DALLAS -
It is a place where criminals can't hide, even in cyber space.
At the North Texas Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory in downtown Dallas, FBI forensic examiners and police officers track down terrorists, murderers and white collar crooks.
In it's 10 years of operation, the lab has earned international acclaim, training examiners from around the world and processing more than half of the digital evidence from 911.
Inside, examiners use digital footprints to solve crimes. Instead of pounding the pavement, Dallas Police Sgt. Tim Fox uses his computer to outsmart clever killers.
"We actually dig for evidence that they might not know exists. Everything that is on the computer we can usually recover," Fox said.
Fox says he used digital data to catch a killer, who eluded Garland police for months. Authorities were convinced Kwaneta Harris killed her boyfriend, Michael Giles, and buried his body under a concrete slab in the backyard. But proving it was difficult.
It wasn't until a year later the woman's computer gave up her dark secret. Fox says he found that she used a voice changer to sound like Giles and collect military benefits. She changed his bank account, adding her name. Also, an hour after the murder, Fox says she did an Internet search on "how to get blood out of furniture."
"We were able to recover everything that she did before and after the murder and to actually show a timeline into what happened," Fox said.
Fox says it was the smoking gun that police needed. After court testimony, Harris pleaded guilty to murder.
Officials say the digital data that most people take for granted can be used to turn the tables, including cell phones, computers and GPS devices.
"As we become a digital age, we leave a large digital footprint," lab director Mike Morris, said.
"Whether you are using it for your daily life or criminal activities, you will leave a footprint and that is our job as investigators to find it."
Officials say a large portion of digital evidence is surveillance video that is almost everywhere. It can be used to unravel hard to solve crimes, where there are no witnesses except for a camera.
Dallas Police Senior Corporal Sherry Leonard, a forensic examiner, says she has put cold-blooded killers away using videotape.
"A lot of time we have nothing but the video when there is no known reason or known suspect." Leonard said.
Eight cameras captured Jose Castro casing a building on Greenville Avenue before he zeroed on Karen Lafon, shooting the woman three times as she left work.
Leonard says the video was able to send a clear message about the brutality of the murder. Castro was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
"You could start and stop the video and see just how calculated he was right up until the end."
Lab officials say their high-tech tools will only grow in sophistication to stay a step ahead of the criminals. They will have a difficult time escaping the long, digital arm of the law.
At the North Texas Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory in downtown Dallas, FBI forensic examiners and police officers track down terrorists, murderers and white collar crooks.
In it's 10 years of operation, the lab has earned international acclaim, training examiners from around the world and processing more than half of the digital evidence from 911.
Inside, examiners use digital footprints to solve crimes. Instead of pounding the pavement, Dallas Police Sgt. Tim Fox uses his computer to outsmart clever killers.
"We actually dig for evidence that they might not know exists. Everything that is on the computer we can usually recover," Fox said.
Fox says he used digital data to catch a killer, who eluded Garland police for months. Authorities were convinced Kwaneta Harris killed her boyfriend, Michael Giles, and buried his body under a concrete slab in the backyard. But proving it was difficult.
It wasn't until a year later the woman's computer gave up her dark secret. Fox says he found that she used a voice changer to sound like Giles and collect military benefits. She changed his bank account, adding her name. Also, an hour after the murder, Fox says she did an Internet search on "how to get blood out of furniture."
"We were able to recover everything that she did before and after the murder and to actually show a timeline into what happened," Fox said.
Fox says it was the smoking gun that police needed. After court testimony, Harris pleaded guilty to murder.
Officials say the digital data that most people take for granted can be used to turn the tables, including cell phones, computers and GPS devices.
"As we become a digital age, we leave a large digital footprint," lab director Mike Morris, said.
"Whether you are using it for your daily life or criminal activities, you will leave a footprint and that is our job as investigators to find it."
Officials say a large portion of digital evidence is surveillance video that is almost everywhere. It can be used to unravel hard to solve crimes, where there are no witnesses except for a camera.
Dallas Police Senior Corporal Sherry Leonard, a forensic examiner, says she has put cold-blooded killers away using videotape.
"A lot of time we have nothing but the video when there is no known reason or known suspect." Leonard said.
Eight cameras captured Jose Castro casing a building on Greenville Avenue before he zeroed on Karen Lafon, shooting the woman three times as she left work.
Leonard says the video was able to send a clear message about the brutality of the murder. Castro was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
"You could start and stop the video and see just how calculated he was right up until the end."
Lab officials say their high-tech tools will only grow in sophistication to stay a step ahead of the criminals. They will have a difficult time escaping the long, digital arm of the law.
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