The trauma detective who combs through killers’ pasts to help them find mercy

Sara Baldwin, one of a few mitigation specialists', works to save death-penalty defendants like James Bernard Belcher by documenting their lives: We look through a more merciful lens'

This piece is co-published with the Marshall Project

The first mystery was who could have done such a thing, who could leave someone like that.

Jennifer Embry was found in her bathtub in January 1996. She was 29. Her younger brother Ricky had come looking for her after she failed to show up for her shift as an X-ray technician. The door just came open," he later testified. I hoped it was all a dream."