REPORTING OFFICER'S NARRATIVE (Brief narrative of the facts surrounding the offense and the
arrest.)
At 9:00 AM, Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Unit 209 (Officer P. Winston) was dispatched and escorted Buzz Dakota to the east side of Sardis Lake. They arrived at the scene at 9:18 AM and Mr. Dakota led Officer Winston to the site where he claimed to have seen suspicious activity 14 months prior. Upon discovery of the gravesite assistance was requested. At 10:20 AM digging began. At 10:32 AM a body was found partially wrapped in a tattered quilt. At this time Winston requested a forensics team, the medical examiner and Detectives S. Murphy and T. Armstrong to come to the scene/gravesite.
Detectives T. Armstrong and S. Murphy w proceeded directly to the scene. At R/Is' request, Coroner’s Inspector L. Johnson and a CSU team were notified to respond to the scene. R/Is arrived at the scene at 10:49 AM. Upon arrival; R/Is found that R/O had secured the area. Environmental conditions at the scene upon arrival are as follows: Weather: Exterior crime scene location; Ambient Temperature: approximately 72 °F/22 C; Relative Humidity: approximately 56%.
R/O Winston made the following verbal report, which is stated in summary and not verbatim. R/O picked up witness, Buzz Dakota at 162 Park Drive and proceeded to Sardis Lake. Following Dakota’s directions they arrived at the scene and R/O visually observed that some animal activity had occurred here recently and there was evidence of something buried there.
R/O Winston further stated that, to the best of his knowledge, the following personnel had occasion to enter the crime scene area and must be excluded by CSU personnel: witness Buzz Dakota and himself.
After receiving the report from R/O Winston, R/Is conducted a preliminary inspection of the scene. R/Is observed that there had been animal activity and the digging had uncovered an adult decomposing body. Visual inspection indicated the victim was wearing a dark colored shirt, denim shorts and brown sandals. The victim was apparently wrapped in a quilt that had since begun to deteriorate. The body lay on its side with the front of the skull-pointing north. The legs were bent at the knees and the right arm was under the body and the left arm was alongside of the torso.
A pair of glasses lay next to the victim.
Further visual inspection revealed the back half of the victim's skull appeared to be bashed in. R/Is delayed further inspection of the body until the arrival of the Coroner's Inspector.
Coroner's Inspector Luwinda Johnson arrived at the scene at approximately 10:47 AM. Inspector Johnson visually examined the posterior of the body and observed blunt force trauma to the back of the skull and speculated that the apparent cause of death was blunt force trauma. Inspector Johnson stated that available physical characteristics, clothing and timeframe are consistent with missing person Taylor Duncan. Johnson indicated that further details would be available in the official autopsy report and that dental records and DNA results should ID the victim. After Inspector Johnson completed her initial inspection of the body, she stayed with the CSU team to ensure integrity of the body, while the team took photographs of the scene and performed preliminary analyses, until the body could be released for transport and autopsy without affecting other evidence.
CSU arrived at the scene at approximately 10:50 AM R/Is instructed CSU to take the glasses as well as samples of tissue and hair from the body for analysis and to process the entire scene according to standard procedure.
A preliminary search of the immediate area for the weapon(s) causing the injury to the victim met with negative results. CSU will conduct a more intensive search and report their findings.
R/Is left the scene at 11:25 AM. Before leaving, R/I Murphy instructed CSU to seal the scene upon completion or end of day suspension of processing. CSU to notify R/Is of progress by the end of this date. As of this filing, CSU is still actively processing at the scene.
Remains of the deceased remanded into the custody of Coroner's Inspector Luwinda Johnson. Remains were removed from scene at 12:16 PM and transported to the coroner's office for autopsy.
Evidence remanded into the custody of Forensics Officer T. R. Douglas for transport to the State Crime Lab for routine analysis. CSU is expected to submit an inventory of items taken into evidence within fourteen days of this report, with detailed report(s) of their findings to follow at a later date. |
