| REPORTING OFFICER'S NARRATIVE(Brief narrative of the facts surrounding the offense and the arrest.)
At 11:29 a.m., Dispatch received a 911 call reporting the discovery of a bag containing what appeared to be ice skates near Hurricane Creek at Highway 7. The caller identified himself as Tucker Baines (Person 1). Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Unit 222 (Officer S. Vittel) was dispatched and arrived at the scene at 11:41 a.m. After confirming the presence of at least one piece of luggage, 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.
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| Location where Baines found the skate bag |
R/Is arrived at the scene at 11:55 a.m. Upon arrival, R/Is found that R/O had secured the area. Environmental conditions at the scene upon arrival are as follows: Weather: Clear; Exterior Ambient Temperature: 55°F / 13°C, Relative Humidity: 41%.
R/O Vittel made the following verbal report, which is stated in summary and not verbatim.
R/O was met on the side of Highway 7 at the Hurricane Creek bridge by Baines, who led R/O to the location alongside Hurricane Creek where Baines found the bag containing what he believed to be ice skates.
R/O confirmed the presence of the bag and what appeared to be ice skates inside. R/O then secured the area and requested Dispatch notify detectives to respond to R/O's location to examine evidence potentially relevant to the Maxwell investigation.
R/O had Baines and his dog wait at the scene pending R/Is' arrival.
After receiving the report from R/O Vittel, R/Is conducted a preliminary inspection of the scene.
R/Is observed two large Pullman-type suitcases, one canvas duffle bag, one leather tote bag, one small case, one garment bag and three skate bags. The items are consistent with descriptions of the items of luggage belonging to Cameron Maxwell and Caitlin Maxwell.
The location of the items is potentially consistent with the items being thrown from the Highway 7 bridge to the creek bed with some items taken downstream approximately 300 yards. The condition of the luggage was consistent with their being in that location undisturbed for a number of days.
CSU arrived at the scene at approximately 12:30 p.m. Forensics officer T.R. Douglas conducted preliminary field tests on the items and found all were negative for the presence of human blood. Further analyses will be conducted at the crime lab.
Officer Douglas also collected soil and water samples from the location for future uses.
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 an inventory of items taken into evidence within seven days of this report, with detailed report(s) of their findings to follow as soon as possible.
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