Issue date: 4/7/09 Section: MULTIMEDIA

The NT Criminalistics Club jumped up and cheered, "Go green!" after it won first and second place at the Annual Arlington CSI Competition on Saturday.

Members of the club gathered at the Arlington Police Academy to compete in mock crime scene investigations.

"We engage in CSI competitions, decipher criminal case studies, and reenact crime scenes as a team," said forensic genetics graduate student and Criminalistics Club Vice President Sandy DeLillo.

The first place team members were Ryan Mabbitt, president of the Criminalistics Club and a chemistry graduate student, Tara Ferman, an anthropology senior, and criminal justice junior Dana Jach.

Second place winners were Scott Brandt, a criminal justice junior, Brandy Thomas, a biochemistry senior, and Jennifer Archer, a biology senior. This was the second year for the NT Criminalistics Club to take first and second honors in the Arlington CSI Competition.

Murder, mystery and mayhem over the murder of a company vice president at a board meeting gone terribly wrong was the competition's premise, which was kept secret up until five minutes before the teams had to examine the mock crime scene.

Three NT teams came to battle for first prize against eight other teams from the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of Texas at Arlington.

The teams were led by a host to the first room, where they received five minutes to look over an incident report. The second room was the crime scene, which was surrounded by blue tape that contestants were not allowed to cross. Contestants who touched the blue tape or anything at the scene were disqualified. Teams were given one opportunity to list crucial evidence to be tested, and had to sketch the scene within five minutes.

The teams had 15 minutes to assess the evidence, write a report that identified their primary suspect and present their findings to a chief investigator.

The judge for the contest was UT Arlington alumnus Detective Tom LeNoir, who opened the competition with instructions to the teams. He is known for capturing North Texas serial killer Dale Devon Scheanette, otherwise known as the "Bathtub Killer," and for helping on the case to hunt down serial killer Jack Reeves. LeNoir has been featured on several television shows, including CBS Cold Case Files, HBO's America Undercover: Autopsy Series, and A&E's Forensic Files.

"I'd love to compete again next year and have our club take first, second, and third," said DeLillo. "We're also planning to create our own CSI competition at NT in the near future."

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