TracKRS Aids in the Arrest of Suspect in 1975 Slaying and Robbery

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 9, 2000

Perry, Florida -- TracKRS, created by askSam Systems for the Orange County (California) District Attorney's Office, continues to serve as a model for the nation.  

Information archived in TracKRS, a statewide computer database system, has recently lead to the identification and arrest of Larry Donnel Paige.  Paige has been charged with first-degree murder in the 1975 death of Lawrence Dean Wheelock who was shot in the head in front of his four year old step-son.

Ron Shave, Investigator with the Orange County District Attorney's Office, emphasizes that TracKRS is more than the assortment of database programs. "It is a team concept that involves using the TracKRS programming to put everyone on the same page and assure the public that cases won't fall through the cracks over time."

After reviewing information stored in TracKRS, investigators determined that there was a high probability that the 1975 slaying could be solved. "TracKRS investigators used a protocol established by TracKRS to have fingerprints reviewed by the OC Crime Lab. The lab used a new fingerprint computer to analyze the suspect prints and to also submit a request to the state CAL-ID fingerprint database.  Once the prints were identified, two TracKRS investigators worked up the case and made the arrest.

The use of TracKRS has also led to the death sentence for Gerald Parker, known as the "Bedroom Basher" as well as the arrest of Steven Morales, an alleged serial rapist who is awaiting trial.

Shave indicated that they had waited patiently for years for software to meet their complex needs.  "Police gather enormous quantities of information that may or may not mean anything to their case," said Shave. "Never before has an investigator been able to get immediate information regarding homicides and sexual assaults based on any known tidbit of information. TracKRS now makes this possible. When all the data is eventually accumulated, it is unlikely an offender could commit the same kind of crime without discovery."

TracKRS allows investigators from different agencies to remotely access a central database via a dial-up or intranet connection. The TracKRS database is also set up so that investigators can easily search without learning a complex query language. Frequently used searches are predefined, and the entire database is full-text searchable for any word or phrase.

TracKRS, known as a Cold Case Homicide Database, contains the details of 4000 cases (1100 murders, 2900 felony sexual assaults). It is accessed by 280 authorized users in 26 different agencies.  To date, TracKRS has helped solve 17 previously unsolved crimes, free one person who was wrongfully imprisoned for seventeen years, gain a death penalty conviction in a series of rape/murder cases from 1978 and 1979, and most recently lead to the arrest and indictment of another serial rapist as previously stated.  In addition to the Cold Case Homicide Database, TracKRS is also being used to maintain databases of police bulletins, teletypes, and a directory of expert witnesses and other investigative resources.

TracKRS was programmed using the askSam database engine in conjunction with Active Server Pages (ASP).  It runs on Windows NT servers running Microsoft Internet Information Server software. Users access TracKRS with a standard Web browser (Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, and others). TracKRS runs over a standard TCP/IP network connection.

For more information about TracKRS:

     Ron Shave

     Orange Co. District Attorney's Office

     401 Civic Center Drive West

     Santa Ana, CA 92702     

     Phone: (714) 245-8312

     E-mail: rshave@da.co.orange.ca.us

TRACKers, a related Criminal Information Management System from askSam Systems, is also available to be adapted to meet the needs of the law enforcement and criminal justice community.  

For more information and an online demo of TRACKers:

     Jim Hartman

     askSam Systems

     121 S Jefferson

     Perry FL     

     Phone: 850-584-6590     

     E-mail: jwhartman@asksam.com

     http://www.asksam.com/trackers

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