Dan Winterich
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EXPERIENCE
Dan is an experienced college professor, criminal investigator, and forensic consultant/trainer. He currently serves as a full-time Professor of Criminal Justice at Lakeland Community College in northeast Ohio where he teaches a full range of criminal justice courses including Criminology, Criminal Investigation, Forensics/Crime Scene Investigation, Criminal Procedure, and Criminal Law. He is also a part-time Lecturer at John Carroll University where he teaches the Forensics: Crime Scene Analysis and Forensic Science in Criminal Justice courses. He has previously taught at Bowling Green State University and the University of Akron. Prior to transitioning to teaching full-time in 2017, he spent over twenty years working in the law enforcement field. He began his career as a Basic Patrol Officer for the City of Cleveland Heights (Ohio) and eventually was promoted to the rank of Investigator. |
After seven years, Dan left to become a Special Agent with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office in the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI). He was assigned to the Crime Scene Unit where he provided investigative assistance to state and local law enforcement agencies throughout Ohio, primarily in violent crime investigations. He has participated in over 1,100 criminal investigations including homicides, cold cases, serial and mass murders, officer involved shootings, workplace violence, equivocal deaths, child abductions/murders, and sex crimes. His forensic subspecialties included bloodstain pattern analysis and shooting incident reconstruction.
In 2011, he was part of an investigative team that was awarded the Ohio Distinguished Law Enforcement Group Achievement Award for helping to save the life of a thirteen-year-old girl who had been kidnapped after the offender murdered and dismembered her mother, brother, and a family friend. From 2012 until 2014, he served as the Special Agent Supervisor for BCI’s Crime Scene Unit in the Northern District. He is a certified divemaster, rescue diver, and public safety diver and was assigned to BCI’s Forensic Dive Team. Dan also spent six years as a Medicolegal Investigator/Fingerprint Specialist on the Region V Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT), served on the editorial review board for the Journal of Forensic Identification, was an executive board member for the Ohio Identification Officers Association, and worked as a subject matter expert on crime scene investigation for the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police and the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission. He left BCI in 2017 as a Senior Special Agent.
Education & Specialized Training
Certifications & Court Qualifications
Publications
Professional Associations
In 2011, he was part of an investigative team that was awarded the Ohio Distinguished Law Enforcement Group Achievement Award for helping to save the life of a thirteen-year-old girl who had been kidnapped after the offender murdered and dismembered her mother, brother, and a family friend. From 2012 until 2014, he served as the Special Agent Supervisor for BCI’s Crime Scene Unit in the Northern District. He is a certified divemaster, rescue diver, and public safety diver and was assigned to BCI’s Forensic Dive Team. Dan also spent six years as a Medicolegal Investigator/Fingerprint Specialist on the Region V Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT), served on the editorial review board for the Journal of Forensic Identification, was an executive board member for the Ohio Identification Officers Association, and worked as a subject matter expert on crime scene investigation for the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police and the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission. He left BCI in 2017 as a Senior Special Agent.
Education & Specialized Training
- Juris Doctor, Cleveland State University, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.
- Bachelor of Science, Psychology, cum laude, John Carroll University.
- Graduate of the 236th Session of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and earned a Certificate in Criminal Justice Education from the University of Virginia.
- Over 1,000 hours of specialized investigative and forensic training. He graduated from the New York State Police Henry F. Williams Homicide Seminar, attended advanced death investigation training at the Office of Chief Medical Examiner for New York City, and participated in the Homicide Investigator’s Intensive Study Program at the Center for Homicide Research.
Certifications & Court Qualifications
- Court qualified expert in bloodstain pattern analysis, crime scene reconstruction, crime scene investigation, and shooting incident reconstruction.
- Certified Senior Crime Scene Analyst, International Association for Identification.
- Certified Special Subject Instructor in Crime Scene Investigation, Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission.
- Certified Ohio Peace Officer, Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission
Publications
- Clark, R., Distelrath, C., Vaquera, G., Winterich, D., DeZolt, E. (2015). Critical-incident trauma and crime scene investigation: a review of police organizational challenges and interventions, Journal of Forensic Identification, Vol. 65, No. 6, 929-951.
- Winterich, D. (2010). Preserving a crime scene’s integrity, Ohio Attorney General Criminal Justice Update, Vol. 2, No. 3.
- Winterich, D. (2009). Documenting bloodstains through roadmapping, Forensic Magazine, October-November, Vol. 6, No. 5, 19-22.
- Kollar, M., Saraya, J., Staley, E., Winterich, D. (2008). How to build a portable superglue fuming chamber for vehicles, Evidence Technology Magazine, November-December, 26-29.
- Buckley, P., Robben, T., Friedman, L., Hyde, J., Winterich, D. (1998). Sexual behavior among inpatients with schizophrenia, Schizophrenia Research, 29, 197-197.
- Buckley, P., Hyde, J., Winterich, D., Friedman, L., Donenwirth, K. (1997). Sexuality and schizophrenia: behavioral patterns and clinical correlates, Schizophrenia Research, 24, 11-11.
Professional Associations
- Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences
- Midwest Criminal Justice Association
- Atypical Homicide Research Group
- International Association for Identification
- International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts
- Association for Crime Scene Reconstruction