“Memory Halls”: investigators helped a witness remember the killer 17 years later

Let us remind you that 17 years ago an 11-year-old girl disappeared in Kansk (Krasnoyarsk Territory). She simply did not return home on an April day in 2006, after which law enforcement agencies received a statement from her mother – the woman asked to find her daughter. Despite the fact that they searched for the child with all their might, the girl was never found. And now, many years later, investigators from the Investigative Committee reopened the criminal case and found a woman who could have witnessed the disappearance of the child. But to activate the memory of this witness, a special procedure was needed. Let us note once again: this is not hypnosis, as many local media have written, but specifically the activation of memory by a specialist psychologist of the Main Directorate of Forensic Science of the Investigative Committee of Russia. As a result, the woman remembered a lot of what happened on the day her 11-year-old classmate was kidnapped.

During this procedure, the witness said that in 2006 she saw a missing girl in a store with an unknown man and woman. From her words, a sketch of these people was soon compiled, and their location was subsequently established. As a result of the joint work of investigators, criminologists and operational officers, the suspect’s involvement in the murder of a child was established. He turned out to be a 42-year-old resident of Kansk.

According to investigators, on April 10, 2006, the man brought the girl to one of the abandoned houses in the city of Kansk, where he strangled her. He hid the body in the basement of the house. Recently, the suspect was detained in the city of Norilsk. During interrogation, he admitted his guilt and, while checking his testimony on the spot, spoke in detail about all the circumstances of the crime committed. In the near future, the man will be charged with committing a crime under paragraph “c” of Part 2 of Art. 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (murder of a minor).

In an interview with MK, an investigator from the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee for the Krasnoyarsk Territory spoke about the solution of this crime and the procedure itself for activating a person’s memory.

– 17 years is a very long time. Still, how did you find this witness, thanks to whom a new stage of discovery began and the man was detained?

– We interrogated this witness back in 2006. Then a large amount of work was carried out, during which residents of all nearby houses were interviewed and search activities were carried out. Those who studied with the missing girl were also interrogated as witnesses. Then a classmate said that she had seen her in the company of a man and a woman. But since the witness was still at a young age, she could not fully tell or describe this man and woman. That is, yes, she gave some hints, people were checked, but we could not find the persons involved in the crime.

– How often have you returned to this matter over the past 17 years?

– It turns out that all the cases that have not been solved in our country are called “crimes of past years,” but no one forgets about them! New work and operational search activities are constantly being carried out on them. In relation to this particular case, over the course of 17 years, persons who might be involved were constantly checked and witnesses were questioned. But no positive result was obtained.

– And yet, how did you find this girl witness again?

– There was a re-examination of the case. We found this girl, although her personal information had changed (family life, etc.). She was interrogated in 2023. She still remembered these events.

According to the investigator, the witness said that she saw a man and a woman and even tried to describe them. But, of course, I couldn’t remember all the details and facial features. In this regard, on the initiative of the investigator of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, psychologists from the State Criminalistics Institution and a specialist who creates identikit photographs were invited to the Investigative Committee. Thanks to the portraits we received, we were able to first find the woman who was in the store with the suspect and the victim. And then the suspect was identified and detained.

– Many media outlets wrote that the interrogation was carried out using hypnosis. Is it so?

– There was no hypnosis. There was precisely a memory activation procedure. We took the initiative to have a specialist psychologist and a specialist compiling identikit photographs talk with the witness. A specialist psychologist spoke with this woman and clarified with her the circumstances of that day. And during the conversation it became clear what the faces of those men and women looked like. And a nearby second specialist, based on the witness’s descriptions, created their portrait; he embodied the girl’s descriptions on a sheet of paper in the form of an identikit. Well, “photo sketch” is a harsh word. He wrote down every facial feature she remembered.

– But why do they write everywhere now that there was hypnosis?

– I don’t know where they got it from. There was no hypnosis session. This is simply an in-depth interview with a person, clarifying specific details. This is how we talk to you, this is how we talked to her, only the psychologist asks more specific questions that contribute to her memories at that time. This is called “memory activation.” I repeat once again – no hypnosis is used in this case, under any circumstances, I have not seen such a thing, and I think that such a thing will not happen.

– How often is memory activation used to solve crimes? How long does this procedure take? Are any medications used? And how many times have you already used it?

– In my practice, this is the fourth person I’ve seen. As I believe, a person can remember everything. But, for some reason, perhaps, this is put aside in some memory cell, and for him it does not seem very important. Accordingly, the specialist’s task is to establish psychological contact with the person, to immerse him in a calm state. And with his methods, he makes it so that a person seems, even if 20 years have passed, to be immersed in the atmosphere in which he captured some event in his memory.

If a person wants to remember, he remembers. Let’s say that for the witness it was some kind of fleeting moment. But everything that happened remains in the memory. My task is simply to bring two people together in one place to hold this event.

A conversation with a psychologist can last an hour or two, depending on the goal, on what we want to find out from the person. No medications are used here! The person just knows how to work, knows how to ask the right question. It’s like in journalism: the ability to ask the right question. I think it’s the same for them. I would define this as a very good, detailed interrogation. The psychologist tries to push the person to remember by asking questions from afar, and then begins to move on to certain points during the conversation.

– Will you use this method in the future?

– If the need arises, then, of course, why not use it! Due to various factors, people may forget some points.

Currently, the detainee has fully confessed to the murder of the girl and even repented – they say he can no longer bear this burden on himself. But he did not explain to the investigation why he did it. This remains to be seen. The only thing he said was “it happened that way.” The girl’s remains have not yet been found.

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An employee of the Main Directorate of Criminalistics of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation told “MK” on condition of anonymity about exactly how the process of memory activation occurs.

– What is memory activation and how does it differ from hypnosis? How does the process of memory activation itself take place?

– Memory activation is a cognitive interview method. This is a special algorithm for constructing a conversation, during which a specialist who has undergone special training invites the eyewitness to mentally imagine the event of interest to the investigation, describe it in detail, including the external environment and his internal state. The work of a psychologist is necessary when it is necessary to establish psychological contact and determine the psychological state of an eyewitness. This method is suitable for everyone, including children.

Unlike the trance method, where a person is in a natural state and has complete control over cognitive activity, hypnosis is a state of increased suggestibility in which a person has no control. Therefore, we do not use hypnosis in our activities.

– How long does this process take? And do you use any medications?

– On average, this process takes from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours, depending on what exactly we want to know and the person’s performance.

No medications or equipment are used in this method. The specialist only uses audio and video recordings with the person’s permission.

– How long has memory activation been used in our country, in the regions for crime investigation and in forensic science?

– This method has always applied to the work of forensic units. Since 2008, the Department of Forensic Science has had a psychologist who worked on memory activation. The method is often used in the work of law enforcement officers, but it helps if a person has a high level of motivation to help the investigation.

– As far as we know, in the UK there is a special staff of psychologists who activate memory. Can you be more specific – who are they?

– These are employees with higher psychological education as part of the forensic department in the Main Directorate of Forensic Science, specialists and inspectors who have undergone special training.