Young sleuths solve Case of the Cookie Caper at Linderman
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POLSON — With a list of evidence and booklet full of clues and charts for evidence evaluation, fourth graders from Linderman Elementary School and their families set out to solve the Case of the Cookie Caper on the evening of Feb. 8.
The crime was simple. As the fourth grade teachers were preparing for family fun night, they realized the cookies they planned to serve were gone.
The students and families needed to find who took the cookies.
Suspects seen near the crime scene were third grade teacher Carla Farnstrom, Linderman janitor Todd Skalsky, Linderman cook Malika Cunningham, and Linderman secretary Jane Taylor.
About 40 families attended the mystery night, 4th grade teacher Brittany Simonich said.
While the Cookie Caper was fun, hard science such as fiber analysis, chromatography of inks, evidence collection and family mug shot, fingerprints, photo analysis and temperature test, was used by investigating students.
A few fibers were attached to the tape on an apology note the perpetrator left behind, so students looked at the fibers under a microscope or a ProScope hooked up to TV screens or a documenting camera. They compared the ink in black pens belonging to the suspects to a sample of the apology note penned by the cookie thief. Collecting cookie crumbs for evidence and looking at crime scene photos was also on the agenda. The kids compared the fingerprint found at the crime scene to the suspects’ fingerprints and also completed a temperature comparison on the cup of hot chocolate left near the cookie crumbs. If all these activities weren’t fun enough, family mug shots were also taken, complete with suspect numbers and a height chart to stand against.
As well as all the Linderman fourth grade teachers and lots of staff members, Lake County Sheriff’s Office detectives Rick Lenz and Dan Yonkin, detention officers were Cpl. Derek Trogden and Randy Doss, and Polson Police Officers Sgt. Clint Cottle and Sgt. Wade Nash were on site to help students solve the crime. Sergeant Lonnie Erickson from the LCSO detention department coordinated law enforcement.
“Mrs. Tammy Morrison, who is my son’s 4th grade teacher, approached me a couple of months ago and had asked for assistance with the Mystery Night,” Erickson said. “… 99 percent of what you saw was teacher idea and implementation.”
At 7:45 p.m., students and families gathered in the cafeteria to name their suspect with their final detective reports filled out to support their case.
Malika Cunningham turned out to be the cookie criminal.
“We definitely want to do something like this again and get Polson detectives more involved,” Simonich said.
