Speakers Jan. 29 & 30, 2009—Open to the public
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Investigator Robert B. Appleton
Investigator Robert B. Appleton is currently assigned to Forensic Investigation Support Services (FISS) under direction of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) Headquarters in Albany, NY. He is a NYS certified latent print examiner, crime scene and evidence technician, and is also certified by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) as a site safety supervisor and clandestine laboratory technician.
Appleton served on the Contaminated Crime Scene Emergency Response Team (CCSERT) and holds certifications in Weapons of Mass Destruction while attending schools hosted by U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies. He is a New York State police instructor and NYS certified instructor.
Rob Appleton is a 12-year veteran with the New York State Police, and has been in his current assignment since August of 2005. His training and experience encompasses the following specialized fields:
- forensic crime scene processing
- latent print processing and identification
- court testimony
- hazardous materials identification
- clandestine waboratories
- weapons of mass destruction (biological, nuclear/radiological, chemical, and explosive)
He graduated in 1992 from Norwich University with a B.S. in Environmental Engineering Technology and currently serves on the Board of Fellows.
He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Marist College where he holds a 4.0 GPA with an anticipated May of 2008 graduation. He has been nominated to Pi Alpha Alpha, the National Honor Society for Public Administration and Affairs.
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Dr. Michael M. Baden
Dr. Michael M. Baden is a Board-certified, forensic pathologist who is a co-Director of the New York State Police Medicolegal Investigation Unit. From 1961 to 1986 Dr. Baden worked in the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in New York City and was the chief medical examiner from 1978 to 1979. He was also the deputy chief medical examiner for Suffolk County from 1981 to 1983. He has held professorial appointments at Albert Einstein’s Medical School, Albany Medical College, New York Law School and John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
He was the chairman of the Forensic Pathology Panel of the US Congress Select Committee on Assassinations that investigated the deaths of President John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. Baden has been involved as an expert in forensic pathology in many cases of international interest including:
- the examination of the remains of Tsar Nicholas II and his family
- the Claus Von Bulow murder trial
- Marlon Brando’s son’s murder trial
- expert witness for the defense in the OJ Simpson trial
- the re-autopsy of Medgar Evers, Civil Rights Movement leader
- the death of Billy Martin (New York Yankees)
- the deaths of Mary Beth Tinning’s nine children
- the re-examination of the Lindberg kidnapping and murder
- autopsies of the victims of TWA Flight 800
During his career Dr. Baden has been published in numerous national and international medical journals. He also published a factual account of several of his cases in the book Unnatural Death, Confessions of a Medical Examiner and was the subject for several HBO specials—Autopsy—that highlighted several of his interesting cases which demonstrated the value of forensic sciences allied with solid police investigative techniques in homicide investigation.
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Investigator Ryan R. Kubasiak
Investigator Ryan R. Kubasiak is a 9-and-a-half year veteran of the New York State Police and is currently assigned to the Computer Crime Unit Forensic Laboratory. In his capacity as a forensic examiner of digital evidence, Investigator Kubasiak is tasked with crimes involving desktop computers, laptop computers, small and large capacity storage media, and network intrusions of servers and storage area networks. Investigator Kubasiak previously worked for the State University of New York at Buffalo as a local area network administrator before taking his law enforcement position.
Investigator Kubasiak currently holds a degree or certification in the following notable areas:
- Bachelor of Science in Computer Science
- certified computer examiner
- Encase Certified Examiner
- Encase Advance Field Investigation Model Forensics
In addition, Investigator Kubasiak maintains associations internationally with the following well respected organizations:
- High Tech Crime Investigators Association
- International Association of Computer Investigation Specialists
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Dr. Lowell J. Levine, DDS
Dr. Lowell J. Levine is a forensic scientist and co-director of operations for the New York State Police Forensic Services Unit. After receiving a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from New York University in 1963, he served two years of active duty as a dental officer in the US Navy and recently retired from US Naval Reserve as a captain. He has served as president of the American Academy of Forensic Odontology. He has testified as an expert witness in celebrated cases nationwide, including that of serial murderer Theodore Bundy, as well as in federal courts, court martials and committees of the United States Congress.
He has established an international reputation for his participation in the identification of Nazi war criminal Joseph Mengele, assistance in the investigation by the “Commission on the Disappeared” of Argentina, and most recently has served as a member of a team of experts that went to Ekaterinburg, Russia to examine the remains of Tsar Nicholas II and his family. He has also served as a consultant to the Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission investigating the MOVE conflagration and US Army’s Central Identification Laboratory identifying MIA’s of Vietnam. He participated in the medico-legal investigation of the sailors killed on the USS Stark (EFG-31) as well as the select committee on Assassinations of the US House of Representatives, which investigated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
In addition to training scientists in Indonesia, Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador and other countries for various governments and agencies, he has published numerous scientific papers and lectures throughout the United States and internationally. He was instrumental in developing the annual NYSP Col. Henry F Williams Seminar. He is also the recipient of the Hobart College Medal of Excellence, as a distinguished alumnus.
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Vincent J. Sava
Vincent Sava graduated magna cum laude from Norwich University in 1980. Mr. Sava’s military career took him to Germany, Korea, the Middle East and various posts around the US. For his performance during the Battle for Objective Viper in Iraq, he was decorated with the Bronze Star. Mr. Sava’s peacetime military duties included nuclear weapons platoon leader, nuclear weapons liaison officer to NATO, operations & training officer, artillery battery commander, and TRADOC school instructor. Mr. Sava holds the additional military specialties 38A (Civil Affairs) and 52A (Nuclear Weapons).
Mr. Sava is currently a colonel in the Army Reserve, serving as a deputy chief of staff, Engineers for the 9th Mission Support Command. He has held various staff positions, including joint operations officer, ROTC battalion commander at Hampton University, Hampton, Virginia, and civil affairs disaster management planning and management officer. In 2005 Col. Sava served in Iraq as the executive officer to Ambassador Dan Speckhard, chief of the Iraqi Reconstruction Management Office.
Mr. Sava is a Fellow in the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and a member of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists and the International Association of Identification. He founded Pacific Osteology, a private company that conducted osteological analyses and research for archaeological firms around the Pacific. Mr. Sava is one of the few anthropologists with a detailed understanding of the human biology of this region. In 2000, Mr. Sava was the on-site osteologist monitoring the excavation of the earliest colonial cemetery at Jamestown, Va. Mr. Sava assumed the duties of the CIL’s quality and training manager in 2000. In 2005, Mr. Sava led a forensic team to the Kalaupapa Peninsula on Molokai to exhume the remains of Mother Marianne Cope, a Catholic nun being considered for sainthood in the Catholic Church.
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Dr. David R. Starbuck
Dr. David R. Starbuck is an historical archaeologist who received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from Yale University in 1975. He specializes in military sites archaeology, and since 1985 he has directed excavations at sites of the American Revolution and the French & Indian War, including the Saratoga Battlefield, Mount Independence, Fort William Henry, Fort Edward, Rogers Island, and the Lake George Battlefield Park. He is currently associate professor of anthropology at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, where he has taught since 1993, and he has previously taught at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (1982–89), the University of New Hampshire (1979–82), and Boston University (1975–79).
He is president of the Adirondack Chapter of the New York State Archaeological Association, editor of the New Hampshire Archeological Society, vice president of the National Society for Industrial Archeology, editor of the Council for Northeast Historical Archaeology, and his work has been featured on The History Channel, The Learning Channel, and a host of local programs.
Dr. Starbuck has published more than 100 articles and chapters in books, and his books include The Great Warpath, Massacre at Fort William Henry, Rangers and Redcoats on the Hudson, A Shaker Family Album, Neither Plain Nor Simple (the Canterbury Shakers), and The Archeology of New Hampshire, all published by The University Press of New England.
