Consulting
Mark Benecke
Mark Benecke works in the forensic field for now twenty years. He set up forensic DNA labs in the Philippines and Vietnam, was employed at the Chief Medical Examiner's Office in Manhattan, can often be found training students from Colombia to Cologne and is Germany's only Certified & Sworn in Expert for Detection, Collection and Examination of Biological Stains (Öffentlich bestellter und vereidigter Sachverständiger). He did his Ph.D. at the Inst. for Legal Medicine in Cologne, took part in police trainings all over the world (including the FBI and the Body Farm) and wrote forensic books, including books for kids, as well as numerous scientific articles. The older he gets, the more he realizes that Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes already did much of what we think we discovered first.
Lydia Benecke
Lydia is a forensic psychologist with a keen interest in deviant behavior. Her diploma thesis was a high-volume study on personality traits of sadomasochists. Apart from becoming a therapist (Psychologischer Psychotherapeut), she works in a specialized prison for sexual and/or violent offenders. Together with Mark, she wrote a recent book on character traits of offenders Aus der Dunkelkammer des Bösen. Lydia also hosts a monthly psychology column in Germany's largest S&M magazine Schlagzeilen.
Kristina Baumjohann
Tina works in the team since 2003. Her topic by heart is forensic entomology as well as crime scene work. In the past years, she put lots of pigs out for her Ph.D. thesis about insects associated with corpses. Tina bites on to our cases until they are solved. She keeps a cool head in chaos and loves decomposition processes as much as combining facts, working with traces and solving riddles.
Markus Streckenbach
Whenever plants strike our forensic paths, Markus comes in. Trained and educated in the old and honoured field of plant anatomy and morphology, he performs all research on botanical remains including SEM analysis. His botanical first love were tree roots. We cannot remember exactly when he joined our group, but his profound knowledge and great reliability led to recurrent collaborations ever since. Running his own business as an expert and consultant, he can draw upon many years of experience.