Donald Hayden retired from full time law enforcement in June 2023 after over 41 years. He served 20 years in the US Army, 18 of those in the Criminal Investigations Division. He completed a one-year fellowship in forensic medicine at the Armed Forces Medical Examiner’s Office, specializing in death investigation and identification of the dead. Mr. Hayden has specialized in Child Abuse investigations for 25 years. Mr. Hayden is trained in multiple child interview protocols and has taught child interviewing for 10 years. During his tenure in the U.S. Army, Mr. Hayden held a myriad of positions ranging from a division level military policeman in deployed areas to Special Agent in Charge of CID offices, and finally as the Physical Evidence and Crimes Against Persons Investigations branch chief and course developer for the U.S. Army Military Police School where he served for nearly five years as the subject matter expert in forensics, Criminalistics, and death investigations. After retirement, he was employed for 10 years at the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office where he was the chief of detectives, responsible for 7 subordinate detectives. For 9 years he was a Supervisory Special Agent with the US Army Criminal Investigation Command, responsible for the supervision of all sexual violence, child abuse and death investigations at Fort Stewart, GA and Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. For 4 years, he was the course manager and lead  instructor for the US Army’s Child Abuse Prevention and Investigative Techniques Course. He is a current faculty member with Columbia College, Columbia, Missouri where he instructs in the full spectrum of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences. He has published two textbooks, “Child Abuse Investigations – From Dispatch to Disposition” (2016, Thomas Publishing) and “Crime Scene Processing Workbook and Laboratory Manual” (2004, CRC Press). He also authored a chapter in a sexual assault investigations text. Among his professional credits, he has been named CID Special Agent of the Year, U.S. Army Military Police School Warrant Officer Instructor of the Year and Columbia College Instructor of the Year. He is a 2008 recipient of the State of Missouri Governor’s Medal of Valor for Public Safety. Mr. Hayden is a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Education: 

• Master of Forensic Science, Forensic Science, George Washington University, 1998
• B.S., Criminal Justice, University of Maryland, 1996