When Karen Smith looks back on her storied career as a major case detective, she feels most thankful for one tool in her arsenal: a master’s degree in forensic science from the University of Florida College of Pharmacy. It’s this feeling of gratitude that inspired the retired detective to give back to her alma mater by lending her skills as an adjunct professor in the same forensic science online graduate program from which she earned a degree in 2010.
“Earning my M.S. was invaluable to my work as a major case detective. Understanding what happens to a piece of evidence once I collected it gave me a much better foundation for obtaining the most pristine samples for the laboratory to do their analysis,” said Smith, who also hosts a podcast and works as a forensic consultant. “I also received a solid foundation in the scientific process and learned how to apply it to scene work, how to remain objective, and why ensuring that my processes were valid and repeatable when doing reconstructions is so important. I learned how biases inhibit objective thinking and how to best mitigate them. Having an M.S. from UF gave me credibility during trials and a better understanding of specific processes so that I could relate them to a lay jury.”
During her career with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, Smith worked on more than 20,000 cases and conducted more than 500 death investigations. In her classroom instruction, Smith pulls from her own experiences to give students an insider’s look into what a career in forensic science requires.
“I incorporate real cases of mine into the curriculum as examples of how a process worked. I also add some side lessons that aren’t in the curriculum, like how to testify, the pitfalls of some processes to be aware of, how to orient latent prints into a crime scene, and other pointers to help them be better investigators,” Smith said.
In 2022, Smith launched “Shattered Souls: The Car Barn Murders,” a podcast investigating the unsolved 1935 murder of her great-great uncle and his co-worker. In solving this case, Smith achieved a sense of closure for her own family, thanks in part to the skills she acquired at UF.
“This case required an unbelievable amount of research using numerous databases. One thing that students learn in the UF Forensic Science graduate program is how to do research and use specific keywords to find what they’re looking for,” Smith said. “That was invaluable to me when I was digging really deep into this case. The techniques for a semi-reconstruction of the scene came from my years as a detective. Without a combination of those two sources of knowledge, I don’t believe I would’ve had the know-how to put everything together in an objective way and come to a conclusion about the perpetrators and what actually happened that January morning in 1935.”
Learn more about the UF College of Pharmacy Forensic Science online graduate program at forensicscience.ufl.edu.