Last summer, a group of sleuthing middle school students was tasked with tracking down the killing of a blue painted musician that occurred on the campus of Southwestern Michigan College.

This past week, another group of young detectives returned to the scene of the grisly crime. This time, the area students were attempting to find the culprit responsible for another death at the college, of a mysterious womanizer entangled in a complicated family drama.

The intrigue occurring throughout the Dowagiac college campus this week could only mean one thing — that the annual CSI Academy had returned.

Presented for the 10th year by the school’s Educational Talent Search (ETS) program, the weeklong forensics investigation camp brings together dozens of students from the Dowagiac, Cassopolis, Edwardsburg, Marcellus and Brandywine school districts. For this year’s rendition of the program, the students were given a mock investigation into the death of a man named “Wesh Petivo,” who was romantically involved with a trio of wandering fortune telling sisters, played by ETC staff and local law enforcement volunteers.

On Thursday, the students conducted interviews with the key witnesses for the case, attempting to determine which of the suspects they want to have arrested for the murder. Of course, the staff, who are completely in character, with elaborate costumes and props, didn’t make it easy for them.

“We always put on a good show,” said James Kusa, an officer with the Dowagiac Police Department who volunteered at the camp for the week. “For a lot of kids, this is their favorite part of the week.”

In addition to lending a hand with the scenario work, Kusa also teaches the children during the first part of the week, showing them crime scene processing, fingerprinting, and other skills that police use in real world investigations. The students use those and other lessons taught to them in the classroom in the later part of the week, when they conduct interviews, investigate staged crime scenes.

“It gives them an idea about how happens during criminal investigations in real life,” Kusa said. “It’s a lot of fun, but we talk about a lot of serious stuff too.”

Kusa has been helping out with the CSI program for more than 10 years, before it was picked up by ETS, he said.

“The kids love it,” he said. “Every year, we get more and more kids who sign up.”

The week concludes with a visit to the Cass County Law and Courts building Friday, where students try the suspect for the crime in a mock trial, overseen by Family Court Judge Sue Dobrich.