Incident report

REPORTING OFFICER'S NARRATIVE (Brief narrative of the facts surrounding the offense and the arrest.)

At 12:15 p.m., Dispatch received a 911 call reporting the discovery of a body at the Kelly Green housing development. The caller identified himself as Earl Sullivan, site supervisor.

Unit #224 (Officer Steve Harding) was immediately dispatched to the scene. Detectives Armstrong and Murphy were assigned and proceeded directly to the scene. Coroner's Inspector Luwinda Johnson was notified to respond to the scene at R/I's request.

Officer Harding arrived at the scene at 12:20 p.m. Unit #305 (Deputy P.J. Watson) was dispatched to the scene to provide backup and assistance and arrived at 12:22 p.m.

Reporting Investigators (R/Is) arrived at the scene at 12:27 p.m. and found Officer Harding and Deputy Watson had secured the area. Environmental conditions at the scene upon arrival are as follows: Weather: Partly cloudy; Ambient Temperature: 69°F / 21°C; Relative Humidity: 98%.

Officer Harding made the following verbal report, which is stated in summary and not verbatim.

Officer Harding said that, as he was approaching the location, he observed an adult male exiting the wooded area known as Kelly Woods.

Upon arrival at the Kelly Green construction site, Officer Harding was met by two male witnesses who identified themselves as Earl Sullivan, who had called 911, and Miles Jackson, who discovered the body.

As Harding approached Sullivan and Jackson, he observed a pickup truck arriving at his location. The adult male who exited the vehicle identified himself as Michael Robbins, the property developer. Harding recognized him as the adult male he had seen exiting Kelly Woods a few minutes earlier.

While Harding was getting preliminary information from Sullivan, Jackson, and Robbins, Deputy Watson arrived at the scene.

At that time, Sullivan and Jackson directed Harding and Watson to the body's location, approximately 100 yards from the construction site office.

Upon confirming the presence of the body, Deputy Watson secured the scene while Officer Harding detained witnesses at the construction site, including Sullivan, Jackson, and Robbins.

Officer Harding said that, to the best of his knowledge, the following personnel have had occasion to enter the crime scene area and must be documented by CSU personnel: witness Miles Jackson, witness Earl Sullivan, witness Michael Robbins, Deputy Watson, and himself.

After receiving the report from Officer Harding, 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 5 minutes, and CSU's ETA was approximately 10 minutes.

R/Is had Jackson escort them to the location of the body, while Officer Harding asked Robbins some preliminary questions and Deputy Watson stayed with Sullivan and supervised crowd control.

Jackson escorted R/Is to a location approximately 100 yards from the Kelly Green construction site office. The location is a clearing approximately 70 feet by 25 feet, bordered by kudzu. Jackson guided R/Is to the west side of the clearing, where R/Is observed the lifeless human body of a partially clad female, who appeared to be in her late twenties.

The body lay in a prone position with the head turned to the right. The left arm was extended above the head. The right arm was at the side of the body with the elbow bent at a sharp angle and the right hand parallel with the face. The head of the body was in a northerly direction, and the feet were in a southerly direction.

Visual inspection indicated the victim was wearing blue jeans and a bra but no shirt. R/Is observed signs of significant trauma to the back of the head, but no other injuries were immediately apparent.

Coroner's Inspector Johnson arrived at the scene at approximately 12:38 p.m. and joined R/Is at the body's location. Inspector Johnson pronounced the victim deceased at 12:42 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.

Inspector Johnson noted that rigor mortis appeared to be fully established throughout the body and that the skin was cool to the touch. Inspector Johnson speculated the victim had been dead for at least twelve hours, but she withheld an official estimate pending an autopsy, noting that weather conditions and other factors made a determination at the scene difficult.

Inspector Johnson said the apparent cause of death was blunt force injuries to the parietal region of the head. She indicated that an official opinion and further details would be available in the preliminary coroner's 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 R/Is concluded their inspection of the body, Jackson pointed out the tire tracks that drew him to the scene and R/Is instructed CSU to make casts of the tracks.

A preliminary search of the area uncovered no additional evidence items. A search for the victim's shirt and weapon(s) causing the injury to the deceased met with negative results.

Following their inspection of the scene, R/Is transported Jackson to the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department to conduct a preliminary interview with him and to permit CSU to complete the processing of the scene.

R/Is left the scene at 1:50 p.m. Before leaving, R/I Murphy 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.

The body of the deceased was remanded into the custody of Coroner's Inspector Luwinda Johnson. Inspector Johnson assigned Coroner ID Jane Doe #22-007 to the deceased pending further identification. Deceased was removed from the scene at 2:45 p.m. and transported to the coroner's office for autopsy. A preliminary autopsy report is expected within fourteen days of this report.

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.

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