Incident Report – discovery of hidden room

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

At 10:22 a.m., Dispatch received a 911 call reporting the discovery of a possible crime scene in the Physical Plant Shops and Stores building on the University of Mississippi campus. The caller identified himself as Charley Jacobs, a construction worker currently working in said building.

Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Unit 304 (Deputy Fred Willits) was dispatched and arrived at the scene at 10:40 p.m. After briefly interviewing witnesses and conducting a preliminary inspection of the reported scene, at 11:06 a.m. R/O contacted Dispatch and requested detectives be dispatched to his location.

Reporting Investigators (R/Is) Detectives T. Armstrong and S. Murphy were assigned and proceeded to the scene.

R/Is arrived at the scene at 11:28 a.m. Upon arrival, R/Is found that R/O had secured the area. Environmental conditions at the scene upon arrival are as follows: Exterior Ambient Temperature 84°F/29°C; Relative Humidity: 70%; Interior Ambient Temperature: 86°F/30°C; Relative Humidity: 51%.

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

R/O was met outside the location by two adult males (Person 1 and Person 2) who identified themselves as Charley Jacobs and Jack Reed, both working construction at the location.

Person 1 said he had found a hidden room during demolition associated with the construction and inside the room had found a message that indicated a murder had been committed in that room.

Person 2 said he had not been in the room or seen the message, but said that Person 1 was very upset by what he had seen.

Person 1 and Person 2 escorted R/O to the room's location. R/O observed an adult male (Person 3) blocking entry to the room. Person 3 said he had not allowed any other person to enter the room. R/O entered the room and observed some words scratched or carved on the back of the door, consistent with Person 1's description.

R/O observed no immediately apparent signs of disturbance or violence in the room, but noted that there was no light source in the room other than his flashlight. R/O exited the room and reported the situation to Dispatch.

R/O said that, to his knowledge, the following persons had occasion to enter the crime scene area and must be documented by CSU personnel: witness Charley Jacobs and himself.

After receiving the report from R/O, R/Is conducted a preliminary inspection of the scene, located on the northwest side of the building, approximately 85 yards from the front entrance.

R/Is observed extensive signs of construction demolition in the vicinity of the room, including the partial removal of a plywood-type material covering the wall surrounding the entry to the room. (See Photo #1)

The door to the room had no knob or handle, but did have a deadbolt lock with a thumb turn on the exterior and a keyed interface on the interior. (See Photo #2)

R/Is entered the windowless room, which appeared to be approximately 8.5 feet by 4.5 feet in size. The room appeared to be empty, containing no furniture or other large items.

R/Is observed some letters and numbers scratched or carved into the back of the only door in the room, possibly reading "I Died Here. RB Killed me. 12/11/87 K". (See Photo #3)

Because of the poor lighting conditions, R/Is were not able to safely conduct a more thorough inspection of the room.

R/Is exited the room and contacted Dispatch to request that a CSU team be notified to respond to the scene. While waiting for CSU, R/Is conducted preliminary interviews with witnesses at the scene.

CSU arrived at the scene at approximately 12:45 p.m. R/Is requested that CSU analyze the back of the door and inspect the room for signs of foul play. CSU to notify R/Is of preliminary findings when initial processing of the scene is complete.

R/Is left the scene at 1:30 p.m. to conduct an extended interview with Person 1 at the Sheriff's Office. Before leaving, R/I Murphy instructed CSU to seal the scene upon completion or end of day suspension of processing.

Evidence collected to be 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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