Master 33 Detective interview questions covering interrogation techniques, case analysis, and investigative judgment.
Question 29 of 33
Why the Interviewer Asks This Question
Example Answer
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In many cases, the investigation of a case can become cold due to a lack of leads or evidence. This can happen for various reasons, such as the nature of the crime or the resources available for the investigation. It is estimated there are more than 200,000 unsolved murder cases in the United States. Despite these challenges, it is important to continue investigating these cases if resources allow. The interviewer is interested if you have cracked one of these "unsolvable" cases and what approach or methods you used to solve the case despite the odds. This will demonstrate your tenacity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills to the interviewer.
"Yes, I have cracked a few seemingly unsolvable cases during my career as a detective. The most recent case was a missing woman. She was married and had asked her husband for a divorce. The next day, her adult children reported her missing from her home. Her husband had a solid alibi, and we could not initially find any clues to help us solve this mystery. I decided to go over the contents that were taken from the home during a search warrant and review the photos of the residence. I noticed an odd-looking pen on the nightstand and found it in the evidence bag. When I looked closer at the pen, I discovered it was a spy pen. The pen was dead, but I sent it to our forensics crime lab, and they were able to analyze the audio. The victim had recorded herself while confronting her husband about a possible affair, but it had also recorded a conversation she had with someone she was seeing outside the marriage. It took six months to determine who the person was, but he shed a lot of light on the victim's marriage, which led us in a new direction, and we ultimately solved the case. Once we had irrefutable evidence, the husband confessed to playing a part in his wife's disappearance."

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Written by Krista Wenz
33 Questions & Answers • Detective

By Krista

By Krista