Body found incident report

INCIDENT / ARREST REPORT

Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department
711 Jackson Avenue E
Oxford, MS 38655

 _X_ INCIDENT
     ___ Juvenile
     ___ Senior Citizen
     ___ Gang

 ___ ARREST
     ___ Child Abuse
     ___ Domestic
     ___ Involved Alcohol

Following an interview with John Reagle (Person 2), who was already in custody on unrelated charges (ref. Case # 004123), R/Is made arrangements to transport him to Reagle Farm Road in east Yoknapatawpha County, where Reagle had indicated he could identify the location where he had unearthed a human hand on 7/13/14.

R/Is contacted CSU and requested CSU meet them at the scene for excavation and possible recovery of a body. R/Is and Reagle arrived at Reagle Farm Road at 10:00 a.m. Environmental conditions at the scene upon arrival were as follows: Weather: Clear; Ambient Temperature: 86° F / 30° C; Relative Humidity: 82 percent.

Reagle directed R/Is to a location on Reagle Farm Road approximately 100 yards off County Road 418. After exiting the vehicle, Reagle specified an area adjacent to the cotton field, approximately eight feet east of the edge of Reagle Farm Road, as the site where he had previously found the human hand.

CSU arrived on the scene at approximately 10:20 a.m. R/Is identified the area to be excavated. CSU cordoned off the area and documented it.

Excavation began at approximately 11:00 a.m. Excavation was suspended temporarily at 12:00 p.m. No evidence had been discovered at that time. R/Is contacted Dispatch and requested an officer be dispatched to their location.

Officer Steve Harding (Unit #224) arrived at 12:18 p.m. R/O Harding remained at the scene to secure the location.

Excavation resumed at approximately 1:30 p.m. CSU uncovered what appeared to be a human hand at approximately 2:30 p.m.

At approximately 3:30 p.m., the body of an adult white male with close-cropped brown and gray hair and brown facial hair was fully revealed. The head was to the north and the feet to the south. The body was clothed in a yellow, collared, short-sleeve knit shirt, blue denim jeans, and white athletic shoes. The left arm was resting on top of the torso. The right arm was resting on top of the torso and left arm. The right hand was missing.

Adjacent to the left hip was a flask-sized bottle labeled "Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey" and an open pocket knife. Adjacent to the left ear was a .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun.

Scene processing was suspended while the Coroner's Office was notified and dispatched to the scene.

Coroner's Inspector Luwinda Johnson arrived at the scene at approximately 4:10 p.m. and joined R/Is at the body's location. Inspector Johnson pronounced the body deceased at 4:12 p.m. by visual observation of the state of decomposition.

Inspector Johnson speculated the deceased had been dead somewhere between three and 10 days, but withheld an official estimate pending an autopsy. She noted that the burial, weather conditions, and other factors made it difficult to estimate the time of death at the scene.

Inspector Johnson said the cause of death appeared to have been multiple gunshot wounds, two to the chest and one to the groin area, but indicated that further details would be available in the official autopsy report.

Inspector Johnson also noted it appeared the deceased's right hand had been amputated with a moderately sharp blade, but withheld an official statement pending further examination.

After Inspector Johnson completed her initial inspection of the body, she stayed with the CSU team to ensure the 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.

The deceased was removed from its original location to the Coroner's vehicle at approximately 6:45 p.m. At that time, a set of keys was found underneath the body.

A wallet was also recovered from the deceased's right rear pants pocket. The wallet contained a driver's license and credit cards issued to Andrew Fine of 596 Hathorn Road, Oxford. The deceased was tentatively identified as Andrew Fine, pending official confirmation by the Coroner.

The body of the deceased was remanded into the custody of Coroner's Inspector Luwinda Johnson. The deceased was removed from the scene at 7:02 p.m. and transported to the Coroner's office for autopsy. A preliminary autopsy report is expected within fourteen days of this report.

R/Is left the scene at 7:15 p.m. Before leaving, R/Is instructed CSU to seal the scene upon completion or end-of-day suspension of processing. CSU to notify R/Is of progress. R/Is transported Reagle back to the Yoknapatawpha County Detention Center.

Evidence was 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.

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