| REPORTING OFFICER'S NARRATIVE(Brief narrative of the facts surrounding the offense and the arrest.)
At 7:07 a.m., Dispatch received a 911 call regarding the discovery of a body on the side of Highway 6 East. The caller identified himself as Beau Jenkins.
Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Unit #305 (Deputy P.J. Watson) was dispatched and arrived at the scene at 7:13 a.m. Upon verification of the presence of a body at 7:15 a.m., R/O notified Dispatch and requested backup.
Unit 207 (Officer D.C. Baxter) was dispatched to provide backup and arrived at the scene at 7:26 a.m.
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 7:29 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: Mostly cloudy; Ambient Temperature 69°F/21°C; Relative Humidity: 84%.
R/O Watson made the following verbal report, which is stated in summary and not verbatim.
R/O responded to the location and was met by Beau Jenkins (Person 2).
After confirming the presence of the body, R/O Watson secured the scene, called for backup, and detained the witness Jenkins at the scene.
R/O Watson 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: Officer D.C. Baxter, Beau Jenkins, and himself.
After receiving the verbal report from R/O Watson, 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 8 minutes, and CSU's ETA was approximately 15 minutes.
R/Is then proceeded to the location of the body. R/Is observed a lifeless human body, apparently a female in her mid-thirties. Visual inspection indicated the victim was wearing a white knit blouse, black slacks, and black fabric sandals.
The body lay face down with the head turned to the left. The right arm was stretched out to the side, and the left arm was stretched slightly above the head. The head faced in an easterly direction and the feet in a westerly direction.
The body displayed signs of trauma to the head and torso. No other injuries were immediately apparent. Pending official analysis by the coroner's office, initial observation indicated the victim was apparently shot twice, once in the head and once in the torso.
In the vicinity of the body, R/Is observed several items scattered nearby, including an empty woman's handbag, several pens, two lipsticks, a damaged cellular telephone, a powder compact, a hairbrush, a microcassette tape recorder, and other items. The items were left in place to be processed by CSU. A detailed inventory of the items will be included in their report.
Coroner's Inspector Johnson arrived at the scene at approximately 7:43 a.m. and joined R/Is at the body's location. Inspector Johnson pronounced the victim deceased at 7:49 a.m. by visual observation that the victim was not breathing and by tactile observation that the victim did not have a palpable carotid pulse.
Inspector Johnson noted that the victim appeared to be in the early to middle stages of rigor mortis. While she withheld an official estimate pending an autopsy, Inspector Johnson speculated the victim had been dead approximately 8 to 10 hours, and the apparent cause of death was from injuries caused by multiple gunshot wounds. 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 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.
After concluding their inspection of the body, R/Is proceeded to inspect a vehicle apparently abandoned in a ditch approximately 150 yards from the location of the body. Registration papers found inside the vehicle, a 2019 Ford Explorer, indicated it was registered to Zoe Chase at 1034 Suncrest Drive. The witness at the scene, Beau Jenkins, identified the victim as Zoe Chase, and pending official confirmation of the identification, it appears the vehicle belongs to the victim. R/Is conducted a preliminary search of the interior of the vehicle and observed multiple items that were left in place for processing and inventory by CSU.
A preliminary search of the area uncovered no additional evidence items. An initial search for bullets and/or casings met with negative results. However, CSU will conduct a more intensive search and report their findings.
Following their inspection of the scene, R/Is interviewed the witness, Beau Jenkins, at the scene. Transcript to be added to the case file.
R/Is left the scene at 9:45 a.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 body of the deceased was remanded into the custody of Coroner's Inspector Luwinda Johnson. The deceased was removed from the scene at 8:37 a.m. and transported to the coroner's office for autopsy. A preliminary autopsy report is expected within seven days of this report, with detailed findings to follow at a later date.
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 fourteen days of this report, with detailed report(s) of their findings to follow at a later date.
|
