Archive of Forensic Criminologist, John Murdock. Longtime Head of the Contra Costa County Crime Laboratory. He was a highly regarded firearm and toolmark examiner.

The archive includes his forensic reports on numerous cases, forensic photographs, early UC Berkeley Graduate School of Criminology reports and theses, and works from his reference library.

Includes:

Murdock's forensic reports and documents on murder cases. Approx. 200 handwritten, printed, and photocopied pages bound in a white 3-ring binder, 2016-2018

1977 Report of Thomas F. Kranz on the Assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, based on a reexamination of forensic evidence. John Murdock / Criminalist is stamped on the front cover. Paper covers, 60 pages.

Items related to the LAPD Ricky Ross murder case in which Murdock was brought in as an outside expert. Includes reprints of original photographs showing bullets and guns along with handwritten descriptive notes, plus photocopied reports, some with Murdock's manuscript notes and yellow highlighting. The items are in a folder.

Thick forensics report on the 1975 murder of a 20 year old male in Port Chicago, Contra Costa County. Manuscript, photocopied, drawings, etc. Bound in a binder. The cover states "W. Patsel - Lab Reports and Notes".

Transcript of a murder trial, sent to Murdock by a defense attorney who asked for Murdock's opinion on the prosecution's forensics report. The transcript is signed by John Murdock and dated 4/22/85.

Twenty-eight original 8x10 photographs of a meth lab. The lab was a complete mess. There are manuscript comments by investigators on a couple of the photos.

TWELVE reports, papers and theses, by John Murdock while a graduate student at UC Berkeley's Dept. of Criminology, 1965-1969. Original typescripts, carbon copies, and photocopies, many signed. Some of the works are: The Individuality of Gun Barrels; Tool Manufacture from a Criminalists Point of View; Empirical Approach to Tool Mark Analysis; The Effect of Crowning on Gun Barrel Individuality; Toolmark and Firearm Individualization as Affected by Manufacturing Methods; etc. Also includes a typescript of a final exam, and a lined notebook filled with manuscript notes.

Manuscript notes and photopied documents from a 1975 FBI class Murdoch attended titled: MICROSCOPY OF HAIR. Approx 200 pages in binder. Includes an original photograph of the class.

TWELVE BOOKS from the forensics library of John Murdock, most with his ownership signature. Includes: Bomb Investigations, National Bomb Data Center, FBI; Methods for the Restoration of Obliterated Serial Numbers; The Bastard Bullet [Kennedy Assassination Forensics]; Shooting Crime Scene Processing and Reconstruction / Seminar; Cartridge Identification / INTERPOL; The Sheriff's Review - Contra Costa County - 1963 and 1972; Chromatography in the Identification of Barbituric Acid Derivatives; Calvin Goddard: A History of Ballistics Identification; Ames On Forgery - Its Detection; and two trade catalogs: BONE CLONES - Osteological Reproductions; LEICA FS C The Next Generation of Forensic Comparison Instruments.

All from the estate of John Murdock.

About JOHN E. MURDOCK (from an online obituary, and elsewhere on the Internet):

******John E. Murdock, b.1938 d.2025, Chief of the Contra Costa County Forensic Services Division (crime laboratory) for many years. An expert firearm and toolmark examiner. Though Murdock worked on many high profile criminal cases, he was most proud of his work on two cases for the Innocence Project, where his expertise helped secure the release of Patrick Pursley (who had spent 25 years in prison) and Bryan Foshay (who had spent 9 years in prison) following their wrongful convictions for murder based on misleading forensic evidence. The Pursley case was the first in the United States to allow post conviction firearms testing.******

INTERNATIONAL BIDDERS NOTE: The archive is heavy &

will be expensive to ship overseas.