I was called out to a ranch where there was supposedly an illegal alien sleeping under a tree.  Normally when we pull up, they see us and take off running.  So I responded and turns out the guy wasn't going to run anywhere.  He had been dead for about three days.  Man thats a tuff site to see, but I guess it comes with the territory.  He must've died from either a heat stroke, heart attack, or dehydration.  He had a half eaten can of jalepenos and a jug of water beside him.  Its not an easy image to get rid off.

wait till it is a kid.

Maybe I am cold, but what bothers me more that the bodies typically is the screaming mothers or wives.  Last person I had was sitting completely naked, wife had been gone and wanted me to tell her why he had been sitting around naked.   didn't really have a good answer for her.

Its alright to put dead body in the title.  

Always worse when the deceased is a child....

Dead grown ups don't bother me that much anymore, dead kids are another story .

My first dead body was a 2 and a half year old kid who had been tortured and abused by his piece of shit mom and his bigger piece of shit dad...I had only been on the street a month and a half at that point...still in FTO...didn't sleep well for a few nights afterwards...

Worst is a child. Several years ago I was first car on scene of a house fire at midnight. I could hear screams as I exited my car. I tried to get in the house. Two children jumped from the second story.(one latter died of her burns she had skin hannging off of her.) We could not account for a six year old boy. As the FD started to get the hose's going the flames shifted and we could see him hanging half out of the window on fire. I saw that every time I closed my eyes for a long time.

Last month we had a apt fire with 3 kids inside. One 7, a 5 and 2. I was there as the 2 year old was put on the bird.. he looked right at me and my trainee. . he has lost a arm and his eye lids ears ect... He is not expected to make it. The mother was unhurt. She was outside smoking, had some inscense burning and something on the stove. She was outside screaming when the first cars got there. Three friends of mine did not even slow down, the went in and got all three of the kids.

I've come across quite a few over the years in South Texas on some of the large ranches. Most have been partially eaten by coyotes and hogs. Sad sight, I wish they'd stayed across the border...

Wait til you get the ones that have "popped".  It does get easier to deal with though.  The kids are a harder to deal with.  Remember, on suicide calls, don't step in the brains.  That shit gets stuck in the treads.

I agree, children are the worst.  As for your situation, get over it, there are more in your future.  Well, I guess one good thing came out of your experience you did not have to view the autopsy.

Quoted: Remember, on suicide calls, don't step in the brains.  That shit gets stuck in the treads.

Oh, and watch for brain matter on the ceiling, I actually had a piece of brain fall on me from a GSW to the head that came off the ceiling fan.

Did you poke him with your ASP too make sure he was dead?  I was poking what I thought was a dead guy one time and turned out he was just passed out drunk.  Gave us all a surprise when he jumped up hollering

Quoted: Did you poke him with your ASP too make sure he was dead?  I was poking what I thought was a dead guy one time and turned out he was just passed out drunk.  Gave us all a surprise when he jumped up hollering

Watch out poking, saw a DB "pop" once, wasn't pretty.

Quoted: Always worse when the deceased is a child....

The first call I took solo as a police officer was a dead baby call, its the suck.

Quoted: Watch out poking, saw a DB "pop" once, wasn't pretty.

my first DB was a guy who had been in his apt for 2+ weeks dead.  Smell was like nothing else but DB.  Get in the apt and the floor is covered in dog shit and other matter.  There is a little terrier who looks okay for the most part.  

In the bed room is the dead guy laying on his side.  He is under the covers and there is a large lump under the covers by his mid section.  I think to myself, "that's creepy, guy sleeps with a pillow on one side, just like me. . ."

Place is completely dark and I am just looking for a note or possible things he might have used to kill himself.  Apparently he had AIDS, HEP C and a lot of other nasty things.  Well, pull the sheets back finally, dudes guys are pulled out all over under the bed.  Dog has been eating him.  His ears, eyes, lips and nose are gone!  My wife thought I was crazy, I would not let our dog sleep in the same room as use for weeks afterwards.

PS - When the ME guys came to pick him up, he had a HUGE bubble on his back and his legs looked like balloons.  You will never believe who popped, how bad it smelled and the look of horror on the new ME guys face when he got splattered.

Good friend of mine is a cop in Florida....he left the state patrol for a bit after seeing a dead baby in a tree as a result of reckless driving of parents.

He is with a local narc unit now.. That was close to 8 years ago.

1st dead body I saw was in Somalia....stomach opened up in the heat, leaking the UN food...flies.

Saw woman die a few weeks ago, lots of blood.

Quoted: I was called out to a ranch where there was supposedly an illegal alien sleeping under a tree.  Normally when we pull up, they see us and take off running.  So I responded and turns out the guy wasn't going to run anywhere.  He had been dead for about three days.  Man thats a tuff site to see, but I guess it comes with the territory.  He must've died from either a heat stroke, heart attack, or dehydration.  He had a half eaten can of jalepenos and a jug of water beside him.  Its not an easy image to get rid off.

Did he have a black leather case with $2,000,000 in it?

Quoted: I've come across quite a few over the years in South Texas on some of the large ranches. Most have been partially eaten by coyotes and hogs. Sad sight, I wish they'd stayed across the border...

I have found a few of those..not a nice sight to find.. Last on was half in/out of a creek, the hogs had there ate most of  her left side...it was really bad.

Did you drink in the aroma? Just kidding. We had one a few weeks ago that had been closed up in a Dodge Dakota for 2-3 days. It had been in the high 90s, so you can just imagine what that was like.  I got up close and I swear I could see the guy actually cooking like a big hotdog.

Quoted: Did you poke him with your ASP too make sure he was dead?  I was poking what I thought was a dead guy one time and turned out he was just passed out drunk.  Gave us all a surprise when he jumped up hollering

HA! My first dead body was an old woman when I was on FTO. When my FTO told me I needed to check her for signs of struggle I just about turned white. I'd never touched a dead person before. I told him if her eyes popped open while I was moving her around I was going to run him over as I ran out the room

The first suicide I worked, the Detective that came out told me I had to get a stool sample from the trail of shit she left as she walked through the house before finally dying. I scooped up some of the poop and handed it to him in an open container about 4 inches from his nose as I told him, "I know you don't really need this. This is what happens when your games back fire"

We had to attend an autopsy before we could go on FTO. Better to see a dead body for the first time in a morgue than in front of a screaming family.

After a while, dead people are just routine ( except for kids ).

All the ones I've seen so far have been tame. I eagerly await the day I find one that has turned their head into a red mist with a shotgun or has been dead for a week in the heat

We had one about a month ago been in his hot tub in the garage for about five days talk about hot dogs cooking!!!

Quoted: We had one about a month ago been in his hot tub in the garage for about five days talk about hot dogs cooking!!!

     

height=8

Quoted: height=8 Quoted: We had one about a month ago been in his hot tub in the garage for about five days talk about hot dogs cooking!!! no joke all i can say is air pack

This reminds me of that scene in "Narc", where they found the gangbanger dead in the bathtub after he blew his own head off with a shotgun.

The first one I had was in FTO.  I can't remember his name or anything, just that he was my age, and died in his sleep.  First dead body I touched.  I still hate touching them.

The 2nd one I had was a drug addict who OD'd on sleeping pills.  Foam from the mouth and everything, dad disturbed the scene and cleaned up all the extra pills.

3rd one was my first fatal car crash. I remember everything.  The license plate, the guys name, date of birth, address, everything.  Guy was DRT from an ejection (he was drunk).  Couldn't do speed estimates because he didn't touch the brakes once before he flipped it.

Fourth one was a 91 yo with leukemia.

Last one was my first murder.  Remember everything about him too.  I was talking to his mother and didn't even realize it.  First warm dead body I've touched.

Is it normal for us to remember everything about these calls even though they are months ago?  The fatal car crash was in April, yet I remember EVERY detail about the scene.  I was able to recreate it for some visiting agencies we had assisting us during Gustav.  He asked what the worst crash I'd seen was, so I brought him there.

The worst is the ones that pop. I carry a bottle of peppermint oil in my kit. One drop in a dust mask and viola. (If you use more than one drop your eyes will tear up and your nose will start to run uncontrollably.)

I learned a long time ago how to work child deaths. It's a mind trick that I am grateful works for me.

I try to go to every autopsy unless I am on a fresh trail. If you want to learn something about someones last hours this is the way to do it.

that doesn't sound bad.  try a baby that was killed with Drano.

My first one was a well being check.  I was in the area so I took the call for my partner and knew what I had when I got out of the car.  Hurricanes knocked out power for a week and she was ripe at 90 degrees plus.  Soiled underwear ass in the air and all.  When I rolled her over the skin came apart.  It's one call I won't ever forget.

Quoted: that doesn't sound bad.  try a baby that was killed with Drano.

Had, ie I was the military authority the case was reported to, a child abuse case like that once. Didn't kill the child but it was bad enough.

Quoted: The worst is the ones that pop. I carry a bottle of peppermint oil in my kit. One drop in a dust mask and viola. (If you use more than one drop your eyes will tear up and your nose will start to run uncontrollably.) I learned a long time ago how to work child deaths. It's a mind trick that I am grateful works for me. I try to go to every autopsy unless I am on a fresh trail. If you want to learn something about someones last hours this is the way to do it.

Despite military police, degrees, forensics, public safety diving and what, I have yet to see an autopsy. It's something on my list of things to do, I have contacted professionals who can vouch for me if the ME asks for references, so I have that too in my credentials.

My friends look at me as if I'm nuts when I comment about "wanting" to do that.

Two dead bodies, both relatives. Numerous skeletons, just bones. Numerous briefings with wonderful pictures of people being blown apart, torn apart by floods, recovered after a week in the water, how it's fortunate that killers wrap the head of the person in plastic when they are doing them in, and such.

That's one thing about underwater recovery; the smell is not likely to get to you. Of course, searching in black water by touch and suddenly coming into contact with the person could scare the quick bejesus out of a person.

I agree about the last hours. Animals are not the same as people, of course, but dissecting the stomachs of fish told a lot about how they lived. I would suspect that it could be similar with people.

Mind trick? Mine is to say a mental command, shift to "Science Officer" or "Spy". "Your job is to gather information to return to your superiors with a report that they can read and know as if they had actually been there."

When that's activated, even maggots take on a different appeal ........ in a disgusting sort of little way.
_________________________________________________
("You know, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Although, I don't know why you'd want to catch flies. They're actually quite dirty little things."--Trance Gemini, (wtte), "Andromeda")

I worked traffic for about 5 years.  I would get called out all the time for fatal crashes.  I got use to the bodies, it's the next of kin notification that got to me.  It hit me twice to the point I lost some sleep.  The first time was a 5 year old girl that got hit by a truck.  The next time was a 17 year old girl after seeing all the photos of her and her friends she had in her purse.

I have been doing this for almost 30 years. 1st ones were in the military, and were in plane crashes and combat deaths. Parts/pieces.
The 1st when I was a cop was a Chevy Blazer upside down. One of the passengers was under it with just her feet sticking out one side and a blood-puddle on the other side where the head was.
The feet had those same type socks you saw in "The Wizard of Oz". I still see those.When the movie comes on, I see that gal again.
All the years I have done this, I remember almost all of them. Too many to count.I spent a few years as a deputy coroner too.

The kids though, that's different. They are always with me, each and every one. I am still active duty LEO but I had to quit being a fire-fighter. I'll leave it at that.

All I can say to anyone who is new, "Do not keep these in your head", get them out if you can.
I have enough in there to fill the Roman coliseum.

infant...2 weeks old

that was mine


i knew the child was dead when i got on scene....but i couldnt  accept that...after 5 minutes or so before EMS showed up i had been performing CPR and rescue breathing with no change...

ems took the child and went to the hospital...SIDS was the cause.

i will never forget that day.

the most heart wrenching thing to me was when the mom looked at me while i was doing CPR and said "dont tell me my baby is dead" or something to that effect

all i could say is " i cant say that" i think the reason i said that was because i was clinging on to that slim hope that I might have made a difference.

the whole event is still very vivid and i think it will always be......

i think it made me a stronger father that day....

dont keep these things in....they will eat you up.