Investigation Team:​ ​Hannah Wallis, Isaiah Schweizer, and Garrett McHugh

Case Identification​:​ Ricardo Romero

Case #​ ​ ​AT816237

Introduction:
The murder of Ricardo Romero occurred at approximately 10:15 p.m. Shortly therefore,
a certain make and model of a car, along with its license plate number, were recorded
by
a witness who reportedly had seen the car speeding in the vicinity of the crime scene.
Ravenna Police and a team of forensic scientists immediately went to the home of the
person to whom the car was registered, where they found the car parked in the
driveway. Ravenna Police noted that it had taken them 30 minutes to travel to the
suspect’s home from the crime scene. They also noted that the engine of the car was
still warm when they arrived at 11:00 p.m. When confronted, the suspect claimed to
have
been at a friend’s house earlier that night and had returned home at about 10:00 p.m.
The suspect’s friend confirmed and the suspect’s roommate stated that the suspect was
home at about 10:00 p.m. As Ravenna Police questioned the suspect, the forensic team
prepared to take the measurements of the vehicle’s engine coolant.

Data Collection Assessment:

When the team began investigating at 11:00 p.m., the initial temperature of the engine's
Coolant was 150 degrees. By 11:10 p.m. the temperature had dropped to 130 degrees
fahrenheit. The ambient temperature (air temperature) was 70 degrees fahrenheit. The
normal running temperature of the car’s engine, based on its make and model, is about
200 degrees fahrenheit. .

Analysis​:
The forensic team made an equation that helped the police determine the suspect’s
x
innocence or not. The parent function for this situation would be y = a * b .Using the
two times of the day, the temperature's recorded, and the air temperature, a function was
created based on the parent function. That equation is y = 80 * bx + 70 . They used the
numbers gathered at the scene to plug into that equation to be able to determine the “b”
value. Using the temperature of the car normally to plug into “y”, the equation then read
200 = 80(.971642)x + 70 . According to the answer, it was -17. This means that it would be
17 minutes off of the time 11:00 p.m. which was the time that the temperature was taken
place. This means that the suspect got home at 10:43 p.m., not 10:00 p.m. like was
stated before.
Expert Opinion: ​We believe that with all the information given and found, that we don’t
have enough information to fully accuse the suspect of the following crime. When doing
the math we found out that he would have gotten home at 10:43 p.m. which would
mean it would work out perfectly because the crime took place at 10:15 and the drive to
the suspects house is approximately 30 minutes. The only thing that doesn’t make this
work is that we figured out that his car would have been at about 580 degrees
fahrenheit which is impossible without the car stalling or even exploding.
● The most compelling piece of evidence is the time that he got home. It proves
that he lied and got home later than he said.
● The temperature that the engine reached would cause it to stall or break down bc
it would overheat.
● We can’t come to conclusion because there's not enough information to prove it
was him. All we know is the car and the temp of the car.
● Some other processes that might explain the evidence is fingerprint proof, and
security cameras catching the person in the act.