Washington, DC—In late July, the National Law Enforcement Museum received a historically significant and unique collection of artifacts on loan from the Prince William County (VA) Police Department that includes the complete inventory of Task Force evidence used by law enforcement during the investigation and trial of John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo (also known as “The Beltway Snipers”), the criminals behind the deadly sniper attacks that terrorized the greater-Washington, DC area for 23 days in October 2002.
This comprehensive collection contains the infamous blue 1990 Chevy Caprice driven by Muhammad and Malvo, which was used for the attacks, as well as the physical evidence related to the individual sniper incidents in DC, Maryland, and Virginia, which claimed the lives of 10 people and seriously injured others.
The evidence consists of items like bullet fragments and a tarot card recovered from various crime scenes, a blue can of spray paint used to camouflage the inside of the car’s trunk, and everything from inside the Caprice when Muhammad and Malvo were captured, including several maps and atlases.
Museum staff has begun the process of cataloging the collection, a carefully managed system classifying the various documents, images, and objects that were compiled as evidence and used in this complicated, multi-jurisdictional case. One of the Museum’s earliest changing exhibits in The DuPont Gallery will display items from this collection to tell the complex story of law enforcement’s vital role in investigating and solving the Beltway Sniper case.
This collection was further highlighted at a recent Museum panel discussion series—Witness to History: Washington, DC-Area Sniper Attacks, 10 Years Later. Panelists included Chief Charles Deane, Prince William County (VA) Police Department; Mr. Josh White, investigative reporter for The Washington Post; Chief Charles Moose (ret.), Montgomery County (MD) Police Department; and Lieutenant David Reichenbaugh (ret.), Maryland State Police.
This collection will be available by scheduled appointment October 2-23, 2012. Media representatives interested in scheduling a private tour to view the DC Sniper Task Force collection at the National Law Enforcement Museum’s off-site storage facility, please contact Steve Groeninger at steve@nleomf.org or 202.737.7135.