Oct 24, 2008

Finally Found

About three years ago a 75 year old man was reported missing to the PD; his wife had not seen him for three days. So she made the report, we asked all of the usual questions; such as: could he be with family members? Could he have taken off to Vegas? Has he undergone alien abduction experiments in the past? After about two months of no 75 year old guy, no bank account activity, no family contacts, it was clear that 75 year old guy was probably dead. The only problem is, a dead person more often than not is noticed, whether in your front room, back yard or stuck in the grill of your car. So unless the whole alien abduction thing is a real possibility, he has to be around somewhere.

Well… fast forward three years. A guy is walking his two dogs along a popular city “Greenway” walking path. Near the parking lot (about ¼ mile from the missing guy’s home) his dogs rush into some heavy brush and he cannot call them out. He plowed into the brush and found his two dogs, fighting over a human femur. The rest of the skeleton is nearby, draped over a tree stump.

By the time I’ve gotten there, just about an entire shift of patrol officers, two sergeants, a lieutenant, a captain, the chief and a dog catcher or two has worn a path to the body to get an eyeful. They all look a bit sheepish when I ask, “I wonder if the murderer left some evidence under all those footprints?” All except the lieutenant, who announces, “Don’t worry; it’s a suicide- no doubt about it.” I guess that’s why they get paid so more than me, they just KNOW things.

Not KNOWING exactly what happened by some sort of administration 6th sense, I guess I just have to go with INVESTIGATION; how inefficient. Kristen (no longer a lowly “Evidence Tech” but now “Forensic Lab Supervisor”) comes and we take a look at the body. Completely skeletonized, but mostly still articulated within clothing (other than the chew-toy leg bone). We turn the body over a find a small handgun, still clutched in the bones of his right hand and rusted onto the front of his shirt.

The evidence all conclusively points to suicide; which, in a way ticks me off, because I can’t disprove the notion of an all-knowing lieutenant. The only satisfaction I got was when he came by the autopsy; a salamander crawled out of the chest cavity and scared the living daylights out of him. As he left I was able to say, “Didn’t see that coming did you?”

All is now right with the world.

3 comments:

cw2smom said...

Love this story!!! And...eeeewww on the bug! :chills and shivers: Don't ya just hate those bossy, know it all managers! As a former Captain in our Dept of Corrections-a 25 yr vet...I always tried to make sure I wasn't one of "them"- The kind I hated when I wasn't one!!! LOL!

Remo said...

Isn't it nice to close a case? lol

That's the bad thing about the desert. Anything that wanders out of a body cavity is packing venom. I think our ME hates us.

Myra said...

What an interesting job! Kinda like TV...you should send that in to CSI, don't think they've even thought of that one!