Interview with Crime Writer Dennis N. Griffin — S. 5, Ep. 13

Debbi Mack interviews crime writer Dennis N. Griffin on the Crime Cafe podcast. Read along with the podcast or, if you’re in a rush, download a copy of the show notes here. Debbi: [00:00:13] Hi, everyone. This is the Crime Cafe, your podcasting source of great crime, suspense, and thriller writing. I’m your host, Debbi Mack. Before I bring on my guest, I’ll just remind you that the Crime Cafe has two ebooks for sale: the nine-book box set and the short story anthology. You can find the buy links for both on my website DebbiMack.com, under the “Crime Cafe” link. You can also get a free copy of either book if you become a Patreon supporter. You’ll get that and much more if you support the podcast on Patreon, along with our eternal gratitude for doing so. Debbi [00:01:02]: Hi, everyone. Before I introduce my guest, I am going to give an extra thank you to my patrons, Ken MacClune and S. Koren. When this goes live, it'll be after “Thank You Patrons Day”, but this is an extra thank you to you guys. I should be thanking my patrons every day for supporting the podcast. If you're interested, just go to my website www.debbimack.com and click on ‘Crime Cafe’. Check out my Patreon page and the Crime Cafe ebooks while you're there. And now, I'm pleased to have with me today an author who writes crime fiction and true crime. A 20-year veteran of law enforcement, his latest book concerns the topic of cold cases. It's my pleasure to introduce Dennis Griffin. Hi, Dennis, how are you doing today? Dennis [00:01:59]: Oh, hi Debbi, a pleasure to join you. Debbi [00:02:02]: I'm so glad to have you here. I read your blog, your guest post, and that is just some powerful stuff you have in there about how unsolved murders end up being cold cases. Could you tell us a little bit about how you got involved in cold case investigation? "I met with the mother of the deceased soldier, and she explained to me that the case—this was in 2010, so it was a three-year-old case at that time—the mother explained that she had not gotten any answers through law enforcement and through the Army CID investigations of her son's death, and she wanted us, she wanted my employer to see if we could find out any answers for her as to what may have happened to her son." Dennis [00:02:22]: Yes. I was working as a private investigator for a firm in central New York and upstate New York. And my boss assigned me to investigate the 2007 death of a soldier from the 10th Mountain Division stationed at Fort Drum in Watertown, New York. So, I met with the mother of the deceased soldier, and she explained to me that the case—this was in 2010, so it was a three-year-old case at that time—the mother explained that she had not gotten any answers through law enforcement and through the Army CID investigations of her son's death, and she wanted us, she wanted my employer to see if we could find out any answers for her as to what may have happened to her son. So, that was how I initially got involved. And there was a case of where her son had recently returned from deployment to Afghanistan. He'd just assigned back on the base after a 30-day leave, and this again was in 2007, and he moved off base with another soldier to share an apartment. He was there one night, the next night after they get off duty, he went out bar hopping. He disappeared that night and was never seen again. A missing persons report was filed with the local Watertown City Police Department, and the Army considered him as an AWOL after, I think, it was 48 hours. Six months later, his skeletal remains were found in a field about three miles outside of Watertown. They were in such condition that no toxicology could be done and they couldn't establish a cause or manner of death, so everything was listed as ‘undetermined’. And that was the situation I became involved in trying to find out her son's activities that night; why he disappeared from the bar he was at and how he happened to end ...