At 8:14 AM, Dispatch received a 911 call reporting finding
human remains at the Lamar Park Lake in Oxford. The caller identified herself as Michael Langley.
Yoknapatawpha
County Sheriff's Unit 209 (Officer P. Winston ) was dispatched and
arrived at the scene at 8:22 AM, and was met by witnesses Anna Wood and
Michael Langley, at the Arrival Plaza near the southside parking lot of
Lamar Park off of Country Club Road.. Miss Wood related that she
had
noticed an object near the water's edge of the Lamar Park lake while
jogging. Curious, she approached the object and noted
a foul odor.
As she reached the object, she reported seeing a plastic bag and could
observe the lower portion of a human body, revealing what she described
as “parts only a man has.”
Mr.
Langley advised that he was on the opposite side of the lake when he
heard Anna Wood screaming. He immediately ran to her location and
observed the same bag that Anna had found, and subsequently called
911. Other people at the park had gathered around, and Michael
stated
that he cautioned them to stay away, as he had called the police.
Miss
Wood & Mr. Langley directed Responding Officer (R/O) to an object
at the water's edge of the lake at the park, just north of the pier at
the southeast corner of the lake.. R/O Winston observed the
object,
and confirmed the presence of what appeared to be a package including a
plastic bag containing what appeared to be a male human pelvis.
R/O notified Dispatch and requested CI assistance. Reporting Investigators (R/Is) Detectives T. Armstrong and S. Murphy
were assigned and 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 9:13 a.m. Upon
arrival,
R/Is found that R/O had secured the immediate area. Environmental
conditions at the scene upon arrival are as follows: Weather: Exterior crime scene location; Ambient Temperature:
approximately 71°F/21.6°C; Relative Humidity: approximately 83%.
R/O Winston made the following verbal report, which is stated
in summary and not verbatim: On arrival at the scene, R/O
was approached by witnesses Anna Wood, and her boyfriend Michael
Langley. The witnesses directed R/O to the south end of the lake
at
Lamar Park, where a small crowd of people were gathered in a wide arc
around an object visible near the water's edge.
Miss
Wood advised that she frequently jogs at Lamar Park, and was jogging
alone this morning around the lake. Mr. Langley is an artist and
was
at the park doing some sketches. This morning they arrived
together
at approximately 7:45 AM. After a brief warm-up, Miss Wood
started
jogging around the lake in a counterclockwise direction, starting in a
westerly direction along the south edge of the lake.. As she
rounded
the lake on the north and proceeded south along the east bank, she
noticed something shiny near the water's edge just north of the pier
area. She approached the shiny object to see what was there, she
noticed a foul odor becoming stronger as she got closer. Anna
could
make out what appeared to be a large plastic bag when she was close
enough, and then was “horrified” to see what the plastic bag
contained. She ran back to the jogging trail screaming, and was
shortly joined by her boyfriend Michael.
Michael
reported that Anna was somewhat hysterical, however pointed out the
object near the water's edge. He advanced towards the object and
saw
enough to agree with Miss Wood's assessment and retreated to call 911.
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: witnesses Anna Wood, Michael Langley, and
himself. According to the witnesses, they did not handle the
'package', and although there were a number of other people in the
park, they saw no other people approach the package closer than
approximately 10 – 15 feet. At the time of R/O Winston's arrival,
the
closest people were approximately 30 feet away.
After receiving the report from R/O Winston, R/Is conducted a
preliminary inspection of the scene. R/Is observed what appeared to be remnants of brown paper wrapped
around a clear plastic bag, secured with brown twine.. The
package was
observed to be generally rectangular in shape, bulging in areas, was
wet, and measured approximately 28” x 22” x 10”. The bag had a
'valve'
that appeared to allow use of a vacuum cleaner to remove air.
There
were holes in the bag, and water had infiltrated the bag. What
appeared to be a human male pelvis was visible through the
plastic,
along with other parts/tissue. The items in the bag were observed
to
be in a state of putrefaction, producing a significant foul odor.
The
package may have washed up on east shore of the Lamar Park lake,
approximately 32 feet north of the pier at the southeast corner of the
lake.
CSU
arrived at the scene at approximately 8:20 AM, and Coroner’s Inspector
L. Johnson arrived at 8:30 AM. R/Is instructed CSU to
collect the
package and pack it in ice for submission to the Yoknapatawpha County Coroner's Office in accordance with instructions from Coroner’s
Inspector L. Johnson. They were additionally instructed to
process the
entire scene according to standard procedure.
Inspector
Johnson examined the package, revealing a 'Space Bag' brand large
size
plastic bag, containing a Caucasian male pelvis severed from the upper
torso below the ribcage, along with apparent intestines and possibly
organs. Inspector Johnson stated that although the dismemberment
appeared to have been made by a sharp instrument, due to the state of
putrefaction she was not prepared to make any further statements until
the items in the bag could be removed in the laboratory and properly
examined.
A
preliminary search of the area including along the lake shore revealed
no additional evidence. The package was wet and appeared to have
been
submerged in water, possibly washing up on shore from the lake.. CSU will conduct a more intensive search of the area and
report their findings.
Additional witness statements will be reported separately.
R/Is
left the scene at 11:55 AM. Before leaving, R/I Murphy instructed
CSU
to secure the scene prior to leaving that day, and assess the
feasibility of searching the lake itself for further
evidence. 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. The listed items represent
items collected at this time.
Evidence remanded into the custody of Forensics Officer T. R.
Douglas for transport to the Yoknapatawpha County.
Coroner's Office for analysis. Any additional evidence
found to be
submitted directly to the MCL. 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.
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