REPORTING OFFICER'S NARRATIVE(Brief narrative of the facts surrounding the offense and the arrest.)
At 4:21 p.m., Dispatch received a 911 call reporting the discovery of a bloody knife near Toby Tubby Creek between McLarty Road and South 18th Street. The caller identified himself as Josh Tatum (Person 1). Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Unit 222 (Officer S. Vittel) was dispatched and arrived at the scene at 4:29 p.m. After confirming the presence of a knife with possible bloodstains and given the location of the discovery, R/O secured the scene and contacted Dispatch to request detectives be dispatched to that location.
Reporting Investigators (R/Is) Detectives T. Armstrong and S. Murphy were notified and proceeded directly to the scene. At R/Is' request, a CSU officer was also notified to respond to the scene.
R/Is arrived at the scene at 4:48 p.m. Upon arrival, R/Is found that R/O had secured the area. Environmental conditions at the scene upon arrival are as follows: Weather: Cloudy with a light misty rain; Exterior Ambient Temperature: 41°F / 5°C, Relative Humidity: 70%.
R/O Vittel made the following verbal report, which is stated in summary and not verbatim.
R/O was met at the intersection of S. 18th Street and Ross Avenue by Tatum, who led R/O to the location near Toby Tubby Creek where Tatum saw the knife.
R/O indicated that he recognized the possible relevance of the evidence to the Maxwell investigation, so R/O secured the area and requested Dispatch to notify detectives to respond to R/O's location.
R/O had Tatum wait in the back of R/O's vehicle pending R/Is' arrival.
After receiving the report from R/O Vittel, R/Is conducted a preliminary inspection of the scene located .25 miles south-southwest of the Big Star, .2 miles south of University Avenue, .08 miles west of McLarty Road, and .08 miles east of South 18th Street.
R/Is observed an open, stained folding knife and dark, stained, crumpled fabric in a brushy area of grass. Latter item was later identified as a jacket consistent with the description of the one Cameron Maxwell was last seen wearing.
CSU arrived at the scene at approximately 5:00 p.m. Forensics officer T.R. Douglas conducted preliminary field tests on both items and found both were positive for the presence of human blood.
A search of the surrounding area found no other potential evidence.
Evidence remanded into the custody of Officer Douglas for transport to the State Crime Lab for routine analysis. CSU is expected to submit a report of their findings as soon as possible.
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