From Murdaugh to Josephson: How South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is Taking on Big Cases with Digital Investigative Solutions
Digital Forensics is the name of the game for modern investigations but achieving excellence is a whole other ball game.
As digital devices and the 1s and 0s that reside on them become gold mines in the majority of crime cases, having a winning combination of the right people, processes, and products is crucial to ensuring maximized results in the shortest amount of time.
South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) Seal – Source: Cellebrite
South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) recognized that importance very early on with a Computer Crimes Unit helmed currently by no less than 8 skilled examiners. With a humble start, executing a few network-related cases and financial frauds, the unit has now grown into a full-fledged digital forensics powerhouse that serves a population of 5.29 million.
Established in the early 2000s under a federal grant, the team at SLED is currently led by one Lieutenant Britt Dove, with 15 years of digital forensics experience under his belt. As it stands, the Computer Crimes Unit runs a powerful suite of digital forensics solutions including Cellebrite Premium-as-a-Service, UFED, Inspector, Physical Analyzer, and Digital Collector.
A testament to the department’s effectiveness and importance, Lt. Dove and the team are accustomed to processing huge amounts of data within a short time frame. “From July 2022 to June 2023 alone, we have processed 140.2 terabytes of data and that was for 580 extractions,” he said. “Our evidence server is now a 1.26 petabyte server and we’re at about 86% capacity.”
SLED Digital Forensics Team – Source: Cellebrite
Evident by their partnership with the Secret Service and FBI even in the early days, SLED is also no stranger to dealings with high-profile cases. Lt. Dove was quick to highlight two prominent ones that spoke to the strength of not only the efficacy of the team but also digital intelligence—its ability to paint full pictures and build stronger cases.
Examining Forensic Evidence in Southern Murder Investigations
“We partnered with the Secret Service, and they managed to unlock and extract information with Premium. From there, I was able to go through and process everything through Physical Analyzer—that’s when I found the video.” – Lieutenant Britt Dove, SLED Team Leader
The first case involves the infamous murders of Maggie Murdaugh, 52, and her son Paul Murdaugh, 22, on June 7, 2021, at the family’s hunting lodge in Islandton, South Carolina. The case has drawn national attention due to the prominence of the Murdaugh family in the lowcountry area.
Maggie and Paul were found shot to death on the family’s property. The murders were initially investigated as a double homicide, but the focus shifted to Paul Murdaugh as a suspect after his death. Lt. Dove and the team were eventually roped in as the victim’s phones were legally obtained.
As Dove recalled, “When I got Maggie’s phone, we didn’t know who did it. She and her son were found dead at the property. So I started processing it through Advanced Logical and that got us some information to start with.” However, for more detailed information that could potentially be the smoking gun, the SLED team needed a full file system extraction.
SLED Using Cellebrite UFED for Data Extraction – Source: Cellebrite
“Cellebrite had developed the ability then to get into that style of iPhone with the iOS system.” Lt. Dove added. “ We partnered with the Secret Service and they managed to unlock and extract information with Premium from Paul’s phone to obtain the full file system extraction. From there, I was able to go through and process everything through Physical Analyzer—that’s when I found the video.”
The footage Lt. Dove extracted showed Alex Murdaugh at the residence’s dog kennels minutes before the murders—with Maggie and Paul’s voices heard in the background. This video pinned him to the scene of the crime and became the critical piece of evidence against him in court.
Wrong Ride
“Our victim [Samantha Josephson, 21] went missing from the Five Points area which is a popular college bar area in Columbia.” Lt. Dove recalled. She was last seen entering a black Chevrolet Impala.
“She had shared her locations with friends and had Find My iPhone on so they started using her laptop to try to find her last location.” They eventually filed a missing person’s report and the team was called out to process their phones and Josephson’s laptop.
The victim’s body was ultimately found in a wooded area off a dirt road and the race was on to pin down suspects.
“In the wee hours of the morning, we got a call from a City of Columbia officer working in the area that he had noticed a similar vehicle. He did a stop and the driver [Nathanial Rowland] gets out, runs and they eventually caught him.” Lt. Dove said.
SLED performing mobile forensics with Cellebrite Digital Intelligence Solutions – Source: Cellebrite
“They checked the backseat of the car and noticed what looked like blood. They also got a phone while they were clearing out the car. It lit up and it was Samantha Josephson’s background,” Lt. Dove added.
After processing both the suspect’s and victim’s phones, the team was able to get location data from CDR towers that matched Josephson’s location where she got picked up after mistaking the black Impala for her Uber ride.
“We were able to combine all that extracted information and help build the case [against Rowland],” Lt. Dove added.
Rowland was found guilty of both charges of kidnapping and murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
With their successful contributions to high-profile cases and decades of experience, Lt. Dove echoes the common pains of digital forensics unit and provides great advice and strategies.
On Backlogs
“We used to have procedures where we had a larger backlog because the cases were not closed even though we had completed the work,” Lt. Dove explained. This was due to evidence for cases not being picked up by relevant parties. “Now, we’ve changed procedures and we’re closing it as soon as that happens, encouraging timely retrieval of evidence.”
On Cloud Storage
What allows SLED to move forward with cases faster is the use of cloud storage. “It makes things easier because before if we complete an 84GB examination, for example, they had to drive two hours, wait for it to copy over the network, and then drive back. Now, once we complete the case, we’ll just send out a link and they can just click that to get the information they need,” Lt. Dove clarified.
SLED Digital Forensics Lab – Source: Cellebrite
On Evidence Storage
The maintenance of digital devices and evidence is crucial to ensure integrity and admissibility in court, and SLED was quick to realize that. “They built us a Faraday room in our lab. We also have Faraday bags for our agents out in the field. So, if the crime scene unit comes back in the middle of the night with a phone that’s on, we could maintain it until we get to process it the next day.”
SLED Faraday Room – Source: Cellebrite
On Continuous Education
“I think education and continuous learning is the biggest thing. Things are changing so rapidly so you have to stay on top of that,” Lt. Dove said. “Practice is also important. Just because you learned something six months ago, if you don’t practice, you’re going to start forgetting it and the nuances,” Lt. Dove added.
Conclusion
South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) stands as a prime example of how adeptly orchestrated digital forensics can become a cornerstone in modern investigations. Lieutenant Britt Dove and team have metamorphosed the Computer Crimes Unit from its humble inception into an agile and impactful force—as evident by their success with notable high-profile cases.
On what gives him the drive to work every day, “I enjoy looking through the data, trying to find stuff, and helping my community—making it safer,” Lt. Dove says.
