Questionable Forensics and the Double Homicide of Cheryl Williams and Carol Bareis

In 2004, three generations of women lived together in a home in Altamonte Springs, Florida:  68-year-old Carol Bareis, her daughter 47-year-old Cheryl Williams and Cheryl’s daughter Samantha Williams. On the morning of June 17, 2004, the once quiet street of Vagabond Way was crawling with law enforcement and crime scene techs processing the double homicide of Carol and Cheryl. The mother-daughter duo had been viciously attacked, stabbed a total of 131 times between the two of them. It didn’t take long for the investigation to hone in on 24 year-old Clemente Aguirre-Jarquin, an illegal immigrant from Honduras for good reason: there was DNA evidence, fingerprint evidence, shoeprints and the recovered murder weapon all pointing to what appeared to be an open-and-shut case. However, this case quickly turns into a shocking tale of how human biases and errors in forensic science failed everyone involved. We guarantee you that after hearing this case, you’ll wonder if forensic science is as accurate as we were lead to believe.

 

**Don’t miss the follow-up interview with Dr. Jeff Kukucka on Friday 4/12/2024 as he walks us through his research in implicit human bias in forensic science.**

 

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References:

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Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Court. (2019b, February 8). Welcome to the state attorney’s Office, 18th Judicial Circuit: Welcome To The State Attorneys Office, 18th Judicial Circuit: https://www.sa18.org/own/sitewide/STATES%20RESPONSE.pdf

FSU Law Library. (2008, February 7). Digitized legal collections. Digitized Legal Collections. https://law.fsu.edu/research-center/digitized-legal-collections

Possley, M. (2018, November 11). CLEMENTE AGUIRRE-JARQUIN. Clemente Aguirre-Jarquin - National Registry of Exonerations. https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=5406

Speck, E. (2020, January 7). Man exonerated in 2004 Double murder files federal lawsuit against Seminole County. WKMG. https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2020/01/07/man-exonerated-in-2004-double-murder-files-federal-lawsuit-against-seminole-county/

Sullivan, D. (2018, November 16). In Tampa, man embarks on life after years on death row. Tampa Bay Times. https://www.tampabay.com/features/humaninterest/in-tampa-man-embarks-on-life-after-years-on-death-row-20181116/

Supreme Court of Florida. (2009, March 26). Findlaw’s Supreme Court of Florida case and opinions. https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/fl-supreme-court/1045628.html. https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/fl-supreme-court/1045628.html