A Chicago Heiress, Miniature Murder Scenes, and the Birth of Forensic Science

Frances Glessner Lee was from one of early Chicago’s most prominent families, living on one of the cities wealthiest blocks — Prairie Avenue, now a historic neighborhood in the South Loop. She also basically created forensic science. Lee created miniature death scenes that would help police better investigate crimes by considering all the different scenarios that could happen. And to say these recreations were detailed is an understatement. Lee would dress the corpses. The doorknobs and the keys for the doors actually worked. There was a tiny little mouse trap, and if a tiny little mouse had stepped on it, it would have actually gone off. In an unusual move for the time, Lee's parents educated her and her brother in the same way, preparing her to work in a male-dominated field. City Cast’s Simone Alicea learns more about Frances Glessner Lee from Glessner House executive director Bill Tyre ahead of a celebration of the mother of forensic science.

Friday's celebration is sold out. But you can book tours at the Glessner House, where a recreation of one of Lee's models will now be available to see.

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