Homicide

Homicide Investigations

Detective Mark Mynheir

Palm Bay (Fla.) Police Department

Killers have murdered and tried to cover their sins every since Cain struck Abel and tried to hide it from God. In mystery novels, murder looms as that shadowy threshold heroes and villains must confront. Hunting down these Cains has captured the imagination of readers since man first put ink to paper. And homicide investigations have become to crime fiction what guitars have become to country music—indispensable.

What goes through the minds of those called to investigate these horrendous crimes? And how does one approach a crime scene to investigate the murder of another?


Detective Mark Mynheir visits us today from Palm Bay Police Department (PBPD), an agency located midway on Florida’s east coast. Mark is a man of many talents currently assigned as a homicide investigator with PBPD’s Criminal Investigations Unit. He also served as a member of the department’s SWAT team, with prior experience as a narcotics agent and a patrol officer.

Mark also has another talent. He is a gifted writer with four published novels under his belt and all with a common thread—cops as protagonists. (Check his web site at http://markmynheir.com/ for more information about him and his novels, Rolling Thunder, From the Belly of the Dragon, The Void, and his latest, The Night Watchmen).

Today, we’ll focus on Mark’s experiences as a homicide investigator.

MARK YOUNG:  Mark, thanks for joining us once again. Could you fill us in on some of the blanks in your resume we’ve missed? How long with PBPD?  What led you to a law enforcement career?  How long have you worked in CIU?

MARK MYNHEIR: Thanks for having me, Mark.  I’ve been with PBPD for almost twenty-one years.  I was with the Cocoa Beach Police Department for two years before that.  I’ve been a detective for about twelve years now, mostly working homicides and violent crimes.  I also did a three-and-a-half year stint as a narcotics agent and was on our S.W.A.T. Team for a while. 

I got into law enforcement because I was getting out of the Marine Corps and didn’t have a job.  All my Marine buddies were becoming cops, so I thought I’d give it a try.  I wasn’t that enthusiastic about it until I applied for the academy.  After that, I knew it was going to be my career.

MARK YOUNG:   Let’s focus on your latest assignment as a homicide investigator. Many of our blog readers are readers and writers of crime fiction, so we’d like to get a little insight into the mind of an investigator. Let’s start with getting the call. How are callouts assigned in your department? How are investigative teams comprised? 

MARK MYNHEIR: Unfortunately, there are only four of us in the Major Crimes Unit, so when a homicide happens, we’re all called out.  We try to rotate the responsibility of being the Lead Investigator, but it doesn’t always work that way.   People go on vacations or are at schools.  I once caught three in a row in a two week time period.  I was exhausted, to say the least. 

MARK YOUNG:   What starts to click in your mind when you start to respond to one of these calls?

MARK MYNHEIR: After the coffee (which is the important first step), I make a mental check list of what I need to do—witness statements, potential search warrants, or phone subpoenas.  I will generally have a vague idea what has happened from dispatch or the sergeant at the scene who has called.  I then whip out some phone calls to the rest of the team to get them to the scene. 

MARK YOUNG: In many departments, a dead body call is forwarded to homicide investigators from patrol based upon certain criteria—unattended death (physician was not involved in providing medical care), questionable circumstances surrounding the death, or an investigation larger than patrol might be able to handle. What are be some of the determining factors in your department that might jump a dead body call from patrol investigating and closing the case to CIU investigators stepping in?

MARK MYNHEIR: With our department, it has to be a case where the deceased has no significant medical history in which a doctor would sign the death certificate, and/or there’s obvious trauma or suspicious circumstances—like apparent suicides.  We wouldn’t investigate a Hospice situation.  

MARK YOUNG:  As you arrive at the scene, how do you prioritize what needs to be done? For example, who do you need to contact right away and who do you wait to call? How do you determine the size and scope of the crime scene? Do you have field technicians available to process the scene? How do you handle witnesses? What kind of things do you start taking a closer look at?

MARK MYNHEIR: When I arrive, I meet with the first responding officers and get briefed from there.  I like to wait until I have another detective or two on scene before I interview witnesses, so we can make a plan.  But, like many things in law enforcement, it doesn’t always work out that way.  Sometimes I have to jump in and start talking with people right away. 

We start with the initial witnesses (like the person who discovered the body and such) and work our way out.  I like to have neighborhood contacts done as soon as possible.  Sometimes we’ll call in burglary detectives or our tack team to help us if we need it.  Our Crime Scene Unit will respond, and we’ll have a sit down with them and make a plan how to approach the scene—because each one is different.  I will then try to stay out of their way after that.  They need the time to conduct a methodical search and documentation of the scene. 

The newer technology is helpful here because we all carry digital recorders, and I record every statement with witnesses at the scene, so I don’t forget or miss something, and I don’t have to take the witnesses back to the station.