Dangerous territory

[Mobuck]

My current assignments involve field work in often remote farm fields. One of these assignments falls within a multi-agency manhunt area. NO KIDDING---LEO's from the local bunny cop to Federal Marshals' Service have been stumbling around for weeks searching for a guy who murdered, dismembered, and burned the corpse another man. May be 'other factors' contributing to what seems an excessive Federal presence. Definitely NOT a stellar performance from the variety of LEO's on site. After a few days of disjointed stumbling around, the area is so 'soiled' that the suspect could walk right down the gravel road as long as no one saw him. In one news reel, I counted over 30 fuzzmobiles parked in what they called a 'staging area'(I think it was just beyond the mobile donut/coffee machine).
I was talking to the landowner(an early Gulf War era veteran) where my field work is located and he commented that he was surprised that there had not been any helo's flying in the dark utilizing night vision. Sumpin fishy going on with this deal. If not resolved before I do actual field work, I'm going in heavy and maybe take a friend/observer.

 

[kmoore]

It's hard to say what was going on unless your involved.
But, cops can only work with what's available to them right now right there. I have tracked/chased/ searched many wanted bad guys in cities large and small, in farm land and in national forests. So many things change how it's done and if it's successful. Man power on scene fast ups the odds. The longer delayed makes it more difficult. You need a known place where you know the suspect was recently (like minutes) to start looking.

 

[Mobuck]

Yeah, they're chasing ghosts now. It's been 2 weeks since the last 'confirmed' sighting. A 'suspected' sighting 3 days ago.
The guy could be 2 states away by now(even if he was walking). OR, he could still be 2 miles north of the original crime scene.
I'm somewhat familiar with the area--enough to know there's a community of 'rough customers' out there. It's not beyond possibility that the suspect had help to evade capture--just speculation.

 

[Mobuck]

Well, I got the field work in the search area finished w/o incident. Might be a fairly safe spot anyway since any bad guy would notice the pockmarked steel plate targets scattered here and there along the drainage ditches and river edge. These landowners shoot even further than I do and depending on the percentage of hits to misses, are possibly better shots, too.

 

[Mobuck]

Case closed. Decomposed body 'found in the area' determined to be the suspect. Apparently the cops really were 'chasing a ghost' for almost 2 months. What a great display of ineptitude.

 

[nekvermont]

Was it the unusually tall and dark green clump of soybeans that gave away the location of the decomposed body?

 

[kmoore]

Sometimes cadaver search dogs should be brought back into the area a few weeks later if no real leads occur.
Maybe 20 years ago 2 guys were flying an ultralight plane or something like that exploring the Mt Hood national forest. Well it's 1667 sq. miles has hundreds or more miles of roads and hiking trails. Several rivers and many lakes. Days of search by air and ground gave them nothing. . Thousands camp. fish, hike, hunt and some work all through it. They were found years later as I recall by a deer hunter. Without a known place or a small area to look. A person can be difficult to find.

 

[RSIno1]

We searched for a suicidal guy in the canyons above Azusa CA started 8pm called it off at 2am to meet back at 6am. Found the body within 15 minutes 50 yards from his car with a boot mark on his face. Nobody was "looking" that close figuring he'd gone deeper into the canyon.

 

[dweis]

The concept of hiding in plain sight has proven true on many occasions. Jur because a perp is not found quickly does not mean he is not there. In Nam we learned the hard way that the NVA or VC could be ten feet away but you never knew it until they started shooting at you. If you know what you are doing it is not that hard to go undiscovered. Of course, once the dogs are on the scene the odds change.

 

[Goldstar225]

Case closed. Decomposed body 'found in the area' determined to be the suspect. Apparently the cops really were 'chasing a ghost' for almost 2 months. What a great display of ineptitude.

It's a pity that they didn't place you in command of the search. Probably would have found him within 2-3 hours.

 

[Mobuck]

The only information given was something to the effect that the remains were 'found in a ditch near the area where the search began'. Given the amount of elapsed time, no exact TOD was posted.
IF (and this is the bigger question) the suspect offed himself immediately after the crime in close proximity to the crime scene and 100 officers from 1/2 dozen agencies plus search dogs failed to find the body, THAT was a failure of the search party.

 

[BearBiologist]

I pulled "aggressor" detail at the SEE course (Survival, Escape & Evasion) while at Ft Ord. Learned that you could sit in front of or next to a tree or shrub at night and as long as your hands and face were covered by green clothing, people would rarely see you, even if they lighted you with flashlights. Reflections and movement were killers!