To Kill an Angel

Mike looked over at Sherry and said, "stay here," and he got out of the car and began walking toward the center of the commotion just beyond the coroner's wagon. Sherry sit watching as her husband walked toward the group of uniformed officers. He walked up so that he could have a view of the body and stopped. He looked at the victim, she was in bad shape. Blood was everywhere, the body was a mess, most of her clothing was soaked with blood. There were plastic bags on the hands and feet; put on by the ME to protect any forensic evidence that might be present from contamination. The victim's eyes were fixed to the left side, and her face was distorted. It was obvious that she died in pain. A deputy medical examiner from the medical examiner's office was bent over working with the body. Two assistants were standing by with a body bag waiting for the medical examiner to finish. Two criminal scene investigators from the police lab were working around the body and the immediate area.

One of the uniformed officers walked over to Mike and greeted him. "How are you doing Lieutenant Dunn? Remember me?"

The voice was familiar, Mike turned his head towards the officer and said, "Oh yes, how are you Officer Roberts?"

"I'm doing good," responded the officer.

Mike continued, "tell me what happened here."

Officer Roberts started to give an account of the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the young woman's body. "The victim was found by that couple," and he pointing to a man and a woman talking to a uniformed sergeant across the street, "they were walking their two dogs when one of the dogs went after something in the bushes. They took a look and found the victim."

Mike looked in the direction that the officer pointed and saw a man and a woman with the sergeant. The woman seemed to be very distressed, their dogs looked confused and puzzled with all the commotion around them.

"Thanks Officer Roberts, take care of yourself and I'll see you later."

Mike walked over to the sergeant interviewing the couple. He identified himself to the sergeant and the couple.

The sergeant introduced the couple to Mike. "This is Mr. and Mrs. Fisher, they were out on their nightly walk when they found the body."

Mike responded, "Hello Mr. and Mrs. Fisher, I have been put in charge of this murder investigation." And he shook hands with the Fisher's. He looked at the couple and could see that they were not doing very well, after all, it's not everyday that the average citizen comes across a murder victim. Mrs. Fisher looked like she was about to get sick and might give up whatever was in her stomach at anytime.

The couple didn't say a word as they shook his hand.

Mike turned to the sergeant and asked, "Do you have their personal information and a statement from them?"

He responded, "Yes sir."

"Then, I don't have any questions for them at this time, go ahead and let them go."

"Yes sir lieutenant," responded the sergeant.

Mike turned to the couple and said, "we'll be in touch."

"You can go," the sergeant said in response to Mike's request, and couple headed off down the street with their dogs.

Mike walked back over toward the body watching the coroner examining it. The ME looked up and saw Mike for the first time. He got up and walked over to where Mike was standing, he had latex gloves on his hands with blood on the tips of the fingers.

"How are you doing Mike?" asked the ME. "Excuse me for not shaking your hand."

"That's O.K., I understand," as he looked at the ME's hands. Mike recognized the ME as Doctor Jeff Hunt who is one of the deputy medical examiners in the Medical Examiner's Office. They had worked together on numerous occasions on over-doses and drug related killings.

"I'm doing great given the circumstances," Mike added.

"I heard you moved to Homicide, did you draw this one?"

Mike responded, "you got it, this is my first case for the Homicide Division. Can you tell me anything?"

The ME responded, "I can't tell you much, the heat that we had today makes it hard to lock down a time of death here in the field. It looks like she is coming out of rigor. I can tell you that she died around twenty-four hours ago. I can't tell how she died, there are at least five possible causes of death. I can tell you more when I get the body back to the shop for a closer examination. I can tell you this, who ever did this was either crazy or enjoys hurting people."

"When can you get your report to me?" Asked Mike.

"Well, that's hard to say," responded the ME, "the body is in such bad shape, it's hard to say."

"Do we know who she is?" Asked Mike.

"There was no identification on the body and nothing found in the area." Responded the ME. "As soon as the lab processes her hands, we'll send you a set of prints and a picture."

"Do what you can." Mike answered.

"I'll check with the lab technicians to see if they are finished with the body and if it's OK with you, we'll bag her and get her out of here."

The ranking homicide detective or police representative along with the medical examiner's office representative and the police lab representative on site all must concur that any victim who died as a result of a murder or accident can be moved from the scene and transported to the Office of the Medical Examiner.

Mike suddenly remembered his wife and the baby sitter, he looked at his watch, it was 10:30 p.m. He walked back to his car and got in.