In 2003 immediately after the murder of former Swedish foreign minister
Anna Lindh, witnesses were put in a room together so they could not leave the scene of the crime until they were interviewed. The witnesses discussed the scene with each other while in the room, contrary to what they were told to do. The specific descriptions the witnesses gave about the perpetrator upon leaving the room were influenced by each other, causing the police to collect false information during the initial search for the perpetrator. The perpetrator,
Mijailo Mijailovic, was caught on camera and did not match the descriptions that the eyewitnesses gave. Conclusions have been made that the cause of this false search was rooted in witnesses discussion of their accounts with one another, which caused them to influence each other's memories of the event.
Another example occurred after the 1995
Oklahoma City bombing. Three employees were working at the location where
Timothy McVeigh rented the truck he used in the bombing. Two of the witnesses originally thought that McVeigh was by himself, but the third believed that McVeigh came with an accomplice. After the three were left to discuss the event, the two witnesses came to the conclusion that there was indeed a second person who assisted McVeigh. The FBI believes that this "accomplice" never existed.