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| Evidence: Incident Report | |
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YOKNAPATAWPHA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT INCIDENT REPORT (SUMMARY) Investigating Officer(s): Detective S. Murphy, Detective T. Armstrong DESCRIPTION: At 12:04 p.m., Dispatch received a 911 call regarding the discovery of a dead body in Avent Park. Initially the caller thought there were 2 bodies, but he saw that the female body, who the caller visually identified as Arlene Melton, was still breathing and moving and requested emergency medical assistance at the scene. The caller identified himself as Tate Moore. The location within the Avent Park facility was said to be towards the rear of the park, along the trail which leads from the parking area into the woods. Unit #216 (Officer Kennon Winters) was immediately dispatched to the scene. Detectives Armstrong and Murphy were contacted in their offices at the Sheriff's department and proceeded directly to the scene. Coroner's Inspector Luwinda Johnson was notified at R/I's request to respond to the scene. Reporting Officer (R/O) Winters arrived at the scene at 12:22 p.m. At R/O's request, Unit #224 (Officer Steve Harding) was dispatched to the scene to provide backup and assistance and arrived at 12:29 p.m. Reporting Investigators (R/Is) arrived at the scene at 12:31 p.m. and found R/Os Winters and Harding had secured the area. Environmental conditions at scene upon arrival are as follows: Weather: Overcast; Ambient Temperature: approximately 49� F / 9� C; Relative Humidity: approximately 86 percent. FINDINGS: R/O Winters made the following verbal report, which is stated in summary and not verbatim, upon R/Is arrival. R/O Winters said he was met at the start of the trail leading from the parking lot in Avent Park into the woods by a man he knew to be Tate Moore. The witness Moore told R/O Winters that Moore was the 911 caller. At the time of his arrival, R/O Winters observed only one vehicle, other than his own, in the parking lot: a red Dodge Neon. The witness directed R/O Winters to the location of the body along the trail and said that he would wait for the emergency medical services to direct them to the area. R/O Winters proceeded along the trail until he reached the location described by witness Moore, where he observed one adult male and one adult female on the ground. R/O Winters said he observed no sign of chest movement or any other palpable sign of life in the adult male, but the adult female was conscious and responsive despite her injury. R/O Winters then secured the scene, called for backup and detained the witnesses. Emergency services arrived at 12:26 p.m. and witness Moore escorted them to the location of body and injured female. R/O Harding arrived at 12:29 p.m. Female witness said she had been shot. Paramedics estimated female witness not in life-threatening condition, wound appeared to be along the top of the left shoulder, forming cut and burn which can be cleaned and treated. Female witness appeared to be in state of shock and was not answering questions coherently. R/O Winters reported that no one other than Paramedics Wyett and Johnson had touched the body of the adult male. R/O Winters further stated that to the best of his knowledge, the following personnel have had occasion to enter the crime scene area and must be preliminarily excluded by CSU personnel: Witness Tate Moore, witness Arlene Melton, R/O Harding, Paramedic Tom Wyett, Paramedic Elizabeth Johnson and himself. After receiving the report from R/O Winters, R/I Murphy contacted Dispatch regarding the status of the Coroner's Inspector and the Crime Scene Unit. Dispatch indicated the Inspector's ETA was approximately 25 minutes and CSU's ETA was approximately 20 minutes. R/Is conducted a preliminary inspection of the scene and surrounding area. Visual inspection of the immediate area at the start of the trail shows the tennis courts and sports facilities to the north. To the south is the parking lot and Avent Park entrance as well as an activity center and baseball field. The walking trail runs in a westerly direction along the edge of the woods that surround Avent Park before going deeper into the woods. Approximate location of body is 200 yards along the trail and to the left-hand side of the trail path. In a small clearing is body of middle aged male Caucasian, lying face down with left arm folded underneath torso and right arm pointing at approximately 75� angle away from body. Younger female, approximately mid-twenties with long black hair is sitting with knees drawn upwards against a tree right hand held clutching a dressing to her left shoulder. Female witness is crying and there is blood staining the shoulder and sleeve of her white t-shirt. The ground is firm but damp underfoot with no obvious footprints or visual indications of a struggle in the immediate area. R/Is then inspected the location of the body. R/I Murphy observed that the male victim has one small entry wound in upper left quadrant of back. Male victim is wearing light blue shirt and material appears forced in and darker around the small wound. No blood is visible from underneath the body and no other injuries to male victim are visible aside from the entry wound in upper left back area. A notebook computer with cable running to a digital camera is approximately two feet away from male victim's right hand. Cable to digital camera is connected to notebook computer but not to camera itself, which looks as if it has been damaged. Casing is open on both sides of camera. Approximately 6 feet north of the body a black leather jacket lies on the ground. Inventory of jacket contents is attached in the inventory of evidence found at scene. Coroner's Inspector Johnson arrived at the scene at 12:57 p.m. Inspector Johnson pronounced the male victim deceased at 12:59 p.m. by visual observation that the male victim was not breathing and by tactile observation that the male victim did not have a palpable carotid pulse. Inspector Johnson confirmed that the small tear and darker patch of blue shirt in the upper left quadrant of victim's back did appear to be the entry wound of a small caliber bullet. After examining the area around the body for trace evidence, the body was turned gently on to its back by rolling it to the left. No corresponding exit wound for a bullet could be seen on the upper right area of the victim's chest. Inspector Johnson reported high likelihood of bullet being lodged in body and that the absence of blood and only one entry wound indicated either a heart shot which stopped the blood from pumping around the body very quickly or that the shot itself initiated a heart attack with the same result. Inspector Johnson noted that the victim did not appear to have entered rigor mortis. While she withheld an official estimate pending an autopsy, Inspector Johnson speculated the victim had been dead approximately one hour and the apparent cause of death was by a single gunshot. Inspector Johnson indicated that further details would be available in the official autopsy report. 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 removed from the scene without destroying other evidence. Inspector Johnson also briefly examined wound to female victim Arlene Melton's left shoulder and reported only superficial wound. Further to that, Inspector Johnson noticed visual indications of possible gun shot residue to witness's right hand which could indicate either close proximity to or handling of recently discharged weapon. Forensics officer T. R. Douglas produced a gunshot residue testing kit, and conducted tests on the hands of the female victim Arlene Melton and the witness Tate Moore. Test results will be available in a separate report after the appropriate analysis. Following preliminary Inspection of the scene, R/Is interviewed witness Tate Moore at the scene. Interview transcript is attached to this report. 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. Body of the deceased remanded into the custody of Coroner's Inspector Luwinda Johnson. Deceased was removed from scene at 2:25 p.m. and transported to the Coroner's Office for autopsy. A preliminary autopsy report is expected within fourteen days of this report. Witness Arlene Melton was transported to Baptist Memorial Hospital and R/O Harding accompanied witness and paramedics. 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 seven days of this report, with detailed report(s) of their findings to follow at a later date REPORT FILED 11/04/02, 5:30 P.M. //Sam Murphy, Yoknapatawpha Sheriff's Detective ATTEST //Ted Armstrong, Yoknapatawpha Sheriff's Detective |
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