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REPORTING OFFICER'S NARRATIVE (Brief narrative of the facts surrounding the offense and the arrest.)
At 10:04 p.m., Dispatch received a 911 call reporting that the body of a man had been found in a residence at 1013 University Avenue #3. The caller did not identify himself and refused to stay on the line. Dispatch traced the call to the incident address.
Unit #207 (Officer D. C. Baxter) was immediately dispatched to the scene. Responding Officer (R/O) arrived at the scene at 10:11 p.m. and, after confirming the report, contacted Dispatch to request backup and a homicide investigation team. Detectives Armstrong and Murphy were assigned and proceeded directly to the scene. Deputy P.J. Watson arrived at the scene at 10:19 p.m. to provide backup. Coroner's Inspector Luwinda Johnson was notified at R/I's request to respond to scene.
Reporting Investigators (R/Is) arrived at the scene at 10:27 p.m. R/Is found R/Os had secured the area. Environmental conditions at scene upon arrival are as follows: Weather: Cloudy; Ambient Exterior Temperature: 57º F / 14º C; Relative Exterior Humidity: 65%; Ambient Interior Temperature: 66º F / 19º C; Relative Interior Humidity: 52%.
R/O Baxter made the following verbal report, which is stated in summary and not verbatim, upon R/Is' arrival. R/O stated that, upon arrival, she knocked on the door of the residence and identified herself as a Sheriff's officer but received no response to her repeated requests for admission. R/O Baxter then tried the door, found it unlocked, and entered the residence. R/O Baxter located an adult male in the living room of the residence and stated that the man appeared to be deceased from first observation. R/O Baxter immediately searched the rest of the residence and determined it was clear of any other persons. R/O Baxter then secured the scene, reported in to Dispatch and requested assistance. R/O Baxter further stated that, to the best of her knowledge, the following personnel have had occasion to enter the crime scene area and must be excluded by CSU personnel: Deputy P.J. Watson and herself.
After receiving the report from R/O Baxter, 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 10 minutes and CSU's ETA was approximately 15 minutes.
R/Is then examined the immediate crime scene. R/Is observed a lifeless human body seated in a red leather chair. Closer examination revealed it was an adult male, who appeared to be in his late 20s. Visual inspection indicated the man was wearing plaid cotton pajamas, a red hat with white faux fur trim, white socks, and black slippers. The body sat in a chair with the arms slightly outstretched to the side. The head of the body faced in a easterly direction and the feet in a westerly direction. No injuries were immediately apparent.
Coroner's Inspector Johnson arrived at approximately 10:40 p.m. and was directed to join R/Is at the body's location. Inspector Johnson pronounced the victim deceased at 10:46 p.m. by visual observation that the victim was not breathing and by tactile observation that the victim did not have a palpable carotid pulse. While she withheld an official estimate pending an autopsy, Inspector Johnson speculated the victim had been dead less than one hour. Inspector Johnson stated she could not determine the cause of death based on her observations at the scene and would withhold any speculation until after completion of the autopsy. 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.
A preliminary search of the remainder of the residence uncovered a Mississippi driver's license bearing the name Jackson Walker. (Evidence # 003257-01). Based on the photograph on the license, R/Is tentatively identified the victim as the same Jackson Walker. Additional documents, bills, etc. were found which indicated the residence was leased to and occupied by Jackson Walker. No additional evidence items were uncovered.
Before departing the scene, R/I Armstrong 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 11:12 p.m. and transported to the coroner's office for autopsy.
Evidence remanded into the custody of Forensics officer T. R. Douglas for transport to the state crime lab for routine analysis.
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