Tribes of Time, page 6
“At this point I don’t give a shit who called. When we’re in the middle of an investigation, I don’t need some numb nuts giving details until we know for sure. The last thing we need is for this to leak to the media.” Vernon then walked back to the Bronco and looked inside. He could see the footprints heading away from the vehicle. He slowly walked parallel with them until he came upon an area where he found some bindings and clothes. Vernon knelt down to inspect the clothing without disturbing them. He knew the clothing looked familiar and that he had seen them earlier in the day; but just could not remember if they were on Cyrus or his men. Vernon then resumed his tracking of the evidence until it reached another area with a set of five different footprints. Three of the sets were boot prints, one appeared to be barefooted and the fifth appeared to be some type of loafer. He knew the fifth print probably belonged to a city-slicker since most of the local residents wore cowboy boots or some other type of work boot
The pieces were starting to paint a dreary picture of the possible events that transpired out in the slough. Either way, someone’s family was going to be receiving a death notification. Vernon just hoped that he wouldn’t have to notify his sister that her husband was dead. The ramification of a situation like this would be akin to throwing gasoline on a simmering fire.
The region had the appearance of being cordial and void of racial stigmatism, but that was only a facade generated by the Bureau of Tourism to garner tourist dollars for the town coffers.
CHAPTER 8
MAUDLIN
B
ack at the laboratory in Knoxville, Dr. Hearne was assembling her team of Graduate Assistants and making sure they had all of the necessary equipment; she couldn’t afford to need an instrument and have send someone back the 80 miles to retrieve it. After she checked and rechecked the equipment bags, she had one of her assistants check it again. She was not thrilled to be working with the Sheriff or even within his county; but her students would garner immeasurable experience from an actual in-field case study. Dr. Hearne is of Japanese-American heritage, but married Caucasian and assumed his last name rather than hyphenating to assimilate easier into the white male dominated forensic community. Her first encounter with Vernon was through a telephonic consultation about a case involving some remains found out along the Alabama border. She had instructed him to forward her the skeletal remains and she would perform an anthropological autopsy on them. After her investigation, it was determined the remains were those of a Native American who died from disease; the remains were later carbon dated to be approximately 120 years old and of Cherokee descent. Vernon formed a liking for her and would call periodically just to chat. Eventually, he asked her if she would be willing to attend one of their annual White Citizens Council meetings and began expressing his belief system to her. At the time she declined and didn’t tell him that she was not Caucasian. A few months later, there was a law enforcement conference in Knoxville; which Vernon attended. He felt this could be the perfect opportunity to drop in and put a face to the alluring voice on the phone. When he arrived at the University, he was directed out to the body farm where Dr. Hearne and her students were documenting the progression of decay. He scanned the acreage and spotted a 40-something, medium height blonde kneeling down next to a cadaver. He walked over to her with a huge grin on his face and extended his hand.
“Dr. Hearne I presume, nice to finally meet you.” He said with enthusiasm in his voice. The girl looked up from her notes, and then stood up to meet him.
“I’m sorry, I’m not Dr. Hearne. She’s over by cadaver # 21, which is the simulated hanging case.” Having said that she pointed him in the direction he needed to go to meet up with her. He walked approximately 150 yards down a marked path towards a body he could see hanging in the trees. As he approached from the rear, he saw a raven haired woman in beige cargo shorts, a pastel blue tank top writing down notes on her clipboard. Vernon was partial to dark haired women and so far liked what he saw.
“Dr. Hearne, you’re a hard person to find out here.” He said as he approached within five feet of her.” She answered without turning around and continued transcribing.
“No I’m not, just look for the living.” He made an audible chuckle and waited for her to turn around. When she did, he was thrown for a loop and was actually at a loss for words. Dr. Hearne extended her hand.
“And who might you be?” she asked
“I’m uh, I’m Vernon Hutchison. We’ve spoken numerous times on the phone.” She looked at him with a sense of internal victory. She knew of his political beliefs and that she did not fit into his view of Valhalla. She relished the small victory and then spoke.
“What brings you all the way out here Sheriff?”
“I’m in town and just wanted to stop by and see you, since we’ve spoken so often on the phone.” He was reeling on what to say next, so he could end this conversation and leave. He did not expect her to be Asian, especially not with a name like Hearne. Vernon’s belief system excluded Asians or any other non-European races. She could tell he was feeling uneasy and wanted to make him squirm a little more.
“Well, nice of you to be so considerate to come see me. Now that you’ve met me, you know why I declined to accept your invitation a few months ago.” He was now beginning to turn red with embarrassment.
“I reckon so, but you didn’t sound Asian on the phone.”
“How are Asians supposed to sound Sheriff? I think you’ve been watching too many old Charlie Chan movies.” That retort really got under his skin, he hated to be denigrated by those he considered mud people.
“Well Doctor, I suppose I should be heading back to my conference. I just wanted to make your acquaintance since I was in the area. I’m sure we’ll meet again. Good day to you.”
“Thank you for coming, and if you’re in the mood for sashimi just give me a ring.” She couldn’t wait for him to be out of ear shot because she was holding back a laugh that was hurting her side. Vernon on the other hand was seething that he could let himself get caught off guard like that. On the drive back to the conference he was trying to rationalize why he should hate her; after all she was a beautiful woman. She stood about 5’5” tall with raven black hair; she had a small beauty mole on her right cheek, and wore stylish black vogue glasses with pearly white teeth; a true visage of grace. Being true to his beliefs, he forced himself to keep her lumped in with the rest of the undesirables. They still maintained a working relationship and worked together on several other unsolved cases. However, their relationship remained estranged and everyone knew that they despised each other socially.
After the team finished assembling and packing all of the equipment, Dr. Hearne called ahead to the private airport to see if their plane was ready for departure. She then had them taxied over to the airport in one of the University’s fifteen passenger vans. She surmised the plane ride would probably take about twenty-five minutes airtime and then another fifteen minutes by vehicle to the scene. During the ride she gave her team their specific assignments and responsibilities for collection, documentation and photographing of the scene. She and her most senior assistants would do the actual excavation and removal of the remains.
The plane landed at the small Ocelia airport and was met by one of Vernon’s Deputies. Dr. Hearne and the team walked over and placed their bags in the rear of the van, and then took their seats for the ride out.
“Hello, I’m Dr. Janine Hearne and this is my team.” She said as she entered into the front passenger seat.
“We’re all glad you guys came out, we’ve got a mess out there.” The Deputy was fairly new to the Sheriff’s Department and to the south and didn’t carry the deep seeded animosity as the others towards ethnics. He was genuinely happy to see them and was not putting on airs.
“Can you tell us a little about what we’re out here looking for and what to expect. Is this a crime scene or another inadvertent discovery of skeletal human remains?”
“No ma’am, it’s a bona fide crime scene. We have six towns’ people missing and believed to be buried out in the slough.” She was hesitant to ask if they were African American town’s people or white, she figured the later since the large amount of resources being expended. Either way, she didn’t care. She was there to conduct a scientific dissection of the evidence and build a case against the culprits for the prosecution; whichever way it leads. She rolled down the window to feel the wind in her face. She always loved the smell of Magnolias; it reminded her of the Plumeria trees back in her home state of Hawaii. The van wove around numerous turns and bends in the roadway and eventually came upon a roadblock of Police vehicles. The van rolled to a stop at the first barricade and a Deputy approached the driver’s side window.
“I have the forensic team from the University.” The chauffeuring Deputy said.
“Okay, Sheriff said to just drive them up to the command post and he’ll lead them in.” the Deputy said thank you and proceeded forward. Dr. Hearne made notice of the inordinate amount of Police Officers and Deputy Sheriffs milling about. She knew all eyes would be fixated on her and the team. She knew right away she had to convey to them once she sets foot on the site, the scene is rendered under her control; any and all decisions came through her first. Vernon looked down the road towards the barricade and saw the van approaching. He straightened up his hat, adjusted his shirt tail and began walking towards it. Once the van had come to a stop, he went to the passenger side door to greet her.
“Welcome to my neck of the woods Doctor.”
“Thank you Sheriff for the invitation, my students can always benefit from real life experience.” She looked around surveying where they could set up their housing and work tents.
“Sheriff, we’ll need a flat area to set up our tents, have you found us a place?”
“I was thinking y’all could bunk down in the station during your stay here, we have bivouacs on the second floor.” When Dr. Hearne assumed an excavation site she likes to remain close to the scene to maintain a constant chain of custody and to regulate who has access.
“Thanks Sheriff, but we’ll remain on site. I don’t like to relinquish control of the scene. That way I can attest to the chain of custody for materials collected. I hope you understand.” Vernon didn’t take the request as an affront; he actually took it in stride.
“There is one area that doesn’t appear to have anything to do with the crime scene, but is situated pretty much in the middle of it.” The Doctor wanted to set up their housing and get the work stations operable before they actually began work. She asked one of the students to follow Vernon over to the selected location while she and the others unloaded the van. They took out the housing tents and walked them over to the set up site. Once the housing tents were set up, they proceeded to set up the three-room work tent. She then called for Vernon to join her and the students. She wanted to reiterate the ground rules with him. Within ten minutes after sending for him, he arrived at the tent’s entrance.
“Doc, you called for me?” he asked before entering the tent.
“Please come in Sheriff.” She replied.
“Sheriff we just wanted to touch bases with you and explain how we prefer to conduct our investigations; that way we can avoid any miscommunications.”
“I’m all ears Doc.” He said. Vernon just wanted the process to get started so he could call his sister with whatever news so she could stop worrying.
“I understand that your team has collected most if not all of the visible evidence in the identified crime scene?’
“Yes we have. The only thing left is the area we want you to dig up.”
“With that said, I’d like to propose the following. Once my team begins to grid and mark the scene, I’d prefer no one but my team has access to this area.” She chose her words carefully. She did not want to offend him and he rescinds his offer of them assisting in the recovery.
“I have no problem with that, just tell me what you want and I will see that your wishes are followed through.”
“If your team could maintain the perimeter surrounding that area, and also try not to walk through themselves to see how much we’ve uncovered would be perfect.”
“We can do that. Are you planning on working through the night, if so we can get some night lights out here for you?” Back at the station Vernon had large portable lights he used to illuminate a scene after dark. The lights were 1,000 watt incandescent filaments that could turn night into day.
“That would be great if you could do that for us. We plan on getting started in about half an hour.”
“Aw’right I’ll go and tell my men that once you mark your boundaries they are not to enter without your permission.” Vernon left the tent and used the hand held walkie to inform his men of the Doctor’s wishes. He then went back to the command post and resumed leaning against his vehicle. Back inside the tent Dr. Hearne reminded the team of their specific assignments. She opened her personal field bag and removed the items to triple check the contents. Once she was assured that she did not forget anything she and her senior assistants conducted a scene “walk through”. The purpose of the walk through was to reassess the scene boundaries and adjust as appropriate, establish ingress and egress to the scene; identify any visible physical evidence left behind by the Deputies. The most important aspect of the walk through was to photograph the site before any disturbances of the soil and to document any anomalies in the topography surrounding the suspected internment site. She took numerous frames of pictures in a panoramic view, and then slowly walked to within three feet of the site. It was obvious that there was a mound of debris, not necessarily soil but other natural detritus. She thought to herself that this would be a fairly easy excavation. After making a digital record of the scene, she and the students went back to the tents and briefed the others.
“This isn’t going to be as tough of an assignment as I had hoped, but it’s still a relevant teaching and learning experience. The bodies are covered by mounds of leaves and other debris.” She informed them.
“The first thing we need to do is collect the living and dead insects for entomology. Make sure when we collect them to make the proper collection date, time and location found on each vile.” The study of Entomology was perfected at the body farm and is now used internationally. Dr. Hearne’s extensive research on Entomology brought to the forefront how the colonization of the human body by insects is relevant to the time of death at discovery. During that period, the development of larvae to adult insects can be tracked determining the time of death through the growth cycle of that specific species. It was getting late in the afternoon and she wanted to get started as soon possible, to make avail of the remaining natural lighting. The team walked towards the interment site and when they got within five feet, they began to crawl on their knees looking for any and all types of insects. Various types of weevils were found at that distance from the site. Dr. Hearne then instructed one of the students to go back to the tents and grab a fly catcher to place in the trees over the site with stink bait to attract them. As they got closer to the grave they began finding three different types of fly larvae and Pupa’s. In scientific terms, they hit the jackpot. The growth succession of the flies will assist in determining an approximate time of death for the Medical Examiner. Dr. Hearne had a specialty in Pathology, but this was not her function today. The reason they had hit the jackpot was the discovery of the Green Blow Fly, which usually arrives and deposits eggs within two hours of death; a few hours after being laid, the eggs hatch into larvae or maggots as they are commonly known. Within a few days the larvae evolves into a pupa and eventually an adult fly. The discovery of the other two species of flies had a more significant importance to the investigation. Found around the grave site were the larvae of the Black Garbage Fly and the False Stable Fly. Both of these flies are within the genus of Ophyra; which means their larvae feed on the larvae of other flies. Their arrival is usually within 12-18 hours after death. Dr. Hearne noted in her findings and made a separate notation that she believed whatever was within the grave had been dead 12 hours at minimum. While on her knees looking for more insects she caught the glimpse of a beetle that makes her re-evaluate her earlier hypothesis. Crawling within the debris were hundreds of Dermestes Maculatus beetles and they appeared to be coming from the mound of detritus containing the suspected bodies. What was so enthralling about this find was that this beetle usually does not appear on a carcass for at least 5-11 days after death. She would have to double check her research data on the proliferation or distribution of this particular species in this area of the state. She called for one of her assistants and instructed her to go ask the Sheriff if there was a Cattle stockyard close by. The proximity to a cattle or stock yard could explain the abundance of the insect in the region, because of the hides placed in piles after slaughter. While her assistant went to find out the information for her, she continued gathering as many of the beetles as possible. Dr. Hearne enjoyed grimy field work over the pretentiousness of academia that her colleagues strived for. All of her research and published works were completed by her and not a bevy of graduate assistants; who invariably are left out in the credits. She called those academic types bare backs, the ones that get their accolades on the backs of others pain and sweat.
CHAPTER 9
BAD MOON RISING
T
he team continued gathering as many insects as they could around the target site; and then began laying out their excavation pattern. First they walked around the target area and placed stakes in the ground approximately 12” apart. After completing this sequence they strung white string from each post until the finished product looked like a checker board. Each block was exactly one foot by one foot in diameter. Dr. Hearne then took aerial photographs of the area prior to any excavation and asked the pilot to do a fly over every two hours to document their progress while working. She then brought out and set up her shifting trough, and placed it about ten feet from the excavation site. They would remove five gallon buckets full of debris and shift through it, hoping to find additional evidence they missed prior to placing it in the bucket. After about four hours of intensive excavation one of the students called out for Dr. Hearne.
