Philadelphia Daily News
June 25, 1998
 

A very special case
Vidocq sleuths join effort to solve killing

by Jaclyn D'Auria
For the Daily News

You're a Gloucester County homicide investigator. You have the mysterious
death of a 22-year-old Rowan University student on your hands.
And your trail goes nowhere.

No suspects. No motives. No leads.

Gloucester County Prosecutor Andrew Yurick has called the Lynn Darren
homicide case "one of the toughest" in his career. Now he has turned to the
Philadelphia-based Vidocq Society for assistance.

"There's no clear evidence trail in this case," Yurick said. "'There's no
simple, easy solution to this case. That doesn't mean there won't be. That
doesn't mean we stopped. It just means it may take us a little longer. "
Darren, 22, a junior elementary-education and psychology major from Long
Island, N.Y., died Jan. 21, three days before her mother discovered her body
in her off-campus apartment in Glassboro.

Gloucester County Chief of Detectives Bob Armstrong came up with the idea of
calling in the Vidocq Society. He said its investigative staff had several
questions related to the combination of chemicals found in Darren's
bloodstream and the blunt trauma to her body.

Never heard of the Vidocq Society?

That's not surprising. It's a little-known police fraternity whose members include
Philadelphia-area police brass, IRS investigators, Drug Enforcement Administration
agents, psychologists, prosecutors, coroners, defense attorneys and U.S. marshals.
They pool their collective intellect and – working in their off-hours – attempt to
solve the unsolvable. The society was formed in 1990 and meets once every other
month for lunch.

It was named for Francois Eugene Vidocq, the 19th-century founder of the
French security police who became the model for Edgar Allan Poe's detective
in "The Murders in the Rue Morgue."

The society is so intrigued with the Darren case that it may wind up being
the case presentation for the August meeting, said Bill Fleisher, the
society's head.

The crime and its evidence are disclosed to members with an eye towards
refocusing the investigation. If substantial interest is shown by members,
they assemble a working group, an investigative team of society members and
volunteers.

"No one has more knowledge than the local investigators. The problem is they
are in the middle of it," said Fleisher.

The people in the Gloucester County Prosecutor's office are smart enough,
he said, "to say you never, ever get enough of an expertise to draw on. You have
to have someone that you can use as a catalyst, to give you feedback to
stimulate the gray zone."

The victim's mother, Janet Biehl, said she was elated the Vidocq Society may
review the case.

"She had only been living in that apartment for about 10 days," Biehl said.
"So many things have entered my mind. Did someone follow her home ? Was
someone waiting for her? Did someone disguise their voice?"

Toxicology tests revealed Darren ingested a toxic amount of diphenhydramine -
- an allergy and cold medicine commonly known as Benadryl. She suffered
blunt-force trauma to multiple locations, but there was no evidence that she had
been sexually assaulted, Yurick said.

"When our crime people came back, they said it was the most unusual crime
scene they had ever seen," Yurick said.

And, there was absolutely no evidence of illegal drugs.

Meanwhile, investigators are hoping another medical review by the county's
new medical exaniiner, Dr. Gerald Feigin, will shed some light on the case.

"In the next 30 days, we'll be able to give a clearer picture of what
happened the night she died," Armstrong said.

Webmaster's Note: The Lynn Darren death is not yet slated for
a full-meeting Vidocq case presentation.
 

dail062598.html 980728-0930rl