AFFIDAVIT 4
Running head: AFFIDAVIT 1
Affidavit
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Affidavit
I, J.L, am a Patrol Officer and I am currently assigned to carry out an initial investigation of crimes in London (Bogus) County, Virginia. I received a call by a wealthy family, who invited me to their residence in London County, 12345, Mockingbird Lane, “Donald” Virginia. They have a sizeable two-story-single family home with a brick façade. The house is set on a 5-acre plot of land.
At 8:00 a.m. I arrived at the location with my Partner Officer known as John Smith, as I was walking towards the entrance, I noticed a woman, who looked like to be a housekeeper keeping a parcel of material enfolded in a bed sheet in the trash bin on the side of a residence. I knocked at the door and to my surprise the same woman I had seen outside, opening the door for me. She introduced herself as “Mrs. Dawson. She explained to us that she had called us in the morning, that while she was going on with her routine morning duties, she found Benson’s eight-year-old daughter Melissa on a couch in the basement of the “playroom” and she appeared dead. She also told us she called for an ambulance immediately and they were on their way.
We were accompanied to an open basement room with a bar, an entertainment center, pool table, and other recreational facilities. The room had a large “French door” and the swimming pool area. We saw a child laying on a large bath towel. She looked pale and dead. I immediately resulted to carefully checking pulse and realized that her body was “cold,” shortly afterward we heard a siren from the approaching ambulance. They were led to the basement where the girl had died and made a conclusion that the little princess was dead and nothing was to be done to resuscitate her.
I contacted our “radio dispatcher” and advised her to send the County Medical Examiner for deceased persons. I also requested her to dispatch a Crime Scene examination team and a Homicide detective at the address, who would take several hours to arrive.
I decided to take the child’s body and with the help of John Smith, began to record what they came across or saw. They noticed that the girl’s body was full of bruise marks and it looked like open gashes to the head of the victim. The towel which was near her body had dried blood, and there was also a rope style of bruise around the neck. The conclusion we made is that it was a homicide murder.
I started to inquire about more details about the child and some of the questions we asked her was; when was she last seen? Who else lives in the house, were you aware of what had happened? She became upset and began to cry and said the only thing she knew was that Benson’s workers were in the upstairs with their lawyer. We were told that the child had been kidnapped the previous day. The family was advised by their attorney not to respond to any questions since they were devastated with the loss of their daughter. They said they had notified the Chief of Police about the kidnapping the previous evening, but they were not sure who could have committed such as atrocious act. The employees of Benson said that the little princess might have been left on the couch by the kidnappers after they killed her. They were also expecting that evidence relating to the crime should have been left in the “playroom” or patio door.
I and my partner, we were challenged by a man who identified himself as an attorney for the family of Benson and told us he is called John Martin. He said to us that we would not be permitted to talk to the client they are representing and the family desires, I accelerate “the disruption of their household’. We were told people unknown to Benson kidnaped the child. I was requested to bring the crime scene unit to the child’s bedroom, but we were told that were only to access the “playroom” and the immediate area “outside on the quad” I asked if there was anyone else in the house. The Attorney told me that he would not disclose that information to us and cited privacy reasons during that difficult time. They would not allow rumors to spread since they are a famous family in the community and they will not allow their rights to be “trodden” by the police.
The next move was to involve the crime scene unit who were supposed to scrutinize the area and the information and even go and obtain a court order for the family to disclose more information so that the culprit would be found. Each member of the family and also the workers were supposed grilled and were supposed to provide statements regarding the death and the main suspects including the house help who found the body of the little princess and workers who knew about the kidnapping were supposed to be detained and were required to provide statements of this case until the main suspect is found an apprehended.