What additional persons should you now interview asa result of what you just learned from the interviewscompleted Who do you want to interviewand what would you like to ask (two or three questions for each newinterviewee)? What physical evidence doyou want to collect now as a result of the interviews alreadycompleted? Why do you want this evidence – what do you hope it willdo for your case? Do you need a searchwarrant for any of it? Explain your justification for thisanswer.

Interviews were conducted on this case by you as theinvestigator. A synopsis of what was said by each interviewee is asfollows:

Hospital SW Mary Adams: Mom told the SocialWorker that the child fell down the stairs while at home. Sheinitially said it was just her and the child home, but lateradmitted that dad was home. Dad initially came to the hospital withthem and every time mom was asked a question, dad would interruptand answer for her. When the doctor told dad she had questionsabout some of the injuries, dad stormed out of the hospital. SW metbriefly with the child who told her that she fell down the stairsand that she made her dad mad.

Dr. Meredith Grey: Dr. Grey said that the childhas a break to the collar bone that could be consistent with a fallif the child’s arm was outstretched when falling. The linear markson the lower back and upper arms appear to be more consistent witha strike from a belt or similar object. Those marks/injuries areinconsistent with a fall and likely happened before the break inthe collar bone. When she asked the child about the fall, the childwould only say it was an accident. When asked about the other markson her body, she would only say “I don’t know” and “Please don’ttell my step-daddy I said anything”.  

Jane Smith (mom): Mom is very reluctant to talkto law enforcement or CPS. She initially indicates to you that herdaughter is clumsy and falls when she runs – which she was doing inthe house when she fell down the stairs to the basement. Whenpressed, mom will admit there have been some problems with dad (JimSmith). She said he is not Susie’s biological father but has beenin her life for the last year and a half. Susie’s biological father(Mark Johnson) lives in the area and sees Susie every otherweekend.Susie likes to talk about her “real dad” and this upsetsJim. Jim does drink daily but mom doesn’t think he is analcoholic.  

Mom said that dad and Susie were arguing about cleaning her room– Susie didn’t do a very good job of cleaning. Dad was mad and theyargued when Susie fell. Mom didn’t see this happen – she was in theliving room and heard the yelling and then sounds of Susie fallingand crying. Dad told her that Susie tried to run and tripped andfell when he told her to go to her room.  

When pressed, mom admits that dad does most of the discipline inthe home and is frequently angry with Susie for not listening andhas hit her in the past with a belt and a wooden kitchen spoon. Mommaintains that dad is a good man and is only frustrated withSusie’s attitude in the home. When pressed to talk more about theuse of the belt, she said that the last time Susie was spanked witha belt was two days ago. She said that Susie was arguing with herdad about cleaning her room and then told him that she didn’t likehim and wanted to be with her “real daddy”.  Jim got madover this and hit her with his belt. Mom said she told him to stopand he did and then told Susie he was sorry.  

Asked about domestic violence between her and Jim, mom willadmit that he has hit her but not “in a long time” and only becausehe is under a lot of stress from his work (he’s in financialmanagement). She wasn’t able to (or wouldn’t) give an estimation ofwhat a “long time ago” meant.

Mom said Susie attends Tacoma Elementary School as a 1st graderand mom thinks her daughter’s best friend is named Lisa who is inthe same class.

Susie Smith: Susie was interviewed by aforensic interviewer. You were present and helped provide thequestions asked and took notes of the interview. She was reluctantto talk but eventually said that she wants to live with her mom andher “real dad”. She said she likes being around him (her biologicalfather) because he is fun and easy to talk to about things. Askedabout her step-dad (Jim), she said that he gets mad at her a lotwhen she doesn’t do exactly what he tells her todo.  

Susie said that he yelled at her yesterday about how dirty herroom was and she started to cry and left her room to find her mom.Her dad was angry and grabbed her by the arm. He took off his beltand hit her on her back and butt with it. She said she told him to“stop” and leave her alone and he grabbed her by her arms andpulled them behind her back. He pushed her and she fell down thestairs outside of her room. The stairs lead to the basement. Shesaid he was wearing his blue “Seahawks” belt – it has a Seahawklogo and football on it by the buckle. She also said he has hit herbefore with this belt.

Susie said her arm hurt “real bad” after she fell and her momcame running down to help her. Her mom started yelling at her dadwho told her to “Shut up”. Her mom wanted to call the doctor abouther arm and dad got made and grabbed mom’s cell phone and threw itagainst the basement wall. Her mom screamed at him to “get awayfrom us”. The man and lady who live next door in the blue housecame over and knocked on the door and asked if everything was okaybecause they heard some screaming and crying. Dad went to the doorand told them that she fell down the stairs and they were going totake her to the hospital.   

Susie was asked if she ever told anyone else about what happenswith her step-dad. She said she has told her best friend at school– Lisa Simpson but she begged Lisa not to tell anyone.