Incident report

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

At 10:04 a.m., Dispatch received a 911 call reporting that the body of a man had been found in Apartment 3 at 1013 University Avenue. The caller identified himself as Adam Cooper, a co-worker of the deceased.

Unit #207 (Officer D. C. Baxter) was immediately dispatched to the scene. Responding Officer (R/O) arrived at the scene at 10:11 a.m., and after confirming the presence of a dead body, contacted Dispatch to request backup and a homicide investigation team.

Detectives Murphy and Parker were assigned and proceeded directly to the scene. Deputy P.J. Watson arrived at the scene at 10:19 a.m. to provide backup. Coroner's Inspector Luwinda Johnson was notified at R/I's request to respond to the scene, and CSU was notified to be on standby pending R/Is evaluation of the scene.

Reporting Investigators (R/Is) arrived at the scene at 10:27 a.m. R/Is found R/Os had secured the area. Environmental conditions at the scene upon arrival are as follows: Weather: Mostly cloudy; Ambient Exterior Temperature: 50º F / 10º C; Relative Exterior Humidity: 87%; Ambient Interior Temperature: 70º F / 21º C; Relative Interior Humidity: 58%.

R/O Baxter made the following verbal report, which is stated in summary and not verbatim.

R/O said that, upon arrival, she was met by an adult male who identified himself as Adam Cooper (Person 2), the 911 caller. Cooper said his co-worker, Jackson Walker, who lives at the residence, did not show up for work, and Cooper's boss had sent him to check on Walker.

Cooper said he entered the apartment building and knocked on the door of Walker's apartment but received no response. Cooper said he then tried the door, found it unlocked, and entered the residence.

In the living room of the residence, Cooper said he saw Walker apparently sleeping in a chair. When Walker did not respond to Cooper's verbal attempts to wake him, Cooper tried to shake him awake, which is when he realized Walker was deceased. Cooper said he then exited the residence and called 911.

After getting Cooper's preliminary statement, R/O secured the witness in her patrol vehicle and then entered the residence. In the living room, R/O observed an apparently deceased adult male (Person 1) in the living room, as the witness had described. R/O then updated Dispatch on the situation and exited the residence.

At that time, Deputy Watson arrived on the scene, and R/O and Watson cleared the residence, finding no other persons inside.

R/O said YCFD EMTs R. Peterson and J. Bilkey arrived at approximately 10:25 a.m., and after confirming the victim was deceased, withdrew from the crime scene.

R/O further stated that, to the best of her knowledge, the following persons have had occasion to enter the crime scene area and must be documented by CSU personnel: witness Adam Cooper, EMTs Peterson and Bilkey, Deputy P.J. Watson, and herself.

After receiving the report from R/O Baxter, R/I Parker asked R/O to look after the witness Cooper until R/Os could speak to him.

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 could be there with an ETA of approximately 15 minutes.

R/Is then examined the immediate crime scene, where they 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 an easterly direction,n and the feet in a westerly direction. No injuries were immediately apparent.

Coroner's Inspector Johnson arrived at approximately 10:40 a.m. and was directed to join R/Is at the body's location.

Inspector Johnson pronounced the victim deceased at 10:46 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. While she withheld an official estimate pending an autopsy, Inspector Johnson speculated the victim had been dead for around six hours.

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 the autopsy.

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.

A preliminary search of the remainder of the residence uncovered a Mississippi driver's license bearing the name Jackson Walker. (Evidence # 006057-01). Based on the photograph on the license, R/Is tentatively identified the victim as the same Jackson Walker.

Additional documents and bills were found that indicated the residence was leased to and occupied by Jackson Walker. No other evidence items were immediately recovered.

No signs of forced entry or other disturbance were observed in or around the residence.

R/Is left the scene at 5:00 p.m. Before leaving, R/I Parker instructed CSU to seal the scene upon completion or end-of-day suspension of processing. CSU is 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 body was removed from the scene at 11:12 a.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.

DEFENDANT'S VERSION/REMARKS (What did the defendant say about the offense or his/her whereabouts at the time of offense?)

N/A