Photo by Balazs Balassa
The Harding Criminal Justice Association (HCJA) hosted an event on Dec. 6 for students from the criminal justice department, challenging them to find the culprit of an elf’s murder.
The murder mystery experience was put on by the HCJA in the Ezell Center, in conjunction with assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry Chantelle Taylor and assistant professor of behavioral sciences Samuel Jeffrey.
“The Harding Criminal Justice Association has been looking to do some fun but educational exercises that advance our learning of careers in law enforcement and the legal system,” senior criminal justice major Emma Smith said. “Last semester, we took a self-defense class with Harding Public Safety, which was enjoyable and also taught us some valuable lessons in escaping situations that could be potentially harmful. The hope for this simulation is similar: to enjoy our time while learning the techniques of handling crime scene murder investigations.”
While the group was based in Ezell 212, clues were scattered throughout the whole building — along with multiple suspects, Taylor said.
“[The goal was] to help them be engaged with each other and with the thought of possible future careers on a more fun scale,” Taylor said. “But really just to bring people closer together.”
The event was originally supposed to be built off of an online kit, but shipping issues kept it from coming in on time, senior HCJA president Todd Yurcho said. Instead, the association leadership created their own.
“Any good facilitator or logistics individual would have a plan B and a plan C, and if you have to go to plan D, well maybe it’s just doomed to fail,” Yurcho said before the event. “My plan B, which is looking like it’s going to work out, is to have Chantelle Taylor provide some things from her forensics class.”
The crime scene was built with Taylor’s forensic experience and designed to be fun as well as logistically challenging. Some of the evidence included a discarded glove, a sharpened candy cane and an elf hat.
“Being able to investigate a crime scene, even a simulated one, will be good,” Yurcho said. “Good experience for individuals to be able to see the layout of a crime scene and how it works, but also to our students who want to go into law enforcement or a different profession in the law field.”
It wasn’t just criminal justice majors involved, either. Three of the suspects during the event were sophomore molecular and cellular biology major Katie Yurcho, freshman psychology major Rachel McKinlay and senior social work major Lauren Masteller.
“It’s just a good end of semester … team bonding kind of adventure,” Todd Yurcho said. “Those are the best kind.”
The Harding Criminal Justice Association (HCJA) hosted an event on Dec. 6 for students from the criminal justice department, challenging them to find the culprit of an elf’s murder.
The murder mystery experience was put on by the HCJA in the Ezell Center, in conjunction with assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry Chantelle Taylor and assistant professor of behavioral sciences Samuel Jeffrey.
“The Harding Criminal Justice Association has been looking to do some fun but educational exercises that advance our learning of careers in law enforcement and the legal system,” senior criminal justice major Emma Smith said. “Last semester, we took a self-defense class with Harding Public Safety, which was enjoyable and also taught us some valuable lessons in escaping situations that could be potentially harmful. The hope for this simulation is similar: to enjoy our time while learning the techniques of handling crime scene murder investigations.”
While the group was based in Ezell 212, clues were scattered throughout the whole building — along with multiple suspects, Taylor said.
“[The goal was] to help them be engaged with each other and with the thought of possible future careers on a more fun scale,” Taylor said. “But really just to bring people closer together.”
The event was originally supposed to be built off of an online kit, but shipping issues kept it from coming in on time, senior HCJA president Todd Yurcho said. Instead, the association leadership created their own.
“Any good facilitator or logistics individual would have a plan B and a plan C, and if you have to go to plan D, well maybe it’s just doomed to fail,” Yurcho said before the event. “My plan B, which is looking like it’s going to work out, is to have Chantelle Taylor provide some things from her forensics class.”
The crime scene was built with Taylor’s forensic experience and designed to be fun as well as logistically challenging. Some of the evidence included a discarded glove, a sharpened candy cane and an elf hat.
“Being able to investigate a crime scene, even a simulated one, will be good,” Yurcho said. “Good experience for individuals to be able to see the layout of a crime scene and how it works, but also to our students who want to go into law enforcement or a different profession in the law field.”
It wasn’t just criminal justice majors involved, either. Three of the suspects during the event were sophomore molecular and cellular biology major Katie Yurcho, freshman psychology major Rachel McKinlay and senior social work major Lauren Masteller.
“It’s just a good end of semester … team bonding kind of adventure,” Todd Yurcho said. “Those are the best kind.”
