Digital Forensics Hall of Fame, Episode 2: The Death of Sharon Lopatka

Welcome to the Digital Forensics Hall of Fame, where we talk about the most famous cases in history solved by digital forensics. The second episode will tell us the story of Sharon Lopatka, whose murder was the first case in history in which the murderer was caught and convicted based primarily on e-mail evidence.

 Sharon Lopatka was a 35-year old woman living with her husband, Victor, in Hampstead, Maryland. On October 13th 1996 she left the house, telling Victor she was going to travel to Georgia to meet with her friends. One week later the husband, who at that time did not suspect anything was out of the ordinary, found a note written by his wife, which said that she is not likely to come back, and if her body is never retrieved he shouldn't worry, for she is at peace.

Victor immediately notified the police. When Sharon's computer was searched, a surprising picture emerged.

It became very clear very quickly that Sharon had a second life online. She had several online businesses going on: she rewrote  ad copy for advertisers, offered psychic readings, owned a premium-rate phone number, advertised herself and others, usually with fake sites and services.

That was not even the beginning, as the investigators found out. Sharon was also very active in various online communities, where other members shared her fascination with death, torture, sadism, and masochism, all with underlying sexual context. She created numerous....