OK, You found a dead body in the woods.

Sandman

Gold Member
Aug 6, 2005
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In Michigan now.
Detector(s) used
Excal 1000, Excal II, Sovereign GT, CZ-20, Tiger Shark, Tejon, GTI 1500, Surfmaster Pulse, CZ6a, DFX, AT PRO, Fisher 1235, Surf PI Pro, 1280-X, many more because I enjoy learning them. New Garrett Ca
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Ok, you find a dead body in the woods or underwater while diving. Would you remove jewelry and wallet? If you call the police as you should, you can't do it from a cell phone or home phone, so how would you notify them? Would it bother you to just leave him or her where they croaked?:icon_scratch:
 

I really wanna go for the Laugh here but someone will take me serious :tongue3: but if it happens , I hope it's either super fresh, Or super old :o otherwise the Smell would not make me want to return with the police.

which length there may help me decide too.
 

i would leave the body to go back and get someone, or keep diving then go get someone.
 

I'm kind of blown away that this question was even asked. A body ? really ? That is someone's son, daughter, parent, etc. I would call the police and report it. I'm still in shock that you list one of the choices as robbing the corpse... I'll be even more shocked if someone says that's what they would do. However nothing much surprises me anymore.
 

Ok, you find a dead body in the woods or underwater while diving. Would you remove jewelry and wallet? If you call the police as you should, you can't do it from a cell phone or home phone, so how would you notify them? Would it bother you to just leave him or her where they croaked?:icon_scratch:

If I found a body on land and it was past the putrefaction stage or a skeleton and its stacked with gold, strip baby strip, nobody is looking for them at that stage. If its fresh, bloated or starting to decompose. I would cover my tracks (a_ _) and call the cops from a pay phone. We have a lot of jumpers leaping off the bridges around here, maybe one day, I will run across a "Floater".
 

If I found a body on land and it was past the putrefaction stage or a skeleton and its stacked with gold, strip baby strip, nobody is looking for them at that stage. If its fresh, bloated or starting to decompose. I would cover my tracks (a_ _) and call the cops from a pay phone. We have a lot of jumpers leaping off the bridges around here, maybe one day, I will run across a "Floater".

* Hopefully, I will never run across that. I have seen way to many "Bloated Fish Faces" in my life, I'd rather not see or smell another.
 

I'd take him home and sign him up on the T-net.

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Sandman,What type of jewelry did you get and how much was in the wallet?
 

You can do like Jeramiah Johnson did and pry his frozen fingers off the Hawkin rifle and take it then leave him in place.
 

I would never, ever, ever touch a body or anything associated with it. It is evidence and shouldn't be tampered with. If this was a homicide, you will end up giving statements to the police or even testifying in court concerning how the body was found and your actions after you found it.

The only thing to do if you can't make a phone call at the site is to mark your location and then go to your car or the closest place you can get to to make the 911 call.
 

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I found a man I thought was asleep, drunk, or sick. I stopped, had my daughter stay in the car, & I went to him. He was not breathing, so I started cpr. after exhausting myself, I went to my house & called 911. they sent medics & police. He had been out for a walk (on docs orders) & had a heart attack in the driveway of my neighbors property.(Way out in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing to be done, even before I found him he was dead, but I had to try. The words "what would you do" mean nothing unless you are put in that situation. Then it becomes a reality, the "body" becomes a brother, father, son, husband, etc. & you become, hopefully, an honest, caring, human that will do the right thing.
 

Hey Sandman!! Down here in the South, the jewelry and wallet would already be gone!! He He!! GOOD LUCK and GOOD HUNTING!! VERDE!!
 

That is one of my fears, the ring Or jewelry I find detecting is on a body, which I'm not touching!

IF however I'm in the middle of recovering a target when I spot the body, that has nothing to do with the body I will recover the target and then call PD.

At that point I only hope Murphy's law doesn't descend on me in full force, and I end up being arrested for possessing Weapons (digging tools) & questioned for the demise. I can just see me and the M6 in hand cuffs in the back of a patrol car! Detecting time...null & void!
 

That is one of my fears, the ring Or jewelry I find detecting is on a body, which I'm not touching! IF however I'm in the middle of recovering a target when I spot the body, that has nothing to do with the body I will recover the target and then call PD. At that point I only hope Murphy's law doesn't descend on me in full force, and I end up being arrested for possessing Weapons (digging tools) & questioned for the demise. I can just see me and the M6 in hand cuffs in the back of a patrol car! Detecting time...null & void!

just to make you more paranoid, MsBeepBeep, how do you really ever know that the target you are digging isn't associated with the body you just found. Maybe they struggled, and the Rolex you just dug 15 feet away from the body, went flying......
 

Well you take a rope and tie them to a tree in the river so they do not float away or sink and call the non emergency number. They meet you at the dock with a tarp and you take them in your boat and bring the body back to the landing. Always sad. Doing the right thing can bring closure hopefully to someone.
 

Only after an apocalyptic event and I would be looking for supplies not wallets...






American by birth, Patriot by choice.

I would rather die standing on my two feet defending our Constitution than live a lifetime on my knees......
 

Its not like the old days. You find a body & report it, and no problems.
The last 10, 20 years you are a prime suspect. The police believe you to
be the number one person of interest; and you will be hasseled (most cases)
till they solve the case. I know this from dealing with law enforcement for
a good part of my life.
This is also why a lot of 'hit & run' ACCIDENTS are not reported as should be.
People know they will be possibly prosecuted for manslaughter. The world is
getting crazier all the time. AND, if you don't report a discovered body, you
will be facing charges also.! It all depends on the circumstances I believe.
 

You can do like Jeramiah Johnson did and pry his frozen fingers off the Hawkin rifle and take it then leave him in place.

Hay, If I remember correctly, Johnson had written permission to remove the .50 cal Hawkins. Frank...111-1 profile.jpg
 

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