Evidence: Incident Report

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

At 10:36 a.m., Dispatch received a 911 call reporting that a young woman in Stone Park had been hit by an arrow. The caller did not identify himself and refused to stay on the line. Dispatch traced the call to a phone at the Stone Center facility.

Unit #207 (Officer D. C. Baxter) was immediately dispatched to the scene. Responding Officer (R/O) arrived at the scene at 10:38 a.m. and, after confirming the report, contacted Dispatch to request backup and a homicide investigation team. Detectives Armstrong and Murphy were assigned and proceeded directly to the scene. Deputy P.J. Watson arrived at the scene at 10:47 a.m. to provide backup. Coroner's Inspector Luwinda Johnson was notified at R/I's request to respond to scene.

Reporting Investigators (R/Is) arrived at the scene at 10:52 a.m. and proceeded directly to the immediate crime scene in Stone Park. R/Is found R/O Baxter and R/O Watson had secured the area. Environmental conditions at scene upon arrival are as follows: Weather: clear/dry; Ambient temperature: 73º F / 23º C; Relative Humidity: 44%.

R/O Baxter made the following verbal report, which is stated in summary and not verbatim, upon R/Is arrival. R/O stated that upon arrival she was flagged down by a witness, who directed her to the victim's location. R/O indicated that the victim appeared to be deceased from first observation. R/O immediately secured the scene and detained a witness, Amanda Jessup, who appeared distraught. R/O reported in to Dispatch and requested assistance. R/O Baxter further stated that, to the best of her knowledge, the following personnel have had occasion to enter the crime scene area and must be excluded by CSU personnel: Deputy P.J. Watson, Amanda Jessup, and herself.

After receiving the report from R/O Baxter, 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 8 minutes and CSU's ETA was approximately 15 minutes.

R/Is then examined the immediate crime scene. R/Is observed a lifeless human body. Closer examination revealed it was an adult female, who appeared to be in her late teens or early twenties. Visual inspection indicated the deceased was wearing a white sleeveless t-shirt, blue jeans, and black shoes. The body lay face up with the upper legs at an approximate 90º angle to the torso and the lower legs at an approximate 90º angle to the upper legs. The arms were slightly outstretched to the side. The head of the body faced in a easterly direction and the feet in a westerly direction. A foreign object, which appeared to be an arrow, was observed protruding from the deceased in the area of the upper sternum. No other injuries were immediately apparent.

In the immediate vicinity, R/Is observed a woman's handbag, open and contents partially exposed. Among other items collected, a smart phone showing messages waiting was recovered from the handbag. However, the phone was password-protected and could not be accessed at the scene. The phone was remanded remanded into the custody of Forensics officer T. R. Douglas for delivery to the Crime Lab to be unlocked and analyzed.

Coroner's Inspector Johnson arrived at the Grove at approximately 11:00 a.m. and was directed to join R/Is at the body's location. Inspector Johnson pronounced the victim deceased at 11:04 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 less than 1 hour and the apparent cause of death was the result of injuries caused by the penetration of the arrow, possibly damage to the aorta and/or heart causing internal bleeding leading to death.

Inspector Johnson indicated that further details would be available in the preliminary coroner's report, with definitive information in the ensuing official autopsy report. After Inspector Johnson completed her initial inspection of the body, she stayed with the CSU team to ensure 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.

After the inspection of the body was concluded, R/Is conducted a preliminary interview with witness Amanda Jessup at the scene. Jessup stated, in summary and not verbatim, that she and the deceased were studying and socializing in the Grove when, without warning, the deceased was hit with the arrow, at which time she fell to the ground from her seated position. Jessup indicated that the deceased had no enemies she knew of nor anyone bearing a grudge against her.

A preliminary search of the area uncovered no additional evidence items.

Before departing following inspection of the scene, R/I Murphy instructed CSU to seal the scene upon completion or end of day suspension of processing. CSU to notify R/Is of progress by the end of this date. As of this filing, CSU is still actively processing at the scene.

Body of the deceased remanded into the custody of Coroner's Inspector Luwinda Johnson. Deceased was removed from scene at 11:55 a.m. and transported 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 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 inventory of fingerprints, fibers and other items taken into evidence, within seven days of this report.

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

N/A