March 02, 2001, 2:44 PM — The Dec. 11, 1999, headline in the Marantha Christian Journal in Wolsey, S.D., read: "South Dakota Pastor to Go on Trial for Murder." The Rev. William Guthrie, former pastor of Wolsey's First Presbyterian Church, was jailed without bond on first-degree murder charge for the death of his wife. Sharon Guthrie had drowned in the bathtub of their home, and an autopsy revealed she had taken an overdose of the sleeping pill Temazepan.
Rev. Guthrie pleaded innocent. "A minister killing his wife in the bathtub? Impossible!" asserted the defense. The prosecutor, however, was convinced the minister slipped the sleeping pills into his wife's chocolate milk. Cybersleuth Judd Robbins proved it and sent the good pastor to jail for life. Although there was no hard evidence to win a conviction, that changed after Robbins's forensic investigation of the reverend's computer.
Robbins began by replicating the contents of the minister's computer. "The original machine was seized and frozen, which is standard procedure, so there cannot be any tampering with evidence," Robbins explains. "This is why I copy everything."
After three days of combing the minister's files, he finally found evidence that Guthrie had searched the Internet for painless and surefire killing methods. Robbins unearthed detailed notes about sleeping pills and lethal household cleaning agents.
The 54-year-old forensics expert heads Presentation Dynamics, Inc., an oddly named Lake Tahoe, Nev., computer consulting firm specializing in computer forensics. Robbins earned degrees in physics, information science, and computer science from the University of California at Berkeley. He has written several books on software and databases, and has held a series of programming, systems design, and teaching jobs. In the emerging forensics field, he's one of a dozen investigators in the United States.
Robbins inadvertently found his way to computer forensics in the mid- to late-1990s, when desperate attorneys asked for his help in solving difficult cases. Prosecuting attorneys think he's a godsend, a technological wizard who can mysteriously unearth hidden truths in the bowels of a computer's operating system to either convict or free someone accused of a crime.
In 1998, Robbins was summoned to look at the guts of 19-year-old Jeremy Strohmeyer's computer. Strohmeyer was charged with the rape and strangulation of 7-year-old Sherice Iverson, who was found dead in a bathroom stall of a hotel 43 miles south of Las Vegas. Police claimed Strohmeyer confessed to the killing, saying he wanted to "experience death," but the teenager's attorneys insisted he had been forced to confess under duress while fighting the effects of a drug overdose. A conviction rested on finding hard evidence. Enter Robbins.
A couple of days spent exploring every file and software program on Strohmeyer's computer revealed shocking evidence leading to a sentence of life imprisonment. Did he find pornographic literature, proof of frequent visits to S-M Websites, or detailed notes planning the crime? "Worse than that," snapped Robbins, who, having been sworn to secrecy, could not reveal details. Suffice it to say, the evidence was unquestionably incriminating.
Over the past few years, the demand for forensics experts has increased dramatically. The five-year-old profession is suddenly getting the attention it deserves because attorneys have learned that computers and the Internet are powerful evidentiary tools for both convicting and exonerating crime suspects. It's not just useful in murder cases but in hacking and intellectual property cases as well.
Understandably, Robbins loves what he does. Putting aside the glamour of uncovering life or death evidence, he says cybersleuthing (or forensic analysis) is intense and tedious work. And not everyone is cut out for it, which partly explains the growing demand for his expertise. Forensics also takes nerves of steel and the right temperament. Robbins's job requires the skills of a techie with at least 10 years of experience and the patience to invest days taking apart a computer in search of evidence. Combing a computer's innards is the fun part for Robbins; the stressful part is the grilling by menacing attorneys who try to break down his testimony. "Attorneys can be brutal and verbally abusive," Robbins says. "To be effective, you must exude confidence and not lose your cool."
To break into the field, Robbins advises learning about computer hardware and software, especially operating systems. The logical way to segue into computer forensics is by mastering computer security techniques and software. "The tough part is understanding what you find, which often means combing through useless information," he says.
