REPORTING
OFFICER'S NARRATIVE (Brief
narrative of the facts surrounding the offense and the arrest.)
At
12:32 p.m., Dispatch received a 911 call regarding a bloody severed
finger found in Room #117 at the Days Inn at 1101 Frontage Rd., in
Oxford. The caller identified himself as Lewis Silky, manager of
the Days Inn.
Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Unit 209 (Officer P. Winston)
was dispatched and arrived at the scene at 12:38 p.m. Initial witness statements were obtained and an apparent bloody
finger was confirmed to be in room #117 of the Days Inn.
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, a
CSU team was notified to respond to the scene. R/Is arrived at the
scene at 1:23 PM. 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 89°F/31.7°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 Days Inn manager Lewis Silky, and
directed to room #117.
Silky advised that Cassie Foster, a maid at the Days Inn,
had discovered a bloody finger in room #117. Arriving at the
room, Cassie Foster was found to be standing outside the closed
door. Both Lewis Silky and Cassie Foster said that they had seen
no persons in the room, and it had been under continual observation
since closing the door and calling 911.
Cassie Foster stated that she was a maid at the Days Inn,
and was making her daily rounds cleaning rooms, when she entered room
#117 at 12:27 PM. As she started cleaning, she found what she
described as a bloody finger by the bureau. She immediately ran
out of the room and contacted the manager, Lewis Silky, who responded
to the room and also viewed the bloody finger. They both then
exited the room and locked the door. Mr. Silky immediately called
911.
R/O entered the room with a pass key provided by the
manager, and confirmed an apparent bloody finger near the bureau. A
search was conducted for possible persons present, with none found.
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 Lewis Silky
and Cassie Foster, and himself.
After receiving the report from R/O Winston, R/Is conducted
a preliminary inspection of the scene. R/Is observed an apparent
finger next to the bureau along the south wall.
According to the manager, the room is a “standard king bed
room.” The door has outside access to the parking lot on the east
side, and opens into a single room with the bed and a nightstand along
the north wall, and a bureau and desk along the south wall, opposite
the bed. A small table and two (2) chairs are at the far end of
the room, next to a window. A bathroom and closet area are
immediately inside the single access door, to the right.
CSU arrived at the scene at approximately 1:35 PM. R/Is
instructed CSU to collect the apparent finger and pack it in ice for
submission to the Mississippi Crime Lab. They were additionally
instructed to process the entire scene according to standard procedure.
A preliminary search of the immediate area for additional
evidence revealed possible blood stains on the carpet adjacent to the
bed. CSU collected the bedding linens and additional possible blood
stains were found on the mattress. The mattress was moved from
the bed foundation, revealing significant pooling of apparent blood on
a solid underlayment. CSU will conduct a more intensive search of
the room and report their findings.
Manager Lewis Silky reported the room was registered to
Oscar Knight from Tupelo, Mississippi. His current where-a-bouts
are unknown. A follow-up interview will be conducted and reported
separately.
R/Is left the scene at 5:35 PM. 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. The listed items represent items collected at this time.
Evidence remanded into the custody of Forensics Officer T.
R. Douglas for transport to the Mississippi Crime Lab for 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.
DEFENDANT'S
VERSION/REMARKS (What did the
defendant say about the offense or his/her whereabouts at the time of
offense?)
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