Standalone VM – our standalone VM feature allows you to provide evidence to a colleague, a different department, or third party. The standalone is great for report purposes, interviews and court presentations. What sets the standalone VM apart from anything else is that it doesn’t require the original image or drive present in order for it to work.

A few years ago, VFC was directly responsible for the prosecution to a “No body murder!” case.

The case involved a victim being reported missing after he failed to turn up for a weekend of military drills. His wife confided in a close friend that she had committed the murder, however the husband’s body was never found.

The wife was eventually arrested for the murder, but later denied knowing anything about the crime, the whereabouts of her husband, or the admission to her friend. No body was ever found. Everything in the case was based on circumstantial evidence found on the suspect’s computer, cell phone records, and the friend’s statement. 

The standard forensic tools were originally used but it wasn’t until VFC was used that the investigators were able to get a much clearer view of what really happened.

VFC was used in the courtroom and the officers were able to use the VM to how the suspect’s computer. In the words of the officer:
 

This made all the difference in the world. Juries get stuck looking at our technical printouts and reports full of computer jargon and they are unfamiliar with it. Instead, we “booted” the image made of the hard drive in her computer using VFC. With the judge, jury, and everyone else in the room, it was clear what had really happened. 

Everything from the way she organized her icons on the desktop (mostly .txt files showing how to dismember bodies, roast full size pig carcasses, etc.) to all of her internet history clearly re-assembled (using her original browser) detailing the searches made for items used in the commission of the crime was priceless. 

Internet chat programs, e-mail… it was all right there – and in a format that anyone who has ever used a computer could easily digest.”

Sergeant Rob Holland, Detective, Computer Forensics Unit,
Oklahoma City Police Department, US

Following on from this case VFC aids the demystifying of technical Digital Forensic Reports\Statements the saying “a picture paints a thousand words” - the use of screen shots from a VFC VM vastly aids non-technical people