Young Sleuths

The details were sketchy: The Memory Diner had been robbed at gunpoint. A body had been discovered in the alley behind the diner. A confused cook thought it was a wild-haired white man, but wasn’t sure. Police were questioning three suspects.

And more than 60 elementary school children were on the case.

The Memory Diner is the setting of “Whodunit? The Science of Solving Crime,” a traveling exhibit that will be at the California Museum of Science and Industry in Exposition Park through Jan. 5.

The interactive exhibit, unveiled Tuesday for two fifth-grade classes from Granada Hills, combines the elements of a good murder mystery with basic science to put children at the crime scene, beside the autopsy table and in the forensics laboratory. Actors will supplement the action on weekends.

The fifth-graders were first taken to the mock diner, knowing only that a crime had been committed.

*

Actors in trench coats and low-brimmed hats greeted them. A female gumshoe named Mack drawled an introduction, Bogart-style.

But it wasn’t until Mack’s bumbling sidekick Junior cried out, “There’s a dead body in the alley!” that the youngsters knew the hunt was on.

They had their pick of which simulated forensic station to visit first.

Ten-year-old Tim Chadwick discovered whose fingerprints were on a knife at the crime scene by turning a wheel that compared several sets.

“I matched it!” he shouted.

At another station, where diagrams illustrated the path of the bullet, two more students determined how the victim was shot.

“He died from a gunshot that went through his heart,” Emily Corona said.

“The bullet was inside the heart, it was small. Like this big,” added Daniel Favela, pointing to the tip of his pinky finger.

Daniel sharpened the thesis, concluding that the bullet entered from behind.

“Whodunit?” was developed by the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History of Texas. Museum officials said they expect about 500 schoolchildren a day to visit the exhibit, and said some teachers have expressed interest in incorporating some of the exhibit’s deductive thinking techniques in the classroom.

“It’s not only dealing with the wonderful process of thought, but it is also a great link to explain the various roles of science,” Los Angeles museum official Linda Wootan said.

Museum curator Diane Perlov said an eight-member consortium of museums from Charlotte, N.C., to Denver will share the exhibit and will eventually loan it to others throughout the country.

“My hope is that these exhibits will give kids a taste of how real experts solve crimes,” she said.

The exhibit was developed with assistance from senior agents of the FBI, ballistic experts and educators. The result is a sometimes chillingly accurate depiction of detective work.

*

As children watched a video of an actual autopsy projected onto a life-size plaster dummy to create a three-dimensional effect, most covered their mouths and squirmed.

“Eew, it’s gross. I’m getting out of here,” said Brittany Anderson.

Emily Corona was unfazed. “It’s cool, I’ve seen it on cable where they operate on people.”

El Oro teacher Enrique Villasenor said murders and autopsies weren’t bothersome in this setting because it was all in the name of science.

“The parents went in to check it out [prior to Tuesday’s visit] and they say it’s wonderful,” he said. “We’ve tried to show that science is a lot of fun. That it’s part of everyday life and it’s all around us.”

Diana Hakopian said she will apply the deductive skills she learned at the museum.

“At home I solve crimes because my little sister takes my things,” she said. “So I make mini-cases and it’s usually her.”