I have the utmost respect for all of you and it would be an honor to have you assist on this project. I will need to ask you to keep our joint work confidential for now. As we move forward I will be able to share with you information regarding the case preparation and our own forensic work, that I believe you will find fascinating.
You may keep your identity private and this work will be completely privileged and confidential as well. We have well established procedures to protect our work and our confidentiality, I assure you.
A little background about me. I am Mark Johnson, President of a small forensic consulting company called Visual Law Group based out of San Jose California. (VisualLaw.com) I practiced law for 14 years before starting this career that I've now been doing for 28 years (I'm 66 but love this work and have no intention of stopping for at least another 10 years). My team works on both criminal and civil cases and we've handled a number of high profile projects including the Menendez brothers murder trial; the twin towers 9/11 disaster (pro bono); the court martial of the marine pilots who knocked down a ski gondola in Italy (our work was featured on 60 minutes); the trial of Dallas police officer Hess televised this past February and the Oakland Ghost Ship warehouse manslaughter trial.
I am also part of a group of forensic technicians doing new photogrammetric work on the JFK assassination.
We have been hired to work for the families of the victims of the Conception dive boat disaster in which 33 divers were burned to death when the boat caught fire off the coast of Santa Barbara. This is going to be a high profile case with some of the best attorneys across the country working together as a cooperative group.
I have in mind some tasks that you all should be well suited for, as they involve internet sleuthing. You will have no obligation and can do as much or as little as you like. After all, I understand you are volunteers. On the other hand, your good faith and willingness to assist puts you immediately in my circle of friends who I value greatly. I will share my private e-mail and information with you and you can always write me, call me or even visit me and be welcome. I still mentor several people who I met online and who became interested in the field.
I have specific interest personally in drone photogrammetry and mapping as well as laser scanning and forensic documentation of crime and disaster scenes. I lecture frequently and am a consultant for a number of companies including DJI (drone manufacturer), FARO technologies (laser scanning and metrology), INPUT-ACE (forensic video software), Pix4D (photogrammetry software).
In this case the NTSB has scoured the ocean floor (with the equivalent of toothbrushes) and have recovered every bit of residue along with the primary wreckage of the Conception. That wreckage is in a warehouse in Southern California and my team will be using LIDAR and drones to map and document it. We will be working with the experts to develop theories of cause (the NTSB is still investigating actively, by the way) and my company will be building a detailed 3D virtual exhibit of the boat and its interior.
There are a number of areas of internet searching I would like to start with and as we go further, we will be guided by the experts for specific research and sleuthing.
Before I send out the confidentiality agreement I want to ask anyone to pose questions to me directly either on the Websleuths site OR you can send to my personal e-mail: mark@visuallaw.com.
I'll wait a day and then I will send you all a PM with the confidentiality agreement to review and if you wish to participate you can send it back to me indicating your acceptance of its terms.
