Full Notification

This morning at 10 o’clock, members of the FBI will present an OSBI fingerprint analyst with a prestigious award for her work on a case that helped identify a murder suspect. The FBI is awarding Stacy Hirschman its Latent Hit of the Year award at the OSBI’s Forensic Science Center at 800 E. 2nd in Edmond. The Latent Hit of the Year is awarded annually to an outstanding latent examiner who solved a major violent crime by using the FBI’s fingerprint database.
The media is invited to attend this presentation.
Below are the details of the case Stacy helped to solve.
In June 1997, the OSBI received a request from the Wisconsin Department of Justice to search a latent print that was developed off the black plastic bag that was used to suffocate the victim. In 1997, the latent print was initially searched through the Oklahoma State Database but no identification was effected. The latent print was retained in the OSBI Automated Fingerprint Identification System since that time.
In May 2013, the FBI’s Next Generation Identification (NGI) Increment 3, a state-of-the-art biometric identification system was deployed, providing significant improvement in latent fingerprint search accuracy, and a new nationwide palm print identification system to help solve cold cases and improve crime-solving capabilities. Due to this advancement in the FBI’S technology, the OSBI Latent Evidence Unit put together a cold case team made up of Meghan Jones, Stacy Hirschman, and Amy Stilwell in October 2013. They began reviewing unsolved homicide and sexual assault cases and searching unidentified latent prints through NGI. On February 27, 2014, Stacy Hirschman contacted Eric Szatkowski with the Wisconsin DOJ to inquire on the status of this case and see if we could search the prints through the FBI’s database. He informed her that it was still unsolved. Stacy searched the print the next day and identified the latent print to James P. Eaton. After the latent print identification was verified, Stacy immediately informed Eric of the results. Afterwards, Wisconsin DOJ also verified the identification to James P. Eaton. The Racine County Sheriff’s Office then began surveillance of Eaton. They were able to collect a cigarette butt that Eaton dropped at a train station. Wisconsin DOJ conducted DNA analysis on the cigarette butt and were able to match it to DNA recovered from the victim’s body. With the latent print identification and the confirmed DNA match, the Racine County Sheriff’s Office arrested Eaton on April 5, 2014. On January 20th, 2017 James P. Eaton was found guilty and sentenced to 40 years for 1st degree Reckless Homicide.