In the early 1980’s I was assigned to a large military installation that was no stranger to all sorts of crime. Now I was no stranger to fighting crime by this time in my career but let me tell you, this Army post was alive with crime 24 hours a day, every day. The Military Police (MP) and the CID were busy all day every day in the fight against crime.
Our CID Agent experience pool was made up of apprentice agents and newly accredited agents. Something (experience level) the U.S. Army CID has been plagued with for many years. We were lucky in that our team chiefs (TC’s) and the operations officer were all experienced agents with a lot of time in the CID. These very experienced agents were able to guide and direct all of us (experienced and not so experienced) when we ran across something we had not seen before.
We had a General Crimes Team – worked mostly property crimes, A Crimes Against Persons Team – worked mostly crimes against individuals, A Fraud Team – worked mostly economic crimes, A Drug Team – worked mostly drug related crimes, and of all things a Duty Team – worked all crime scenes in the initial phases. While assigned to this mega post I managed to serve on the Fraud team, the General Crimes team and then on the Duty Team. For once in my life I did not have to work on the Drug team.
This CID memory and war story is about the Duty Team. The Duty Team was one of those teams that specialized in initial crime scene processing. In other words, when assigned to this team, you got to see all the crime you could handle, and some you could not. When the call came in from the M P Desk Sergeant, the duty agent would respond to the crime scene and evaluate the situation. Then the duty agent would call the appropriate Team Chief, for the team that handled that particular type crime. The Team Chief would then decide if agents from his or her team would be sent to the scene to assist or not. If no additional agents were sent to the crime scene, the duty agent processed the scene, did the initial paper work and then provided the initial crime scene processing documents, and evidence to the appropriate team, who would then follow up on the crime.
One day while assigned to the duty team, I received a call from the M P Desk Sergeant about a military member suicide on post. The MP desk sergeant did not have a lot of information on the incident since the MP patrols were just dispatched to the scene. I informed the MP Desk Sergeant I was in route to the scene. I then called the Crimes against Persons Team Chief and advised him of the reported suicide.
The TC advised me to respond to the scene, make an evaluation, and then call him back and brief him. Most of the CID teams were busy working other criminal investigations and the TC did not want to send anymore support than he needed to. I walked out to the duty car; checked the car to make sure I had all the crime scene kits I would need to process whatever type crime scene I might have. Experience had taught me not to believe any report on the type of crime, be prepared for anything, until I arrived and made my own evaluation.
I drove across post to the area where the suicide had allegedly taken place. When I arrived at the open parking lot there were already five MP vehicles at the scene. As I arrived I noticed the MP’s had not properly secured the parking lot area and there were many soldiers walking up to see what had happened. I instructed the MP Staff Sergeant on scene to use her crime scene tape and cordon off a fifty-yard area around the body. There was a deceased soldier laying half in and half out of a parked car in the parking lot.
The MP’s had only secured about twenty feet around the car of the deceased soldier. On closer inspection I could see the soldier had apparently shot himself in the head. The MP at the scene verified the medics who were present had checked the soldier for vital signs on arrival and determined he was deceased. A quick survey of the scene determined there was a handgun in his left hand. A check with the MP patrol supervisor determined the first MP on the scene observed the handgun in the right hand of the deceased soldier, and removed it for safety. However a CID agent arrived just prior to my arrival and removed the weapon from the MP and placed the weapon back in the hand of the deceased, mentioning something about the MP should not have touched the weapon.
I had not seen the CID agent and had no idea who or where he was. I did know the crime scene had been contaminated(gun removed and then replaced), which does happen every now and then. About this time the other CID Agent called me on the CID radio and advised me the deceased soldier had shot up a nearby barracks before shooting himself. A quick walk across the parking lot found the other Agent talking to the unit First Sergeant.
Apparently the deceased had arrived at the unit where his wife, also a soldier, was assigned and tried to shoot her. The soldier did not kill anyone and no one was injured in his attack. The unit orderly room however had 12 holes in the wall where the deceased soldier’s wife had been standing. When the deceased soldier’s hand gun jammed, he calmly walked out of the barracks back to his car, reloaded the gun and shot himself. I advised the other Agent to get back to the car of the deceased and make sure the car and the deceased were not moved until the scene was processed. I reported all the information to the TC of the persons team. The TC of the person’s team decided to have me and the other Agent processes the scene.
I then made sure the MP’s secured the vehicle and knew they were not to allow anyone near the vehicle or body without my permission.
The two of us then started processing the scenes. Photographing, Sketching, Measuring, and of course obtaining evidence, such as the gun, expended bullets and shell casings.
This was not a hard crime scene to process. While processing the scenes we had the MP’s getting the names of the witnesses and making sure they would be available for us to talk to when we finished the scene processing. Once we completed the crime scene processing the medics were allowed to take the body of the deceased from the vehicle, in an ambulance to the military hospital morgue. I had an MP ride with the body of the soldier to the hospital morgue.
The MP was given instructions to obtain all the clothing and personal possessions of the deceased, as evidence, directly from the doctor or nurse who removed the items from the deceased body. I then made sure the deceased soldier’s vehicle was secured and again advised the MP’s no one was to gain access to the vehicle without my permission.
The other Agent and I conducted 27 witness and one victim interview. Just about the time I felt we had everything accomplished after three hours at the scene, it happened. An MP protecting the deceased vehicle advised the deceased vehicle and the area around it were still covered with blood and wanted to know if the unit could clean up the area. Without thinking, I said, go ahead and let the unit clean the area adjacent to the deceased vehicle up, but do not let anyone in the vehicle.
As the other Agent and I left the riddled barracks we observed a military fire truck in the parking lot hosing the entire parking lot down with a high-pressure hose. This was not a pretty site. In most cases like this, the post would have dispatched a biohazard team to clean up the exterior of the car and the parking lot of the blood and other contaminants.
The use of a high-pressure hose on blood and other body fluids was not a good idea and made more of a mess than anyone could have imagined. We corrected this situation and a biohazard team arrived and cleaned the area properly. We made arrangements to have a military vehicle tow the deceased vehicle to the CID office to be impounded for further processing by the Person’s Team and the biohazard team.
The other Agent and I now only had about four hours of paper work still to type up. Yes type up, not many computers available at that time. The Person’s Team would accomplish further interviews and follow-up on this crime of Attempted Murder and Suicide.
As we were driving back to the CID office, the other Agent mentioned he was driving by the scene and stopped to assist the MP’s until I arrived. He also mentioned he obtained the weapon from the MP and removed the clip and unintentionally put the unloaded weapon back in the wrong hand of the deceased soldier. I mentioned to the apprentice CID Agent that once something is removed from the scene it should not be returned to the scene.
Crime scenes can be interesting and time consuming at the same time. This apprentice Agent learned a lot about taking evidence and processing crime scenes that day.
