How Linguistic Evidence Can Make or Break a Murder Trial with Experts Natalie Schilling + James Fitzgerald

Guest Bio

Dr. Natalie Schilling is an internationally-renowned linguist and an Associate Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University. She is recognized for her research on language variation across cultural groups and is especially well-known for her work on individual language style and stylistic variation. She is an expert on American English dialect variation, has extensive knowledge of variation in World Englishes, and also conducts research on variation in Spanish. Dr. Schilling is currently conducting research on authorial attribution and author profiling. She teaches Forensic Linguistics and Sociolinguistics (Language and Society) at Georgetown University and was a regular instructor in the FBI’s Forensic Linguistic Workshop for Law Enforcement Practitioners, designed and led by AGI Practitioner James R. Fitzgerald. Dr. Schilling also presents on and teaches Forensic Linguistics in various venues in Spain. She has given more than 100 presentations at U.S. and international academic conferences, universities, and training workshops, and has authored numerous academic articles and book chapters. She is co-author of a definitive textbook, American English, and co-editor of the authoritative Handbook of Language Variation and Change.

James R. Fitzgerald was the Program Manager of Threat Assessment/Forensic Linguistics at the Behavioral Analysis Unit 1 of the FBI. Fitzgerald knew little about profiling or linguistics when he joined the FBI in 1987. But, while assigned to the field office in New York City, he worked cases involving stalking or threatening letters sent to Jane Pauley, Bryant Gumbel, Don Imus, Donald Trump, and Rush Limbaugh, among others.

In 1995, Fitzgerald became a profiler at the FBI Academy at Quantico, Va. As part of Fitzgerald’s profiler training, he learned about analyzing communications. He later obtained a Master’s degree in linguistics from Georgetown University. (This was his second MS. His first was in Organizational Psychology at Villanova University.) As he has at his present company, The Academy Group, Fitzgerald created a linguistic-oriented database of threatening and/or suspicious letters, similar to one the Secret Service maintains.Fitzgerald now works for the Academy Group in Manassas, Va., which provides profiling services for private industry as well as a university instructor, author, and technical advisor for television programs (Criminal Minds) involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation.