As I wrote yesterday, the death of Tom Sponseller has left more questions than answers.

I spent part of today speaking with a nationally certified crime scene investigator who spoke on conditions of anonymity. The investigator has worked on cases in three states and on military cases.

The investigator was totally unfamiliar with the Sponseller case. After explaining the details as attributed to the Richland County Coroner’s office – gunshot residue tests, firearm and ballistic results and handwriting analysis led to a conclusion of probable suicide, the following observations were elicited.

As a general rule, gunshot residue tests are not done after a period of six hours has elapsed from the time of death because the results are highly suspect by that time.