Ben or Sheila MacGregor

--You worked with officer Reynolds on the investigation of Woody Cossen's death.

--You were asked on Sunday, September 11, by Larry Cossen (Woody's father) to look into his son's strange death.

--Make certain to read over the General Information Sheet--the entire thing!  Know the map's inside and out.

--You should intervies all of the college students involved that were at the cabin.

--Read over officer Reynold's part as well.  Talk and compare notes.   The two of you did some things together in the investigation and you should know what officer Reynolds did.

--Much of what you know, in terms of forming an oppinion about what happened, can only be formed and figured out by asking questions of the people involved.   Talk with your teacher during the days of preparation and share your ideas to get feedback from your teacher.

--You may talk with both sides (both teams of lawyers and investigators) and freely share your ideas/theories etc.  But, in the end YOU BELIEVE THAT THE EVIDENCE POINTS TO TOBY CAUSING WOODY'S DEATH.

--You and officer Reynolds found the following books in Toby's dorm room when you and officer Reynolds searched it on September 18:  Officer Reynolds got two warrants from district Judge Frederick Loesch, one for Toby's dorm and the other for Paula's dorm.

Wayne Perkins, How to Hypnotize Yourself without Loosing your Mind.

Wayne Perkins, How to Hypnotize People.

Stever Robbins, Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

(You can find these books or references to these books on the internet)

--Your search of Toby's and Paula's dorm rooms and the surrounding areas turned up the following interesting evidence:

1.  In the dumpster directly outside of Toby's dorm room you found an old, beat up,  San Francisco 49ers jersey.  It was stiff and smelled like gasoline or something.  When you tested it for chemicals you found that it was stiff because it must have been soaked in Kerosene.  You figured that it was soaked in kerosene to mask other chemicals that might have been on the jersey, so you sent it to the lab to do a full chemical scan.  The scan indicated the presence of alchohol, gamma hydroxy butyrate and plant matter.  The lab is 90% certain that the plant matter is from some sort of fern.

2.  In the bottom of the dumpster, inside a white trash bag, were some strange metal instruments.  These instruments were unusually clean, as if they had been washed recently.  They also smelled like the jersey.  Chemical anlysis showed that they had been washed with kerosine.  No prints were present.  You gave it to the Coroner's office and they did find traces of blood on  the sharp tip of one of the tools.  The Coroner checked it for the blood type.  Ask the Coroner or the Coroner's assistant what the results were.

3.  Also in the dumpster, right next to the tools, was a crumpled up receipt for a portable sun lamp manufactured by Tan Nation Unlimited.  SEE EVIDENCE BOX to view this receipt.

4.  In Toby's dorm room you found a piece of paper stuck between the carpet edge and the wall directly behind a trash can.  This paper had the word "ROHYPNOL" written on it.  In your opinion the handwriting on it resembles Toby's.

5.  In Toby's desk drawer you found an unusual pen.  This "Sanford Diskribe Marker" has an unusual and relatively rare ink that matches the ink found on an IMPORTANT piece of paper also found in Toby's dorm room.  (SEE EVIDENCE BOX)

5.  You also searched Paula Acre's dorm room and found a 3.5 disk labeled "For T."  This disk was the only disk in the entire room despite that fact that others had informed you that Paula was a computer wizard and had "lots of disks along with her computer."  The disk you found was stuck behind her computer desk.  You encouraged officer Reynolds  next to obtain a Federal warrant to force Paula to turn over all of her email records.  You find that she tried to erase all of her messages, but you did recover one that was sent to her by Toby.   SEE EVIDENCE BOX FOR THIS EMAIL & The other evidence mentioned.  By interviewing a few of the college students you discovered that Paula has a web site about Alien Abductions.  Once you take a look at this web site share what you find with the Prosecution (The District Attorney's Team of Lawyers).

Officer Frank or Francine Reynolds

You need to interview all of the people invovled in this case and take notes on what they say.  You need to be completely familiar with the other general information pages, particularly YOURS.  You need to be completely aware of the places involved in this case by studying the maps and diagrams.

You received a call from one of the college students and went directly to the cabin to investigate the report of a missing person named Woody Cossen.  You don't remember the exact time that you arrived at the cabin, but you think that the memory of the college students is accurate regarding the time you arrived.

You conducted a brief search of the area on the morning of September 11 and found Woody Cossen's body around 8:00 AM

You called Dr. Youngman who is the Columbia County Coroner.  Dr. Youngman arrived at 8:05 AM.

You asked Dr. Youngman on September 18 to conduct a chemical analysis on a few beer cans you found in the area around were the guys say they were abducted.  You found 2 cans, each with fingerprints on them.  They are Budweiser cans. Can #1 had Carl's and Toby's fingerprints on it.  Can #2 had Woody's and Toby's fingerprints on it.  Talk to Investigator MacGregor about this because he/she may have an idea about what this indicates.

You had an expert give the 4 surviving "abductees" a lie detector test.  This test is properly called a polygraph test.  They were all willing to take the test and passed with the highest "truth" indicators possible.  The polygraph test was done by Maitland Investigative Services on September 19.  (See the Judge's copy of this document or talk to the person playing the part of the polygraph tester).

When you arrived at the cabin on September 11, you first tried to question the 4 guys who were claiming that they had been abducted by aliens.  You remember that Toby was wearing a black, zipped-up, sweat shirt.   You remember that the sweat shirt was worn over top of some sort of red shirt, because you could see it sticking out from underneath the sweat shirt.

You also remember that Carl Fields wore a gray addidas shirt.  You aren't certain what the others were wearing that morning when you interviewed them.

Later, the following week you obtained multiple search warrants from the district Judge Frederick Loesch to search the students' dorm rooms and the areas around them.  Investigator MacGregor also encouraged you to get a Federal Warrant to gain access to all of Paula Acre's email accounts, computer hardware and software.  YOU NEED TO GET TOGETHER WITH INVESTIGATOR MACGREGOR AND COMPARE NOTES ABOUT WHAT YOU  BOTH FOUND WHILE SEARCHING THE DORMS.  You conducted the searches of Toby's and Paula's rooms on September 18 and allowed detective MacGregor to assist you.

Dr. Youngman told you about discovering GHB (Gamma Hydroxy Butyrate) in Woody's blood.  You research this chemical and find out that it goes by other names, such as "rohypnol" or "rope" for short.  You have heard about this drug before in prior rape investigation.  GHB is often called the "date rape drug."

Dr. Kyle or Koreene Youngman

Be completely familiar with all maps of the area, the injuries diagram, and the death certificate that you filled out after conducting an autopsy on the body of Woody Cossen.  The autopsy took place between 1:00 and 3:00 PM on September 11.  Larry Cossen (Woody's father) verified that it was his son at 12:30 PM on September 11.

The technique you used for determining the time of death is as follows:

When someone dies their blood stops circulating.   Gravity forces the blood to collect in the lowest portion of the body.  Most of Cossen's blood migrated to the head, face, chest and front of the neck due to the fact that Woody's body was found face down in the shallows of Catawissa Creek.  Cossen ultimately lost half of his total blood volume by the time the blood clotted in the upper body wounds.  Most of the blood flowed directly into the creek.  Since Cossen was 135 pounds and 5 feet 7 inches tall, you estimate that his heart stopped beating aaround 3:15-3:30 AM early on the morning of September 11.  You corroborated the time of death by figuring the degree of RIGOR MORTIS that had set in (SEE YOUR TEACHER IF YOU NEED HELP UNDERSTANDING WHAT RIGOR MORTIS IS).

Cossen's blood alcohol level was .22, enough to make a man of his size drunk.  Cossen's blood-alcohol was enough to make him disoriented and somewhat physically out of control.  He certainly would have trouble walking along a dark unlit mountain pathway if he didn't know the area very well.  You need to point out that the blood test also revealed that Cossen had enough GHB (Gamma Hydroxy Butyrate) in his blood to make his "state of drunkeness" double the .22 previously mentioned.  You know that this drug is also known as the "date rape drug" because it is used by rapists to put their victims under or make them unable to resist the crime.  This makes you suspicious of foul play.  When you hear the story about the guys feeling "paralyzed" and being unable to see, hear or think straight, you conclude that they were probably not "abducted" by aliens at all.   Rather, the symptoms are consistant with low dose of GHB.  You theorize that the GHB was somehow swallowed by the "abductees" within 20-30 minutes of their supposed "abduction." The GHB caused them to feel paralyzed.  Other names you are aware of for GHB are "Rohypnol" and "Rope."

On September 18, you conducted a chemical analysis of 2 Budweiser cans that Officer Reynolds gave to you.  You found trace amounts of GHB mixed in with the tiny bit of beer left in the cans.  When you told officer Reynolds about the presence of GHB in the cans he told you that fingerprints had been found on these cans.  Can #1 had Carl's and Toby's fingerprints on it and Can #2 had Woody's and Toby's fingerprints on it.

You were also asked by Officer Reynolds and Investigator MacGregor if the burned faces of Woody, Toby, Dean, Carl and Mike could have been caused by a portable sun lamp held very close to their faces.  In your medical opinion, a 700 watt facial tanner could cause these type of burns in about 10 minutes.

Officer Reynolds also asked you to see if you could find any traces of blood on a couple of instruments that were found.  You knew what these metal instruments were right away--some were dental tools and one was a cake tester.   You found traces of B+ blood on one of the dental tools.  Unfortunately, these tools had been washed in  kerosene, which prevented you from doing an accurate DNA test.

You checked the birth records of all the possible subjects to see what their blood types are.  Here is what you found:

Woody Cossen=  O+

Toby Drexler= O+

Carl Fields= O+

Fred Tyler+= A+

Dean Cowher= AB-

Michael Tifton= B+

Linda Rhinehard= O+

Sharon Forrester= O+

Caron Cisko= A-

Alexis Andrews= A+

Bonnie Smith= O+

Paula Acres= O+

If you don't understand why these blood types would be important to the case, talk it over with officer Reynolds and investigator MacGregor.   The three of you should certainly be able to make the connection to the "abduction" story.

Click here to go to Woody Cossen's Death Certificate

Click here to go to Dr. Youngman's Diagram of Woody Cossen's Injuries.

Click here to go to the Profiles of other Witnesses in this Case