I got back this afternoon after the trip over to Bartlesville. I was asked by an attorney's office if I could help locate a bullet and a fired shell casing on a murder investigation.
They picked me up at a convenience store here in town so no gas expense. 8) It's about 70 mi. each way or a little over an hour drive. I took along 3 detectors and a couple of extra coils since they wouldn't give much information about the scene or where it was located.
It turned out that the crime scene transpired in a cow pasture about 150 yards off the highway. The attorney for the prosecution said that the dash camera recorded what sounded like 4 gunshots but that only 3 cartridge cases were recovered. They showed me where the body was found and I started working a grid pattern from that point.
The soil was so clean that I didn't have any mineral problems or erratic signals except when the coil wire slipped down after it hung up in weeds over a foot high in places.
I only heard 6 signals in 1 1/2 hr. Two were beer cans probably washed down from the highway, two were some old fencing wire, one was maybe a piece of bullet jacket, and the other was a Taser dart.
At 1st I was suprised at the dart, as they hadn't told me that there was one used. But that was at my request as all I wanted was the location and position of the body. Any evidence found and it's location would speak for itself. They told me afterwards that the Okla. Bureau of Investigation (our state's version of the FBI) had found one dart and the 3 cartridge cases. I can't really get into the details since it's still an active case but supposedly there is a discrepency in the number of cartridges the officer had in his possession between two different reports.
We didn't find any cartridge cases even though I expanded the search to about 50 yards in most all directions. They videotaped the two main finds and after about 2 hr. we called it quits and headed in. They bought me lunch and dropped me back at the convience store. I don't know for sure how much I'll get paid, but they'll drop off the check at the shop Wednesday. Who knows, it's possible they'll use me again when they need a Metal Detective.
BTW, I did find one other thing after getting home. A tick decided to hitchike and was locked on in the armpit. I got it out and scraped the spot good and doused the bite with alcohol and peroxide. Everything should be good but will keep an eye on it.
They picked me up at a convenience store here in town so no gas expense. 8) It's about 70 mi. each way or a little over an hour drive. I took along 3 detectors and a couple of extra coils since they wouldn't give much information about the scene or where it was located.
It turned out that the crime scene transpired in a cow pasture about 150 yards off the highway. The attorney for the prosecution said that the dash camera recorded what sounded like 4 gunshots but that only 3 cartridge cases were recovered. They showed me where the body was found and I started working a grid pattern from that point.
The soil was so clean that I didn't have any mineral problems or erratic signals except when the coil wire slipped down after it hung up in weeds over a foot high in places.
I only heard 6 signals in 1 1/2 hr. Two were beer cans probably washed down from the highway, two were some old fencing wire, one was maybe a piece of bullet jacket, and the other was a Taser dart.
At 1st I was suprised at the dart, as they hadn't told me that there was one used. But that was at my request as all I wanted was the location and position of the body. Any evidence found and it's location would speak for itself. They told me afterwards that the Okla. Bureau of Investigation (our state's version of the FBI) had found one dart and the 3 cartridge cases. I can't really get into the details since it's still an active case but supposedly there is a discrepency in the number of cartridges the officer had in his possession between two different reports.
We didn't find any cartridge cases even though I expanded the search to about 50 yards in most all directions. They videotaped the two main finds and after about 2 hr. we called it quits and headed in. They bought me lunch and dropped me back at the convience store. I don't know for sure how much I'll get paid, but they'll drop off the check at the shop Wednesday. Who knows, it's possible they'll use me again when they need a Metal Detective.
BTW, I did find one other thing after getting home. A tick decided to hitchike and was locked on in the armpit. I got it out and scraped the spot good and doused the bite with alcohol and peroxide. Everything should be good but will keep an eye on it.
... um... alleged bad guy. My guess is they are trying to discredit the firing officer. (That's what I'd do... even though I don't do any big criminal cases anymore). 
No offense spez. Also don't forget insurance agents or adjusters.
