Helping Solve an Infamous Pennsylvania Murder as a Forensic Linguist

Charlene Hummert had been strangled to death using a dog collar when her body was found in her SUV in the parking lot of a grocery store on March 21st 2004. The murderer planted a series of handwritten letters, pretending to be Charlene’s non-existent stalker, in an attempt to draw police attention away from himself. However, due to the expert testimony of a forensic linguist, the jury needed less than an hour to deliberate and convict Charlene’s own husband, Brian, of her gruesome murder. HBH is honored to welcome leading forensic linguistics expert Dr. Robert Leonard.

Dr. Leonard has trained counter intelligence agents for the FBI and other US agencies, as well as for the UK and Canada - even helping out at Disneyland London. His testimony has been pivotal in high-profile cases across the world from California to France, including the notorious and still-unresolved case of JonBenet Ramsey. 

Not only does Dr. Leonard have extensive knowledge of over a dozen languages - before his career in academia he opened for Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock, as a founding member of well-known rock band She Na Na.

We thank Dr. Robert Leonard for joining us and thank you, as always, for listening to Heroes Behind Headlines.