| REPORTING OFFICER'S NARRATIVE(Brief narrative of the facts surrounding the offense and the arrest.)
At 10:19 a.m., Dispatch received a 911 call reporting vandalism on a property near Taylor Creek at 424 Old Taylor Road, CR 323. The caller identified himself as Tucker Allison (Person 2), owner of the property.
Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Unit 207 (Officer D. C. Baxter) was dispatched and arrived at the scene at 10:41 a.m. After observing the vandalism, R/O conducted an inspection of the surrounding area and discovered a secondary scene with possible human remains present. At 11:00 a.m., R/O notified Dispatch of the discovery and requested backup.
Unit 221 (Officer Maria Richards) and Unit 304 (Deputy Fred Willits) were dispatched to provide backup and arrived at the scene at 11:11 a.m. and 11:16 a.m., respectively.
Reporting Investigators (R/Is) Detectives T. Armstrong and S. Murphy were assigned and proceeded directly to the scene. At R/Is' request, Coroner's Inspector L. Johnson and a CSU team were notified to respond to the scene.
R/Is arrived at the scene at 11:44 a.m. Upon arrival, R/Is found that R/Os had secured the area. Environmental conditions at the scene upon arrival are as follows: Weather: Clear; Exterior Ambient Temperature 77°F/25°C; Relative Humidity: 50%.
R/O Baxter made the following verbal report, which is stated in summary and not verbatim.
R/O responded to the location and was met by an adult male who identified himself as Tucker Allison (Person 2), the property owner.
Person 2 escorted R/O to a location on the east edge of the property, alongside Taylor Creek. At that location, R/O observed an area measuring approximately 25 feet by 20 feet, which was cleared of leaves and grass and had what appeared to be the remains of a campfire in the center.
R/O observed two empty rum bottles approximately 2 feet southwest of the campfire and a significantly decomposed chicken carcass approximately 5 feet southeast of the campfire. Approximately 15 feet southwest of the campfire and outside of the cleared area, R/O observed what appeared to be a ball made of wax with a slip of paper protruding from the wax.
R/O further observed an apparent footpath leading south from the clearing in the direction of CR 323. R/O followed the path to approximately 165 yards south of CR 323, where R/O observed a large blue and white bucket positioned inside a tree stump.
R/O noted a strong, unusual odor, apparently emanating from the bucket. Wearing gloves, R/O removed the lid from the top of the bucket and observed what appeared to be a human head in an unidentified liquid inside the bucket. R/O replaced the lid on the bucket and secured the scene.
R/O contacted Dispatch to request backup. R/O said YCSD Unit 221 (Officer Maria Richards) arrived at approximately 11:11 a.m. and provided backup and assistance in securing the vandalism scene. R/O said YCSD Unit 304 (Deputy Fred Willits) arrived at approximately 11:16 a.m. and provided backup and assistance in securing the human remains scene.
R/O Baxter further stated that, to the best of his knowledge, the following persons had occasion to enter the crime scene areas and should be documented by CSU personnel: Tucker Allison, Freddy Allison, Melissa Bridges, Officer Richards, Deputy Willits, and himself.
After receiving the verbal report from R/O Winston, R/Is conducted a preliminary inspection of the vandalism scene (Site A).
The cleared area measured 19.7 feet north to south and 26.4 feet east to west. Taylor Creek runs north to south 5.3 feet east of the clearing and intersects with CR 323 114 yards south of the cleared area.
In the center of the cleared area were the remains of a campfire measuring 3 feet in diameter and with burned debris approximately 1.8 feet high. The burned debris included ashes and the remains of a wooden crate, approximately 70% burned. The wooden crate measured approximately 32 inches long, 15 inches high, and 11 inches deep and appeared to be made of pine strips with rope handles.
Approximately 2 feet southwest of the campfire remains were two empty Bacardi rum bottles. 6.3 feet southeast of the campfire was a decomposed chicken carcass with apparent incisions in the chest and neck areas.
Approximately 12 feet east of the campfire remains was a tree with minimal streaks of what appeared to be blood approximately 3-4 feet above the base of the tree.
Outside of the cleared area, approximately 14 feet southeast of the campfire remains, was a ball of what appeared to be black wax measuring approximately 2.5 inches in diameter. Protruding from the ball was a slip of white paper. On the visible portion of the white paper, the words "Laurie Daniels" were handwritten.
R/Is left all evidence in place for documentation and collection by CSU.
Coroner's Inspector Luwinda Johnson arrived at the scene at approximately 12:24 p.m. and joined R/Is at the vandalism location. R/Is and Inspector Johnson proceeded to the human remains location [Site B] south of the vandalism scene.
R/Is found the human remains scene consistent with R/Os description. 163 yards south of CR 323, R/Is observed a large blue and white bucket with the words "Pool Free" on the side. The bucket was planted in an oak stump, measuring 18 inches across and 1 foot deep, on the west side of Taylor Creek, along the shallow bank. The bucket was 19 inches deep and protruded 7 inches from the stump.
R/Is and Inspector Johnson noted a strong chemical odor mixed with the odor of decomposition in the area. Upon removing the bucket lid, R/Is observed what appeared to be a human head floating in an unidentified liquid inside the bucket.
The head appeared to be severely deteriorated. The visible skin was black and blistered. The hair on the head was white and appeared to be long, but a specific length could not be determined at the scene. R/Is and Inspector Johnson were unable to determine age, race, gender, or identification at the scene.
Inspector Johnson pronounced the victim (Person 1) deceased at 12:33 p.m. by visual observation that the victim's head was separated from the body.
Inspector Johnson was unable to provide an estimate on the time of death or cause of death at the scene but indicated that further details would be available in the official autopsy report.
Inspector Johnson stayed with the CSU team to ensure the integrity of the remains while the team took photographs of the scene and performed preliminary analyses until the remains could be removed from the scene without affecting other evidence.
CSU arrived at the scene at approximately 12:30 p.m. R/Is requested that CSU set a wide perimeter for the crime scenes and to notify them immediately if any additional human remains were discovered.
Following their preliminary inspection of the scenes, R/Is interviewed Persons 2, 3, and 4 (transcripts to follow).
R/Is left the location at 3:45 p.m. Before leaving, R/I Murphy instructed CSU to seal the scene upon completion or end-of-shift 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 human remains were remanded into the custody of Coroner's Inspector Luwinda Johnson. The deceased was removed from the scene at 3:20 p.m. and transported to the coroner's office for autopsy.
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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