Incident report

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

At 11:18 a.m., Dispatch received a 911 call regarding the discovery of a body at 617 North Lamar Boulevard. The caller identified himself as Carl Dixon, business partner of the property owner, Devlin Beauchamp.

Unit #305 (Deputy P.J. Watson) and Unit #202 (Officer A.L. Quinlan) were dispatched to the scene. Detectives Armstrong and Murphy were assigned and proceeded directly to the scene. Coroner's Inspector Luwinda Johnson was notified at R/Is' request to respond to the scene.

Reporting Officer (R/O) Watson arrived at the scene at 11:24 a.m., and R/O Quinlan arrived at 11:25 a.m.

Reporting Investigators (R/Is) arrived at the scene at 11:41 a.m. and found R/Os Watson and Quinlan had secured the area and detained an adult male, identified as Carl Dixon. Environmental conditions at the scene upon arrival are as follows: Weather: Overcast; Ambient Exterior Temperature: 74º F / 23º C; Relative Exterior Humidity: 45%; Ambient Interior Temperature: 72º F / 22º C; Relative Interior Humidity: 57%.

Upon R/Is' arrival, R/O Watson made the following verbal report, which is stated in summary and not verbatim.

Deputy Watson said Mr. Dixon had met him and Officer Quinlan at the front door of the residence and escorted them to a second-floor bathroom. From the doorway of the bathroom, Deputy Watson and Officer Quinlan observed a body in the bathtub and did not enter the room.

Upon verification of the presence of the body, Officer Quinlan removed Mr. Dixon to the ground floor of the residence while Deputy Watson secured the area, verifying that no other persons were present in the dwelling.

Deputy Watson also said he and Officer Quinlan had found no indications of forced entry, burglary, or attempted burglary.

Deputy Watson reported that, to the best of his knowledge, the following persons have entered the crime scene area and must be documented by CSU personnel: Officer Quinlan, Carl Dixon, and himself.

After receiving Deputy Watson's verbal report, R/Is contacted Dispatch to verify that the Coroner's Inspector and the Crime Scene Unit were en route to the scene. Dispatch indicated the Inspector's ETA was approximately 5 minutes and CSU's ETA was approximately 10 minutes.

R/Is asked Dispatch to send a second CSU team to the scene, citing the large area requiring prompt attention. Dispatch checked with CSU and indicated a second team would be on the scene in approximately 15 minutes.

R/Is instructed Officer Quinlan to remain in the living room of the residence with Mr. Dixon and to notify them when the Coroner's Inspector and CSU arrived at the scene. Then, Deputy Watson escorted R/Is to the master bathroom where the body was located. After showing R/Is to the master bathroom, Deputy Watson returned to the ground floor of the residence.

The master bathroom is located on the west side of the stairway and has two entrances — one from the west hall and one from the master bedroom. The door to the master bathroom from the west hall was nearly closed but slightly ajar. After taking `photographs to document the scene, R/I Armstrong used his elbow covered by his jacket to gently push the door open by nudging it in the middle, opening it enough that R/Is could see into the bathroom beyond.

Initial observation of the master bathroom from the west hall entrance revealed minimal signs of violence. Traces of a reddish substance and a glossy black substance, both visually consistent with blood, were observed on the floor. An unidentified cloth with apparent red stains was observed on the floor under the window directly opposite the hallway entrance. The bathtub was only partially visible from the hallway entrance, but the bathtub contents were not visible from this entrance.

R/Is then returned through the west hall and entered the master bedroom from the west hall through the open door. R/Is approached the master bathroom from the master bedroom entrance. The door from the master bedroom into the master bathroom was open.

Initial observation from the master bedroom entrance revealed apparent blood spatter on the south wall of the master bathroom surrounding the end of the bathtub and on the west wall of the bathroom closet, which abuts the bathtub.  

The bathtub contained a reddish liquid, which filled approximately one-half of the bathtub. Partially submerged in the liquid was what appeared to be the body of an adult male. The body was face down in the bathtub and displayed no signs of life. R/Is did not enter the master bathroom at that time.

At approximately 12:00 p.m., Deputy Watson radioed that the Coroner's Inspector Johnson and two CSU teams were on the scene. R/Is returned to the ground floor to coordinate with them.

R/Is instructed one CSU team to examine the exterior of the residence, starting with the driveway and the concrete walk from the driveway to the front door. R/Is also instructed Deputy Watson to ensure that all personnel on the scene avoid these areas when entering and exiting the residence until given clearance from the CSU team.

Inspector Johnson, R/Is, and the second CSU team then proceeded to the second floor. While the CSU team set up their equipment in the east hall, opposite the immediate crime scene, Inspector Johnson and R/Is entered the master bathroom from the master bedroom.

A removable desk spanned the width of the bathtub though it appeared to be shifted out of its typical position as evidenced by marks on the sides of the bathtub, distance from the head of the bathtub, and skewed location in reference to the perpendicular of the bathtub.

A spatter pattern of apparent blood was visible on the surface of the desk except for a void measuring approximately 20 inches by 15 inches. A fountain pen was observed on the floor adjacent to the bathtub.

Closer inspection of the body revealed the victim was unclothed in the bathtub. Pending official analysis by the coroner's office, initial observation indicated the victim apparently received multiple blows to the head and face with a blunt object.

Inspector Johnson pronounced the victim deceased at 12:14 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 the victim appeared to be in an advanced state of rigor mortis.

While she withheld an official estimate pending an autopsy, Inspector Johnson speculated the victim had been dead approximately 12 hours and the apparent cause of death was severe blunt force trauma to the head. Inspector Johnson indicated that further details would be available in the official autopsy report.

After Inspector Johnson completed her initial inspection of the body, R/Is conferred with the CSU team and determined that removal of the body at that time would disturb other evidence currently in place. Therefore, the decision was made not to move the body until CSU completed their preliminary documentation and analysis of the crime scene.

Inspector Johnson stayed with the CSU team to ensure the integrity of the body, while the team took photographs of the scene and performed preliminary analyses.

R/Is returned to the ground floor to conduct a preliminary interview with the witness, Carl Dixon, after which, R/Is returned to headquarters to begin preliminary investigation of leads already gathered and to permit CSU to complete the processing of the scene.

Before leaving, R/Is instructed CSU to seal the scene upon completion or end-of-shift suspension of processing. CSU to notify R/Is of their progress by the end of this date. As of this filing, CSU is still actively processing the scene.

CSU will provide diagrams of the ground floor, the second floor, and detail of the master suite of the Devlin Beauchamp residence in their preliminary report.

The body of the deceased was remanded into the custody of Coroner's Inspector Luwinda Johnson for transport 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 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 a detailed report of their findings, including an inventory of fingerprints, fibers, and other items taken into evidence, within seven days of this report.

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