I have a woman ghost who was murdered in an isolated house by her friend. It happened more than 10 years ago and now the only trace remains of her is her skeleton, which is picked clean by wild animals. What evidence could I conjure up that would be enough to bring the murderer to justice?
A murder weapon with fingerprints of the killer; multiple witnesses who can provide evidence against the victim; a strong motive for the murder corroborated by the witnesses; maybe a search warrant for the new suspect revealed other strong evidence. You also need to consider the statute of limitations for your setting. In the U.S., murder generally has no statute of limitation, but there have been unique cases where the judge threw out the case. I almost forgot to mention DNA evidence, which would likely be the strongest case against the killer. Also, witness testimony could be beneficial in the starting the case but would likely be not very influential in court if 10 years had passed.
The murder weapons sounds good! I'm sorry if I sound like a newbie, but can the fingerprints stay on weapons even after ten years?
Here's an excerpt that I pulled: There is no scientific way to know how long a latent fingerprint will last. Fingerprints have been developed on surfaces that had not been touched in over forty years; yet not developed on a surface that was handled very recently. There are a multitude of factors that effect how long fingerprints last. Some include the type of surface touched; the individual who touched it, and environmental conditions can have serious bearing on how long a fingerprint will last on a surface. So it sounds like 10 years could definitely be realistic. Here's another excerpt that shows the conditions that lead to better identification of prints: If the surface is dry and smooth, the hands are very sweaty, the initial touch is direct, and the latent is protected until examined, the latent print may contain many clear and visible ridges for comparison.