[Delta Green] Operas and Avatars: Puppet Shows and Shadow Plays

[Gomez]

"So how long since the family went missing? Has the State sent out a forensics team yet?"

The Sherif shakes your hands. "A relative found the place abandoned on the morning of July 27th. No one remembers talking or seeing them for at least a week before that time. Mr. Bejay did talk to a neighbor, Mr. John Rope about someone stealing his sheep during the last two months. He told Mr. Rope that he was going to sit out all night with his rifle until he caught the culprit."

Colorados shakes his head at your other question. "I have been trying to get the state police to send a forensics team in but they keep telling me that they are backlogged. I was planning to look around myself today when Hobbson called about you wanting to meet."

 

[Maerdwyn]

Solomon shakes the sherrif's hand, "Very pleased to meet you, sir. Thanks for letting us help out." After Colorados explains about Mr. Rope's information, he asks, "Has anyone else around here reported missing livestock lately? Have there been any carcasses found in the area?"

 

[taitzu52]

As Brown is finishing up with the Sheriff, Andrews pulls a wad of rubber gloves out of his windbreaker pocket and offers them out. "Well," he says, "I guess we should start with the house. Then we can start to make a sweep of the property, as best as three men can." Andrews walks towards the house, and waits for a cue from the Sheriff before proceeding.

(OOC- Search +13)

 

[Gomez]

Bejay Ranch

"That's the strange thing" said Sheriff Colorados. "Victorio told Rope that his sheep disappeared without a trace. Even a coyote leaves some carrion. So it doesn't sound like a predator to me. It might be sheep thieves but we haven't had any other reports of lost livestock."
Colorados looks at Andrews with a slight smile. "Searching the house first sounds like a good idea." You enter the house and conduct a search. The beds appear to be unmade and slept in. I empty box of 30-30 rifle ammo sits on the the kitchen table. A full pot of cold coffee sits on the kitchen stove top. There is no signs of struggle or forced entrance, though the back door is open and the front door is unlocked. There is no signs of any pets other than two dog dishes on the back porch. There is a televison in the living room and a stereo in one of the kids rooms. A full jewelry box is found in the top drawer of a dresser in the master bed room.

 

[Maerdwyn]

"No, doesn't sound like an animal to me, either. One at a time, though, over time...sound like someone looking for food just the same. Our killer won't likely be using the supremarket - sounds like he's not using a motorized vehicle either, if Mr. Bejay didn't hear him take the sheep off before he disappeared. Let's head in and see what we can find." Solomon heads inside with Coloarados and Andrews for the search.

"Not a robbery," Solomon states unnecessarily, and looking around for the rifle that went with the ammo, asking if it was found and removed as evidence or is just missing. Afterwards, he asks them both "What do you think? To me, it looks likely Mr. Bejay caught our guy stealing another sheep, and he took it out on the whole family."

 

[Gomez]

"We did not find any rifle in our initial search." says the Sheriff.

 

[Maerdwyn]

ooc: are there other residences within the sound of a rifle shot from here? Any signs of rifle discharge outside on the porch (spent shells, etc.)? Any blood visible? Any fingerprints other than the Begay's? Assuming not:

After the search, Solomon starts thinking out loud. "He doesn't need money, but he needs the sheep. Can we think of any other purposes besides for food? In any case, when Mr. Begay looks to stop him from stealing the sheep, the perp removes everyone, including two dogs from the premesis without causing so much as a scuffle. Those dogs would have woken the rest of the family up, right? He didn't shoot them, or use a knife, unless he's a real good cleaner. Maybe he's using a tranq gun to put his victims under, and then removes them to somewhere else? He can't have gotten them too far, though: Begay would have heard him approaching in a car or truck. Let's seach the grounds: signs of a struggle, drag marks, shells, blood, etc" He gets one more minor idea, "Have all the remaining sheep been checked? Maybe there's a wounded one he didn't take completely when he noticed Mr. Begay."

 

[Gomez]

ooc: are there other residences within the sound of a rifle shot from here? Any signs of rifle discharge outside on the porch (spent shells, etc.)? Any blood visible? Any fingerprints other than the Begay's? Assuming not:

After the search, Solomon starts thinking out loud. "He doesn't need money, but he needs the sheep. Can we think of any other purposes besides for food? In any case, when Mr. Begay looks to stop him from stealing the sheep, the perp removes everyone, including two dogs from the premesis without causing so much as a scuffle. Those dogs would have woken the rest of the family up, right? He didn't shoot them, or use a knife, unless he's a real good cleaner. Maybe he's using a tranq gun to put his victims under, and then removes them to somewhere else? He can't have gotten them too far, though: Begay would have heard him approaching in a car or truck. Let's seach the grounds: signs of a struggle, drag marks, shells, blood, etc" He gets one more minor idea, "Have all the remaining sheep been checked? Maybe there's a wounded one he didn't take completely when he noticed Mr. Begay."

"The closest home would be that of Mr. Roper. His ranch is about 4 miles west of here." Says Sheriff Colorados. He then holds up a white towel with dark blood stains. "I found this in the laundry hamper. We need to get a forensics team in here and do a through search."

Searching outside, you find two pickup trucks. One appears to be in the process of being repaired. There are two sheep pens full of sheep. "I did a head count and there are 176 sheep. But records found in the house show that they had 201 sheep." says the Sheriff.

You don't see any signs of struggle outside or evidence of foul play. Agent Andrews looks up from his search and notices something. Off in the distance about a half a mile are several circling buzzards.

 

[Maerdwyn]

"The closest home would be that of Mr. Roper. His ranch is about 4 miles west of here." Says Sheriff Colorados. He then holds up a white towel with dark blood stains. "I found this in the laundry hamper. We need to get a forensics team in here and do a through search."

Solomon nods. "Yes. Good to know there's some trace of what happened here, though," he says, looking at the towel.

Searching outside, you find two pickup trucks. One appears to be in the process of being repaired. There are two sheep pens full of sheep. "I did a head count and there are 176 sheep. But records found in the house show that they had 201 sheep." says the Sheriff.

Solomn whistles softly, "Twenty five sheep, over two months? That's a hungry guy. Might be looking at more than one perp."

 

[taitzu52]

Seeing the bloody towel, Andrews begins to lose his patience. "God damn it.", he exclaims as he checks his cel phone for reception. If he has none, he'll ask Colorados to use his CB to call State police HQ. He calls Garrett, he calls Hobson, we calls Washington, anybody. Andrews is pissed, and he's not getting off the horn until someone gives him and ETA on a forensics team. Anyone standing outside can see him taking long drags off of a cigarette, and can hear some CED's being barked over the line (not to State troopers, only FBI gets "the treatment" [a lot of "Who the *CED* is this? Well why don't you put someone that matters on the *CED*ing line!"]).

Andrews thanks Colorados, and returns to the house. "Well, I think we'd better head over there.", he says, pointing at the circling birds. Guessing the Sheriff has an off-roadish vehicle, that'd be best.

(OOC- Intimidate +7, Bluff +7, for getting this done.)

 

[Maerdwyn]

Andrews thanks Colorados, and returns to the house. "Well, I think we'd better head over there.", he says, pointing at the circling birds. Guessing the Sheriff has an off-roadish vehicle, that'd be best.

"Yep. Before they tear up any more of the evidence than they already have."

 

[Gomez]

After some yelling and diplomacy, you get the word that a Phoenix PD crime scene investigators are on the way. They should be at the ranch in about a hour or two. Hobbson is pissed as well and he says that he will try and free up some personel to help you out but he isn't promising anything. The Sheriff calls on his radio and gets a couple of his deputies to head over.

You jump into the Sheriff's pickup and drive over to where the buzzards are circling and stop a couple hundred feet from there. "Let's fan out and see if we find anyting." says the Sheriff. After about 5 minutes, Brown comes up to a hole in the ground. There are animal tracks all over the place and what appears to be a partially uncovered body of a sheep in the bottom of the hole.

 

[taitzu52]

"Alright," says Andrews, "let's leave the dirty work to the experts. I don't want any bad info here." He circles the site looking for tracks and traces of who did this, footprints, tire tracks, etc. We can fan out and look for other traces in the distance until CSI arrives.

(OOC- Search +13)

 

[Gomez]

As Andrews circles around he sees more of the animal tracks. Sheriff Colorados looks at them. "Humm coyote tracks." he says. "Coyotes must have dug up the sheep's body." Andrews then comes upon another hole. At the bottom of this one an uncovered human hand sticks out of the ground.

 

[taitzu52]

A shrill whistle from Andrews breaks the silence. "We got one!", he shouts as he stands over the hole peering in. "Alright, nobody touches nothing until CSI shows. Sheriff, would you please have your Deputies prep to do a sweep search this whole area, but not until CSI gets here, I don't want a circus, understand?" Andrews lights a cigarette, and says out of the side of his mouth, "Well, I guess we'd better call the coroner too. *CED*"

 

[Maerdwyn]

"*CED* is right. You're tight about the Coronor...We should get dogs in here too, to look for anything the coyote and buzzards haven't uncovered yet." Solomon looks at the hole with the dead sheep, as well as the hand sticking out of the ground. "If the perp buried one of the victims near the abduction site, he might have with the others as well. We'll need to search the areas outlying from all the crime scenes for holes like these."

 

[Gomez]

In about a hour and a half the Begay ranch is swarming with state police, reservation deputies, crime scene investigators, and people from the Phoenix coroner's office. After a search of the area, twenty-six graves are found scattered across the property: one for each missing sheep and a mass one for the Begay family. The Phoenix assistant medical examiner walks up to you after he has looked over the bodies. "Dr. Joseph Gutierrez. Pleased to meet you though I wish it was under different circumstances."

 

[Maerdwyn]

Solomon nods a solemn greeting, and extends a hand. "Pleased to meet you Doctor Gutierrez. I'm Agent Solomon Brown, this my partner Agent Andrews. I know you haven't had much time, but does anything jump out at you regarding the bodies yet? Any clue about how they died?"

 

[taitzu52]

"We knew we had something here, but this is a bit much. We'll sort out why, the livestock got special attention and the family got lumped together soon enough. What we'd like to know is times and manner of death. Of course forensics will be important too.", says Andrews. "And of course," he adds in, "if you have anything personal that you'd like to share about this incident, please, refer to us in the highest confidence."

 

[Gomez]

"Ok first things first. The sheep show a state of decay ranging from about 2 months to 2 weeks. Sheriff Colorados was able to identify the bodies as those of Victorio, Louisa, Luca and Paco Begay. All look to have died about 2 weeks ago. As to the cause of death, Victorio's neck is broken and he has several needle-like wounds on his chest. The women, kids, and all the sheep also have these needle-like wounds. Also all the bodies show massive blood loss. Other than Victorio, I would have to say that blood loss is the cause of death. I will know more when I can do a full autopsy."