Training a Lens on D.C.'s Most Gruesome Crimes

Police 'CSI Man' Has Documented Evidence for Nearly 25 Years

The calls come across his cellphone and walkie-talkie: Respond to a shooting . . . 5400 block of C Street Southeast. . . . One male victim remaining on the scene.

D.C. police crime search officer Curtis E. Lancaster grabs several boxes of brown paper bags, a measuring wheel and floodlights and loads them into the back of the cruiser. He also makes sure he has one of his most important pieces of equipment: his department-issued Nikon D200 digital camera.

Lancaster photographs the District's dead. With his camera, he hovers over mangled bodies for hours, ensuring that he has all the angles, close-ups and wide shots. For nearly 25 years, Lancaster has documented some of the city's most horrific crime scenes. In trials, prosecutors hold up his pictures -- blown up poster-size -- causing many jurors to flinch and seasoned court clerks to look away.

"I bring the jury from the jury box to the scene," he says. "We're advocating for the victim and next of kin who is looking for some type of closure."

The summer is his busiest period. With 26 years on the job, Lancaster, 50, is the senior forensics officer of the 10 who make up the overnight shift. It is the busiest shift for homicides, assaults, arsons, robberies and police-related shootings, he says.

This late June evening, as lightning flashes in the distance, Lancaster and partner Petheria McIver arrive on C Street. Police have taped off the area, and homicide detectives, wearing their best suits and dress shoes, are canvassing the scene.

Between two parked cars, curled under the rear bumper of a gray Cadillac, is an unidentified man with multiple gunshot wounds to his chest and stomach. His legs are tucked under his body, his gray New Balance sneakers pinned beneath him.

Just feet away from the body, Lancaster and McIver confer with the detectives to get a sense of the items they think should be photographed, measured and captured as evidence. Lancaster's job also includes getting fingerprints.

Without witnesses, Lancaster's job becomes more critical to help police identify suspects and prosecutors close cases, says Sgt. John Johnson, a D.C. homicide detective.

"Forensics is an important tie-in. It's like the rivets that you put into the foundation of a bridge. Without the rivets, the structure won't be sound," Johnson says.

Now, three hours later, into the wee hours of the morning, it's quiet on C Street. The detectives have returned to headquarters to interview witnesses and begin their investigation. Neighbors aren't swarming outside the yellow police tape for a glance. No mourning family members have gathered. No TV cameras or politicians are on hand. Only Lancaster and McIver remain, wiping raindrops from their faces while standing over the cooled body.

"If the rain had come earlier, this guy might still be alive," he says, suggesting that killers don't walk the streets looking for their victims in bad weather.