Investigative and
Forensic Consulting

Steve began his law enforcement career in 1973 when he enlisted in the US Army as a Military Policeman. He remained in the MPs until 1981 when he was accepted into the US Army CID. As a CID Special Agent, Steve worked felony crimes at various military posts across the US and overseas. He later commanded three different CID units and in 2001 retired as a Chief Warrant Officer Four as the Operations Officer for a CID Battalion where he was responsible for the supervision of five different CID units and covered an eleven state area of responsibility. Once retired Steve was employed by the Mississippi State Crime Lab as a senior crime scene analyst and conducted the examination of violent crime scenes across the state. In 2004 Steve was transferred from the crime lab to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) as the first Director of the MBI Cold Case unit, responsible for assisting police agencies across the state working on unresolved homicides. While working at the Crime lab and MBI, Steve and Grant Graham developed several different training courses for the Mississippi State Police Academy covering topics that included basic and advanced crime scenes, death investigations, and adult sex crimes. Steve was also involved in the development and as an instructor of the Certified Investigator Program at the police academy. Steve Has a Master’s Degree and undergrad degrees in Criminal Justice, is a Graduate of the FBI National Academy and has been a college adjunct instructor for Austin Peay State University, Clarksville TN, University of Mississippi, Oxford, MS and Clayton State University, Morrow, Georgia. He is a fellow with the American Academy of Forensic Science, and a member of the IAI, and the North Carolina Homicide Association. Steve is also the co-author of the text, Staged Crime Scenes: Investigating Suspect Misdirection of the Crime Scene, the co-author of the text Death Investigations: The Second Edition, and the author of Investigating Sexual Assault Cases.

Grant worked for the US Air Force Security Police beginning in 1979 working in various assignments across the US and overseas encompassing investigative, supervisory and managerial positions, including patrolman, motorcycle police traffic accident investigator, criminal investigator, Superintendent of Resources and Training, Law Enorcement Operations Superintendent; culminating in an assignment with the Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner as the Chief, Forensic Trace Materials Analysis Laboratory and was a member of the FBI’s deployed Kosovo War Crimes Task Force. Grant retired in 2000 after serving 20 years in military law enforcement and was subsequently employed by the Mississippi Crime Laboratory as a Senior Crime Scene Analyst where he conducted crime scene investigations of violent crime scenes throughout the state and served as the Interim Laboratory Manager for the Biloxi Branch Laboratory. In 2005, Grant was transferred to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation where he continued to examine violent crime scenes. Grant was the basic and advanced crime scene investigation and forensic aspects of death investigation curriculum co-developer and instructor for the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers Training Academy and the Mississippi Certified Investigator Program; Grant is a graduate of the program and was the president of his CIP class. He served as a member of the National Institute of Justice Technical Working Group for Mass Fatality Incidents: A Guide for Human Forensic Identification and serves as a member of the Fayetteville State University, Forensic Science Program Advisory Committee. He also co-developed with Steve Chancellor, and was the lead instructor for the University of Southern Mississippi International Forensic Science Academy. He has testified as an expert in bloodstain pattern analysis, shooting incident reconstruction and crime scene investigation. Grant has a Master of Forensic Sciences degree and is the retired Forensic Manager of the Fayetteville Police Department, NC Forensic Laboratory. He is a graduate of the ATF Basic and Advanced Post Blast Investigative Techniques Courses, is an International Association for Identification (IAI) Certified Bloodstain Pattern Analyst, an IAI Certified Senior Crime Scene Analyst. Grant was the Secretary of the IAI Bloodstain Pattern Analyst Certification Board for 16 years and presently serves as a member of the certification board. Grant is also the co-author of the text, Staged Crime Scenes: Investigating Suspect Misdirection of the Crime Scene.

Instructor

Don retired from full time law enforcement in 2023 after 41 years, 35 of those as a detective.  His main focus for 25 years has been investigating crimes against persons especially child abuse cases. Don began his law enforcement career in 1980 working for a small agency in Michigan.  He joined the US Army in 1982 as a Military Police Officer until 1985 when he was accepted into the US Army Criminal Investigation Division. He served over 20 years in the US Army, 18 of those in the CID. During his tenure in the U.S. Army, Mr. Hayden held a myriad of positions including being the Special Agent in Charge of two different CID offices. His final active-duty assignment was as the Chief of the Physical Evidence, Crime Scenes and Crimes Against Persons Investigations. He was also the branch chief and course developer for the U.S. Army Military Police School where he served for nearly five years as the subject matter expert in forensics, criminalistics, and death investigations.  After retirement, he was employed for 10 years at the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office where he was the chief of detectives, responsible for 7 subordinate detectives.  Don completed a one-year fellowship in forensic medicine at the Armed Forces Medical Examiner’s Office, specializing in death investigation and identification of the dead, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.  For 9 years he was a Supervisory Special Agent with the US Army Criminal Investigation Command, responsible for the supervision of all sexual violence, child abuse and death investigations at Fort Stewart, Georgia, and Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.  For 4 years, he was the course manager and lead instructor for the US Army’s Child Abuse Prevention and Investigative Techniques Course. He has been a faculty member with Columbia College, Columbia, Missouri since 1999, where he instructs in the full spectrum of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences.  Don has conducted thousands of Crimes against Persons investigations and specializing in child abuse cases.  He has been requested internationally to conduct the most difficult child and sexual abuse investigations.  Don is a US Army Master Instructor and has taught hundreds of child abuse classes in the US, Asia, and Europe.  Among his professional credits, he has been named CID Special Agent of the Year, U.S. Army Military Police School Warrant Officer Instructor of the Year and Columbia College Instructor of the Year. He received the state of Missouri Governor’s Medal for Valor. He has completed many peer reviewed presentations and authored multiple articles.  He published two textbooks, “Child Abuse Investigations – From Dispatch to Disposition” and “Crime Scene Processing Workbook and Laboratory Manual” (CRC Press).  He also authored a chapter in the text “Investigating Sexual Assault” (2nd Edition).