Solving crimes may seem easy these days. Television shows that blast into millions of homes each week, show us how many new techniques are out there, which appear to make it so much easier to find out just who did it.
"It does a disservice because the jurors think we have a replay of the crime," said Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins.
And, of course, that's not going to happen. What detectives, prosecutors and defense attorneys all over, including here in the Mahoning Valley, try to do is gather enough evidence and use the most up-to-date technology to give jurors everything they need to know to find out who is guilty and who is not. That technology ranges from DNA to polygraphs. Both have been used in thousands of trials in Trumbull and Mahoning County to both clear and convict defendants.
But before the polygraph can detect a lie or DNA can match a suspect, prosecutors rely on the the best tool for crime fighting, and it's the one that's been around for ages.
Hubbard Township Detective Mike Begeot recalls his work on the 1995 murder of Ann Serafino and the attempted murder of her son, Chuck. Arrests of the suspects came after police were able to gain information from what turned out to be one of the defendants.
"Yeh, you'd like to have all the stuff you see on TV, but it's not the case. You just have to keep beating the beat and see what comes up. Talk to people, get someone who tips you off. It just comes down to keeping your eyes and ears open, making knocks on the door and maybe you'll get lucky," said Lt. Don Bishop.
When the streets start talking, such as in the case in the triple shooting in Warren in April, arrests usually soon follow. It was tips that led, Detectives Gary Vingle, Wayne Mackey, Pat Marisco, and Mike Stabile to the arrests of three suspects.
"Once you are breaking feet, things start happening. You start knocking on doors, and they don't want to come back so they give you something or point you in the right direction. You do what you gotta do," Bishop said.
