntarily come to the station for an interview in reference to the allegations. During the pre-test interview the suspect at first denied that he had sex with the victim. After being confronted with the request to take the CVSA exam he then admitted that he had sex with the victim. He stated that the woman had been flirting with him and that the sex was at her suggestion. He said he had denied having sex with her at first because he is married and also afraid that because he is a manager that he would be fired. A CVSA exam was conducted. The man admitted that sex had taken place at work but that both parties had consented and that no force had been used. The suspect was given the CVSA exam and showed no deception in his answers.
The victim was then requested to submit to a CVSA exam in relation to the allegations. She maintained that she had been forced to have sex. She was given the CVSA exam and the results indicated that her answers were deceptive. After being confronted with the results of her exam and the results of the suspects, the victim signed a statement that she did not want to proceed with a police investigation. The case was closed exceptional.
What is particularly disconcerting about this case is that DNA evidence was likely obtainable that would have made the victim's allegations appear truthful had not the CVSA exams been used to ferret out the truth.
Missouri, Newton Co. Sheriff's Dept. - Analyst/Det. Terry Lankford reports that a 17-year-old female alleged that she had been raped by three men following a party. Upon being asked to take the CVSA exam, two agreed and one refused. Both of the subjects that agreed to take the exam passed. The victim was then asked to take the exam to verify her story. The victim failed the test and finally confessed that she had consented to have sex with the three men and afterwards had become afraid that she might get pregnant. After talking with a girlfriend, they made up the story about the rape. Analyst Lankford states that "Through the CVSA, three innocent men were saved from being arrested and possibly going to prison, for a crime that they did not commit".
Ohio, Cincinnati P.D. - Analyst/Police Specialist Roger Webster reports that a woman reported two separate B&E offenses. In the first she reported that someone broke into her residence and took three hundred dollars from her purse but nothing else. The second incident occurred several days later in which a man broke into her residence while she slept in a chair. She awoke to find the burglar kissing her and holding a knife to her throat. The burglar took thirty dollars from her and fled. The investigating officer did not believe the victim and felt that she was making the report to cover her missing rent money and requested a Computer Voice Stress Analyzer examination. After listening to her story, newly trained analyst Webster also did not believe her. However, the CVSA exam indicated that she was being completely truthful. Several weeks later an individual was apprehended during a B&E and when questioned by P/S Webster, admitted to both of the B&E's and confirmed all of the details given by the victim. Analyst Webster states that the CVSA has now become a regular part of his investigative arsenal.
Louisiana, Baton Rouge P.D. - Analyst D/Sgt. Ron Cowart was asked to conduct a CVSA exam on an individual who was the last person to have seen a young man who had been missing for more than two months. The subject showed deception when he stated that he did not know what had happened to the young man nor where he was. D/Sgt. Cowart confronted the subject with the charts but the man continued to maintain that he was telling the truth. The following day local news stories were abundant in their coverage of the discovery of a decomposed body by a hunter. Later that day, the subject that D/Sgt. Cowart had tested called, crying uncontrollably. He confessed that he had murdered the young man and that the CVSA had been right. He further stated that his failure of the CVSA and D/Sgt. Cowart's adamant assertions that he was lying had caused him to return to where he had buried the young man in a failed attempt to better conceal the remains. The subject brought the murder weapon when he turned himself in to D/Sgt. Cowart.
Ohio, Darke Co. Sheriff's Dept. - Analyst/Chief Deputy Ron Smalldon reports that he was asked by detectives at a nearby agency if he would be able to conduct an examination on an individual who had been interviewed and cleared as a suspect by agents of the FBI and ATF of being involved in several pipe bombings. Unknown to them, the interview was tape recorded by a detective with the local agency and because he felt that the federal agent's conclusions might be wrong, he requested that Chief Deputy Smalldon analyze the tape. Chief Deputy Smalldon felt that he clearly saw deception but due to the situation, he requested that several other analysts render a "cold call". Each of the other analysts rendered deceptive results as well. Detectives from the local department re-interviewed the suspect and obtained a search warrant for his house where they found pipe bomb paraphernalia and arrested the suspect.
Maryland, Baltimore P.D. - Analyst/Polygrapher Det. John T. Brown reports that in a recent case, police were called to the scene of an apparent drive-by shooting. An individual reported that someone fired a shot at his car and the bullet struck his two-year-old daughter and killed her. Although he was not the focus of the investigation, some suspicion led detectives to request that the father of the murdered girl take a CVSA examination to confirm his story. The examination indicated that the father was not being truthful concerning the murder of his daughter. Armed with that information, detectives investigating the case focused their attention on the father and gathered enough evidence to take him to trial. A Jury found him guilty of the first-degree murder of his daughter and sentenced him to life in prison. The Baltimore Police Department now has eight CVSA's, twenty-two detectives trained as examiners, and will soon implement mandatory CVSA examinations as a part of the background screening process.
California, Burbank P.D. - Analyst/Polygrapher Det. Craig Ratliff reports that police were called to a residence on a report of a rape. They apprehended a suspect running down the street 2 blocks from the residence and took him into custody. The complainant alleged that the suspect had asked her if he could use her bathroom while he was browsing at the yard sale that she was conducting. She further stated that she was in the house when he came out of the bathroom and that he then proceeded to rape her. Charges were filed against the suspect and he was set for arraignment. The suspect's story was that he had asked to use the bathroom but when he came out, the woman had taken off her blouse and proceeded to seduce him. After sex, he noticed a twenty-dollar bill on the floor by his pants. When he attempted to pick it up, the woman grabbed him and a struggle ensued. He stated that he finally pushed her down and fled from the house. He agreed to take a CVSA exam and passed three charts on his version of what happened. California's law prohibiting police from requesting a sexual assault victim take a lie detection examination prevented them from requesting that she take the CVSA. However, they did call her in for further questioning and when she was confronted with the results of the suspect's CVSA exam, she admitted that she had lied about the whole story and that she had actually seduced the young man.
Florida, Palm Bay P.D. - Analyst/Det. Don Bauman reports that he was contacted by Michigan authorities concerning an individual that they were holding on unrelated charges. The subject was suspected of many crimes in many states in the 1970's, however, authorities had never developed enough evidence to make any arrests. The most notorious of the crimes was the brutal murder of an 87-year-old woman in Menominee, Michigan. The subject had been living in Palm Bay for the past 15 years without incident and, for all intents and purposes, had escaped justice. Det. Bauman was asked to interview the subject concerning the murder. During the interview the subject denied any knowledge of the murder and Det. Bauman offered him a CVSA exam which he agreed to take. After failing the exam and being confronted with two deceptive charts, the subject confessed to the murder and gave up the name of his accomplice who was still living in Michigan. The accomplice was immediately apprehended and the individual that was held by the Palm Bay P.D. and was extradited back to Michigan where he is currently awaiting trial for the murder that he committed 20 years ago.
California, Fairfield P.D. - Lt. Gresham reports that an individual reported that he was attacked by a woman after they had sex and that the woman severed his penis. Doctors were unable to reattach his penis. He stated that the woman told him that she was a friend of the woman that he was convicted of murdering in 1983 and that this was revenge for the murder. Police aggressively worked the case and received several telephone tips about the possible identity of the woman. While the victim was working with detectives on a sketch of his attacker, they requested that he take a CVSA exam concerning certain facts in the case. He agreed to take the exam and following two charts which clearly showed that he was lying about being attacked, the subject admitted that he had severed his own penis and made up the story about the woman.
