ABOUT DR. PAYNE
Dr. TJ Payne is a forensic behavioral consultant, legal investigator, cold-case review specialist, and case review consultant working at the intersection of psychology, law, victimology, investigation, and narrative analysis.
Dr. Payne’s work focuses on complex case material, including police reports, timelines, witness statements, legal records, autopsy materials, public documents, investigative gaps, and the broader social context surrounding a case. His consulting work helps families, legal teams, advocates, journalists, and media professionals organize information, clarify what is known, identify what remains missing, and prepare evidence-based summaries for advocacy, legal review, media development, or institutional accountability.
With a doctorate in psychology and law, legal investigative experience under licensed supervision, forensic behavioral consulting experience, and ongoing work in cold-case and unresolved-death review, Dr. Payne brings a careful, trauma-informed, and victim-centered approach to case analysis.
Dr. Payne’s work focuses on complex case material, including police reports, timelines, witness statements, legal records, autopsy materials, public documents, investigative gaps, and the broader social context surrounding a case. His consulting work helps families, legal teams, advocates, journalists, and media professionals organize information, clarify what is known, identify what remains missing, and prepare evidence-based summaries for advocacy, legal review, media development, or institutional accountability.
With a doctorate in psychology and law, legal investigative experience under licensed supervision, forensic behavioral consulting experience, and ongoing work in cold-case and unresolved-death review, Dr. Payne brings a careful, trauma-informed, and victim-centered approach to case analysis.
AREAS OF FOCUS
- Victimology
- Police report review
- Timeline reconstruction
- Witness and source mapping
- Investigative-gap analysis
- Case law and legal records review
- LGBTQ+ casework
- Trauma and institutional neglect
- Official documentation and lived experience
professional background
Dr. Payne holds a doctorate in psychology and law, with research focused on juror attitudes and beliefs related to the transgender panic defense. Dr. Payne also holds a Master of Science in Forensic Behavioral Science, with graduate training focused on violent criminal behavior, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology and addiction studies.
Dr. Payne’s professional background includes legal investigative work under licensed supervision, forensic behavioral consulting, mental health counseling experience, case review, narrative nonfiction, and investigative writing. Dr. Payne is currently working on an active cold-case homicide investigation, with a focus on timeline reconstruction, victimology, police records, witness accounts, investigative gaps, and the broader social context surrounding the case.
Dr. Payne also works with a cold case agency conducting reviews of nationally recognized cases, including the Black Dahlia, Zodiac, and Steven Avery cases. This work involves reviewing case materials, timelines, investigative theories, behavioral context, evidentiary gaps, and the ways public narratives develop around unresolved or contested cases.
This work is especially grounded in cases involving marginalized victims, LGBTQ+ communities, unresolved deaths, institutional gaps, trauma, substance use, violence, and the ethical responsibility of telling stories about real people.
approach
Dr. Payne approaches case review as both an analytical and human process. The work begins with careful organization: records, timelines, statements, legal materials, investigative actions, and missing information.
From there, Dr. Payne helps clients understand not only what the available materials show, but where the gaps, contradictions, assumptions, and unanswered questions remain.
The goal is clarity: to turn scattered or overwhelming case material into organized, evidence-based summaries that can support advocacy, legal review, ethical storytelling, and accountability.