A HOLE IN ONE
You're probably all surprised. A golf column? No, of course not. I hate golf. This is a column about crimes and the folks that investigate them. It's a brave new world, with 24/7 cable news programs dedicated to following high-profile cases with a fervor that is as unsettling as the crime itself in many cases. Nancy, Greta, and the other soldiers who pick a case and stick with it. Is there anything we don't know about the Casey Anthony case? Remember Natalie Holloway? Maybe that was just a neat way for Van Sustrern to spend a year in Aruba.
What is amazing about all of this is what a crap-shoot it is for the victim. If you're a celebrity, your case will be investigated like the Hope Diamond theft. I was about to say that any child victim will garner national attention, but this is actually not true. Children vanish everyday, literally. I'm not sure what the element is that will thrust you into the spotlight in those circumstances. Jon Benet Ramsey. How long did that go on? Seemingly bottomless resources are poured into these cases. They are closed, and reopened more often than a jar of peanut brittle.
Then there are those cases that win no public interest, no swarms of media camping out on front lawns. Run-of-the-mill homicides, I guess you could call them. Insignificant victims? We hate to admit it, but there is a hint of that. Surely most people are significant to someone, but what is that missing element that will make you either a famous cadaver or a cumbersome paperweight, should someone decide to punch your ticket for you? I'll tell you one thing for sure. If I were going to be shot to death, filled with lead, as it were, I wouldn't want it to happen in Kansas City.
On February 26th Anthony Crockett's 49 year-old body was returned from a funeral home to the Jackson County Medical Examiner's office after three bullet holes were found in his body, two of them in his head. The death had been ruled natural because the responding EMT had found high-blood pressure and diabetes medication in his home when the body was picked up. Police never even visited the home. Crockett's girlfriend, who had called the police after finding his body, said he had a history of heart problems. Nothing will exacerbate a heart problem like a couple of bullet holes in your head. Not surprisingly, by the time the "mistake" was found, and police returned to the home, it had been thoroughly cleaned.
One has to wonder about the EMT here. As a basic rule, any time a corpse has carrying holes in the head, like a bowling ball, that is a red flag that it wasn't a diabetic seizure. Standing ankle-deep in blood while retrieving a body has also long been considered a "hint" that there may have been foul play. Still, one would expect that there is some onus on the police department to engage in at least a cursory investigation. I mean, this guy was being embalmed when they finally figured out he had been riddled with gunfire.
You might be thinking, "everyone misses a puck now and then", but this is the second such case in just 17 months for the Kansas City Police Department. In September of 2007, 77 year-old Lorraine Grayson had been beaten and sexually assaulted in her home. This death was ruled accidental and the sexual assault had gone un-noticed until it was noted that her purse was missing. This led police to her neighbor's home, and a re-examination of the body, revealing the battery and the sexual assault. The neighbor was later convicted.
According to Thomas Young, the former Jackson County Medical Examiner, "this kind of mistake is a pretty bad mistake." Yes, Thomas, it's pretty bad. It's even worse to consider that Labrador Retrievers could probably conduct a better investigation for the price of a MilkBone. Imagine your one of the tens of thousands of Kansas City residents who have lost a loved one in the last several years, under circumstances you may have thought dubious, but you were assured that a thorough investigation had been done. Now, years later, you wonder. Visions of Barney Fife pulling on his belt buckle and pursing his lips confidently, run through your mind.
Karl From New Hampshire