Screams for help heard on a 911 call made by a woman the night George Zimmerman, a self-appointed neighborhood watch volunteer fatally shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, are not those of the shooter, two experts believe.
Tom Owen, one voice identification expert, believes the screams on the audio recorded on February 26, are not those of Zimmerman, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
“I took all of the screams and put those together, and cut out everything else,” Owen, chair emeritus for the American Board of Recorded Evidence, said.
Owen, who used biometric software, compared the cries heard on the 911 call, to Zimmerman’s voice and found only a 48 percent match. To reach a positive match more than 90 percent or higher is necessary to identify someone’s voice.
“As a result of that, you can say with reasonable scientific certainty that it’s not Zimmerman,” he said.
Owens, however, is unable to identify that the voice on the 911 call is Martin’s as he did not have a voice sample for the teen.
Another forensic expert and audio engineer, Ed Primeau believes that, the voice in the background screaming is of a teenager or a person younger than Zimmerman, after he listened to the 911 tape. “That’s a young man screaming,” he said.
Zimmerman admitted to fatally shooting Martin who was returning from a nearby convenience store on the night of February 26. He has claimed self-defense.
A recently released police surveillance video tape of Zimmerman being taken into custody at the Sanford Police Department, shows no apparent injuries and doesn’t suggest he was in a fight for his life. However, one police officer noted in a report that Zimmerman was bleeding from the nose and back of his head.
While Zimmerman was questioned by police the night of the shooting, he was never arrested or charged.
Martin was found with a bag of Skittles and a bottle of iced tea.
Since Martin’s fatal shooting, there have been calls for his arrest and a trial. The teen’s killing has sparked nationwide rallies and marches, as Zimmerman continues to walk free.
On Saturday, more than 1,000 people participated in a rally in Sanford, with calls growing louder for Zimmerman’s arrest. Organized by the National Association for the the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the rally was led by the Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jesse Jackson, among other civil rights leaders.
Later today, a homecoming rally will be held at 4:00 p.m., for the family of Martin at the Bayfront Park, 301 North Biscayne Blvd., Miami, Florida.
