I'm back and ready for the trial

July 27, 2009 Monday

Hey everyone! I am back after a wonderful vacation in Denver with Luke’s family. They really went all out making sure that I could explore and enjoy Denver. The first night Luke took me to Big River, which is the story of Huckleberry Finn. The other days Luke and I walked through Denver, explored Golden, went to Buffalo Bill Cody’s Grave and the mansion nearby, hiked the Three Sisters, went to a westernaires show, which is a show where kids do tricks on horses, we went to a dinner theatre and watched Annie, swam in Luke’s pool with his little sister Hannah, played dominoes, looked at dogs in an animal shelter, and of course had ice cream!

Here is a picture of Luke, Hannah and I in their pool.

So to catch you up on what is occurring in the office, not much happened this past week, obviously because I was gone. They did have one suicide, and I learned that women rarely shoot themselves in the head when they commit suicide with a gun. I did not know this. They are usually too vain for this type of disfigurement, so instead women normally will shoot themselves in the chest. Men, on the other hand, shoot themselves in the head the majority of the time. Suicides are hard cases to work because the families are very distraught and the scenes tend to be messy, especially when a gun is involved.

So onto this week we are focusing on two very important cases. This past December there was a one vehicle roll over in which two individuals were thrown from the vehicle and killed. Ed and Mark have been subpoenaed to testify as witnesses for the prosecution, meaning the State.
We went to meet with the county attorney today to prepare Mark and Ed for the trial. I am really lucky because since I was not present at this scene I can go to the whole trial if I want to. I believe this is going to be a good learning experience so of course I’ll be in Lander a great deal this week to watch the proceedings. They will start tomorrow at a quarter to 10 when the jury is picked, and then they will begin opening statements. I was given permission to attend, but I had to promise I would not discuss what happens in court with either Ed or Mark.

Now I can’t discuss a lot of the information that I know right now about the case but as the trial progresses the information will slowly make itself public. As the evidence comes out at trial, I can describe more about the case, because once it is presented there the case becomes public information. So stay tuned as we progress through the trial and I reveal more and more information.

Oh, I almost forgot. After we got out of the meeting with the county attorney we went and had lunch and returned for another meeting at the county building with the Sheriff’s office. This was a meeting to discuss a past case that I have already described. It took a turn that I didn’t foresee coming. Yep, the great part about this job is it isn’t predictable. We discussed all the ways that the investigation on this case could go and what information needs to be collected and how it could be done. It is really nice how well the two different entities work with each other to figure out the best way to fight crime. If you haven’t noticed I can’t describe much right now about what is going on because it is a sensitive investigation that can easily go bad if too much is said and the wrong people hear about it, so I have to withhold that information for now. Sorry.

Hot Air Ballooning

Friday July 17, 2009

Hot Air Ballooning

Oh my gosh what a day! I’m still on cloud nine and it has been over for almost an hour! Today I took my first ever hot air balloon ride. Maybe I should back up and describe this story from the very beginning. Roni and I got up at and were out of the house by 5:45 am. We drove to the launch site and listened to the meeting about the weather forecast and we were teamed up with Jeff Pivic’s crew for the balloon called 'Champagne Annie' out of Rock Springs. Jeff is the defending champ for this year. So we helped lay out the balloon and I was right in there helping to fill it up. When it came time to launch I was the first into the basket, along with Jeff and another woman whose name I don’t remember.

The ride was awesome, such a beautiful site, and was it a blast. Here’s a pic Ed took of our yellow balloon. The others are of interesting balloons that flew with us.

You don’t really know when you are going up or down because hot air balloons don’t move that fast. Actually, people who are scared of heights can do this because you move slowly and your feet are firmly planted on the floor of the basket. We were up for a total of 45 minutes flying over roads, houses, and waving spectators. I think most waved at us because I was waving at them. We went down with only minor problems during the landing, behind the Holiday Inn near a senior apartment complex. Across the street some women from these apartments came out and watched us land and pack up. It was easy to pack up, taking about 15 minutes in all, and we were soon back at the launch site to meet Jeff’s dad, Bruce, who was flying his own balloon. Bruce Pivic came down on a heli pad near a medical facility, which I think would have been scary.

After the ride all the newbies have what they call a 'christening'. This is when all the people who had taken their first balloon ride that morning (4 of us, 2 were little boys) were lined up and given glasses of Champagne (except the two boys who got water and pop) and told a story about how the tradition of hot air ballooning came about. Bruce told us the story, with lots of animation, and then informed us that we had to drink the Champagne, from our cups, on the ground, in front of us, without our hands. And, if we spilled any we had to ride the next day naked. Needless to say that did not sound too great to me. After saying a prayer we got down to drink, and while we were down getting our cups in our mouths they threw water all over us. One little boy dropped his cup and he felt so bad he ran away. The rest of us got through our cups but it was hard to keep from laughing. Here are pics of that courtesy of Ed.

It was lucky that we got paired up with this group of people because Jeff is a Development Officer with the Cowboy Joe Club and can get us tickets to the UW sports events. His dad told me that he is from Rock Springs and his brother is a funeral director with the Vase Funeral Home and can use deputy coroners in Green River .He said that most deputy coroners in Green River leave over the winter so if I was staying over winter it would be great. Also, my friend from congressional award camp and also one of my frat boys from UW, was there for the BLM and we met up afterwards. I found out he is living is Lander and I hope to be able to hang out with him sometime.

Today gets even better because Mom and Dad will be here at 3 pm and we are going to the balloon party for the pilots tonight, which includes a car show and some partying. They we are going to a powwow for dinner. Tomorrow, all of us will go to Roni and Ed’s cabin, stopping for a party at the museum in Dubois on the way. That kicks off my week break to go to Denver to see Luke and his family. So there is the game plan- and it may be a week before a write again, just so you know.

7/13/2009 (Monday) Diagraming

July 13, 2009 Monday
Diagramming

Today was the first day that we had an accident in the early afternoon, but we are attributing it to the heat. Today was hot, about 97 degrees; even the wind was hot. So when we were called to this collision on a dirt road that was very dusty, and the sun was beating down on us with the hot wind, it was not ideal circumstances. The wreck was the first time that I really saw Ed and Mark work together on tire tracks. I saw multiple tire tracks on this dirt road, and at times some would disappear and reappear. However, Mark and Ed were able to follow the tracks and trace where they moved on the road. Mark and I followed the tracks with a measuring wheel, documenting when the vehicle moved to different areas on the road based upon the track marks.

July 15, 2009 Wednesday
We went over the notes that I had taken and Mark drew the accident scene making sure to note where the tracks told us the vehicle moved. Now I am going to work on doing the key for the measurements, describing exactly what happened at each measurement. I am excited to start trying to put into practice the diagram skills Mark has taught me. It will take a lot of practice to get to the level that Mark is at now though. He is very good!

I have realized that there is a lot of information in studying crime scenes. A well functioning team of investigators has to have a variety of different knowledge and skills present in their members. For example, Mark and Ed bring a lot to the Fremont County Coroner staff. Ed brings his background in EMS, with the police force, his interest in photography and history, and he knows a good deal about Native American cultures. Mark brings his experience as a nurse, an artist, a hippie, and he has an extensive knowledge of the Shoshone and Arapahoe cultures. Mark traveled extensively which has brought him into contact with different people and practices. These two men are very good at their jobs and work well together when investigating a scene. They have a relative routine down when they work a scene and what each knows what information to collect. Obviously, the routine and what needs to be done varies for every scene, but they work well together and everything gets done. While they both have a lot of talents, they acknowledge when individuals with more or different skills need to be brought in, thus the underlying reason for Ed’s rather large staff. Mark informed me today that while he was a nurse and could identify what bones are, what he hasn’t ever taken is an anthropology class and would not feel comfortable stating that a vertebrae was a cervical/thoracic/lumbar vertebrae. For this reason on the coroner's staff are two archaeologists that are contracted out by Ed when the need arises. Also on staff are the funeral home directors who take care of evidence that may end up with them and to work hospice cases. In addition, there is a dentist for dental identification, and a whole other set of people with knowledge in different areas.

One such area is physics. The crash that we are working on this dirt road involved a vehicle towing a car and the two vehicles ended up in different locations. Using physics one could identify how each vehicle was damaged, and the debris and trace evidence around the area explained how each piece would have been dislodged/disconnected from the vehicle and flown to the position that it was recovered in. There is probably a company that does that sort of complex physics and could tell us that information, and most likely there is a computer program to help them with that process that would be ridiculously expensive. (Luke, that could be of interest to you- if you feel like expanding into the forensic field). All of this comes down to a good description of the forensic field- everything can be a part of the forensic field and no one can do it alone, because as much as one wants to think they know everything, they don’t.

Currently, I have been building my skills for forensic work by learning how to take pictures at a scene, how to document the placement of human remains, what general information needs to be collected to write a report, how to write a report, how the filing system works, how to work around grieving people (which is something that differs in every situation), how different law enforcement agencies function and how we work with them, how to work with families to try to keep all parties “happy” - whether they be Shoshoni, Arapahoe, or non-native, working with the medical information from autopsies, EMS, and practicing medical doctors who we have to request medical information from, and learning Wyoming law in the case of fatalities. I have been acquiring these from a plethora of sources with my main supporters being Ed, Mark, Erin, and other deputy coroners who are very patient in answering all my questions each day. Very few interns can say they have learned this much- which makes this internship very special. And this does not begin to touch upon the wonderful experiences I have with Ed and Roni outside of the office. With that said I still have more to learn and I have updated my goals to include the following for me to still experience:

1) See an embalming
2) Learn more about medications
3) Research information about the environment’s impact on the body (mainly body farm information - water and bugs).
4) To see how a coroner/deputy coroner answers questions in a court of law

While these may be my current goals, there are many more that will come up, because every case brings a new set of methods and information to be explored. What an interesting field.

The Sundance 7/10/2009

Friday Night, July 10, 2009

The Arapahoe Sundance

This evening I am excited to go to the Arapahoe Sundance at the Ethete Sundance ground. I need to explain some history as to why the Sundance is important. When the U.S. was moving the tribes to their new reservations they decided to split the Arapahoe tribe into North and South. The Northern Arapahoe were supposed to be given their own reservation in Montana, however, while they were traveling to that location the weather got bad, as it often does in Wyoming in the winter, and the tribe got stuck in the Shoshoni Wind River Reservation area. So the U.S. guards went to the Shoshone and requested that they allow the Northern Arapahoe Tribe to stay on the Shoshoni Reservation until the weather cleared up enough for them to continue on in the Spring.

The chief of the Shoshoni tribe at the time, as most know, was the famous Chief Washakie. He was a great chief because he tried to stay avoid fighting with the white man and instead was peaceful, which worked in favor for the Shoshoni because they are either one of, or the only tribe that was allowed to have a say as to where their reservation would be located. Their present reservation used to be their hunting grounds. Displaying great wisdom, when asked if their mortal enemies, the Arapahoe, could share their land for that short period of time, Chief Washakie agreed, stating that they were brother Indians and needed to look out for each other. Needless to say, the U.S. never moved the Northern Arapahoe and today the Eastern Shoshoni and the Northern Arapahoe share the reservation well.

Jumping back to the reason for this history discussion, the other half of the Arapahoe tribe, the Southern Arapahoe, were moved to Oklahoma where they still live today. The problem with this kind of split is that certain sacred items of the Arapahoe tribe had to go with one tribe or the other. The Northern Arapahoe took the sacred Tribal Pipe. This pipe has been passed down for generations since long ago and is a prized possession for the Northern Arapahoe. If a sundance is going to occur this pipe HAS to be present. Therefore, it is moved to the location of the sundance with great ceremony, and when I say moved, I mean it is literally walked in a procession by lots of men to the next destination. We saw them moving this pipe one day while Mark, Ed and I were traveling to a case. Mark was really excited because he had never seen this before and had always wanted to see it occur. The downside of this story is that because the Northern Arapahoe have the sacred Tribal Pipe, the Southern Arapahoe cannot have a sundance because they don’t have the Tribal Pipe. So if they want to participate in a sundance, they must travel to Fremont County during the Northern Arapahoe's Sundance. As you can imagine, this causes problems and tension between the Arapahoes as a whole.

The Sundance

Roni, Ed, and I arrived at the sundance in the afternoon around 5 pm. The sundance is set up with the center being the Sundance Lodge. This is made up a large tree standing in the middle and others surrounding it with poles positioned on these horizontally. Branches and smaller tree trunks with their branches still attached (Aspen I believe) are weaved into these horizontal poles making an enclosed structures. It has an opening on one side that allows individuals to enter and leave, and from which everyone can watch the ceremony. About a football field away from this structure are camps set up by the different families attending the sundance. Each family has a 'squaw cooler' which is a structure built in a similar fashion as that of the Sundance Lodge, but without the center tree trunk. Instead tarps or canvases are laid on top of the structure to keep it cool. Inside each structure is where the family has their stoves, tables, and other supplies. Around the squaw coolers there were tents, campers, and lots of teepees for the different families to stay in at night.

Now I mentioned before that Ed was adopted into an Indian family in the Taking of Relations Ceremony. Roni has also been adopted by a Sioux family. Ed’s family is Arapahoe and they are present at the Sundance every year. Every year Roni and Ed go and visit his family and eat with them in their squaw cooler, which is where we spent the majority of our time at this Sundance. Ed's adopted family was very interesting and more open with describing what was going on than I had been told they would be, although I made sure I didn’t ask them questions for fear of offending them. This was very hard for me as there were a lot of questions that came to mind, the first coming about when dinner was arriving.

When dinner was getting close there was a truck that arrived at the front of the squaw cooler. In the back of it there were multiple containers of food that arrived, all covered, and some that were packaged. Each, even if packaged, was placed in a container. All of this food was moved from the truck to one of the tables in the squaw cooler by kids. The women of the family we were with began counting how many items there were, thus the reason for the different containers. Another vehicle arrived with more food and all of this was carried in and placed on another table, and each of these were also counted. None of the items on either table were combined or moved once placed.

Then, I was asked to help the rest of the family move food items sitting on a back table to the back of their truck. Another back table also covered with food items was moved by others to a different truck. When both trucks were loaded, a group of us piled in the back of one truck and another group got into second truck and we all drove to different families’ squaw cooler. The truck that I was in was driven by the grandfather of the Ed’s family, Richard Ortiz. When we arrived at the other family’s squaw cooler we unloaded our truck and moved the food to their table. Then we drove back to the Ortiz squaw cooler. Confused? Let’s just say that I was totally lost and blindly followed directions.

When we got back to the Ortiz squaw cooler we were welcome to eat from both tables. There was a lot of food. Some of the interesting dishes included a camping tea pot filled with chokecherry gravy, and two aluminum trays with fry bread. Other dishes included meat dishes, different salads, vegetable soup, and watermelon. The chokecherry gravy was eaten by placing the gravy in a bowl and then dipping the fry bread into it. I found it very good! After everyone was done eating the women cleaned up the dishes and put the food into coolers which were positioned around the squaw cooler.

We sat and talked a while until there was an announcement over the loud speakers that the grandfathers needed to assemble at the Sundance Lodge for washing. We went over, making sure not to get too close, and watched as each sundancer left the Sundance Lodge and went to their respective grandfather, and male helpers, and began to dip sweet sage into the pails filled with water. Using the sweet sage they moved the water on the sundancer making a pattern. When this was done the sundancer was helped up from his seated position and given the bucket and sage to clean all the paint from the night before off his body. Some of the sundancers needed help to do this. So who is confused??? Ok let me explain what sundancing is before we go on.

A sundance is a very spiritual ceremony. When men choose to take part in this ceremony, their choice affects not only themselves but their families as well. They need to let their family know that they want to do it and then they have to respectfully ask an older man in the tribe to be their grandfather. If the older man accepts to be that man’s grandfather then he has a lot of work to do because he is in charge of watching over that man and his family during the ceremony. This is why the food was being exchanged between families at the Ortiz squaw cooler. There were two Ortiz men dancing so their grandfather’s families were bringing food to the Ortiz family. Since Richard Ortiz was asked by two men to be their grandfather his family was caring for both men's families.

Now the men that take part in the sundance are making a sacrifice to Great Grandfather, The Creator. The men stay in the Sundance Lodge for 3 days and 3 nights, going in on Thursday night and coming out Sunday night. They fast that whole time, consuming no water or food, and endure the heat of the day and the cool of the night. They only leave the lodge for cleaning themselves and when they have to go to the bathroom. When they go to the bathroom they are wrapped in a blanket, specially made for them, and are escorted by their grandfather and/or the grandfather’s male helpers. This is done so that the sundancer is not ever touched. They can’t be touched at all except by their grandfather and helpers and only then during certain parts of the ceremony. You have to be very conscious of where the dancers are when they are making their trips to the bathrooms, which can be at any time.

After the sundancers were bathed they then returned to the Sundance Lodge and their grandfathers and helpers begin the long process of painting them. The sundancers are dressed solely in gym shorts, so when I say painted, I mean their whole body is painted from their head to their toes. The only are that is skipped is the area the shorts cover, and this is covered by a skirt that is decorated and made specially for THAT man and THAT sundance. This is done in the lodge so we didn’t stay for that part, instead we returned to wait in the squaw cooler. We returned once the sun had set, and all men were painted and ready to dance.

Some men were painted with green circles on their faces symbolizing turtles. Turtles are a sacred animal to the Arapahoe because they believe that the U.S. is Turtleland because of the way it is shaped. Legend has it they were told by ancient explorers that all sides of the U.S. is surrounded by water, and long one way and short the other way, like a turtle. Some of the men were with black and white paint, while others were painted with red and black which are representative of the different races. Also, these are the colors of the Arapahoe flag: red, black and white.

At this time the sundancers stood in a circle inside the lodge, with their grandfathers and helpers positioned behind them. There was a group of men that beat on a drum, and a singer who sat in a circle outside of the lodge near the opening. As these men played and sang, the sundancers moved to the music. After the first line was sang by the singer, some men would blow on eagle whistles in beat with the music. Eagle whistles are made from the leg bone of an eagle and decorated with feathers. Willie plays one at times in the sweat lodge when he is asking for the spirits of those who have died to pass on. Together these whistles make high pitched squeals and are intended to attract the attention of eagles who will carry the people’s prayers to Great Grandfather. We watched them complete 7 songs before calling it a night and returning to the house. The men dance for at least 12 songs, sometimes more, and it is common for them to go until 2 or 3 am.

Oh, I need to mention the other people that fast at the same the men are fasting. Situated around the outside of the Sundance Lodge were women who had taken an oath to not eat while their brothers were in the lodge. These women had blankets hung up by the lodge to help keep the sun off of them. They were placed across from their brothers who they could talk to during the day. These women do not have any helpers, are not escorted places, and do not enter the lodge. From what I was told women don't need to do a sundance because women always have a spiritual connection with Grandfather because they give birth. For that reason men perform the majority of the ceremonies that require hardships, as they is how they can get close to Grandfather. It used to be women were not allowed to sweat for the same reason. When I heard this it brought me back to discussions that I have had with Chris Zimny about the Mormon religion.

Well, that is all I have. If anyone has questions just let me know and I can try to get them answered. Oh, and there aren’t any pictures here because they ask that none be taken. I was told you can be kicked out if you even have a camera on the sundance grounds, so needless to say, I did not carry my camera.

Interesting info

Friday, July 10, 2009

So today, the 10th of July is the birthday for the State of Wyoming. The Equality state is 119 years. Also on July 8, 2009 at 12:34:56 it was 12:34:56 7-8-09. This is the only time this will happen in our lifetimes.

Last night I went on a decomp call and you would not believe how amazing the human body is. When I got near the house the smell was obvious, however, after a few minutes my nose had closed off making the smell unnoticeable, even when I left the house and returned the smell was only noticeable for a few minutes. I am told smearing Vicks Vapo Rub under your nose is not a solution for this smell, despite what you often see on TV. This is because Vicks makes you begin to smell better and instead you just learn to hate Vicks. What else was interesting was the degree of decomposition that this body exhibited. Heat is retained well in a mobile home or trailer, and the effect of the heat after a day or two in this decomposition case was very evident.

Currently, our office has had two accidents caused by men falling asleep. One occurred when one crossed a double yellow line and hit a motorcyclist. Now that young man is facing vehicular homicide because he broke the law by crossing the double yellow lines. In the second case the man drifted to the side of the road, woke up and over corrected sending the vehicle into a roll off the side of the road. One of the vehicle’s passengers was killed in that case, however this man is not facing any homicide charges because he did not break the law. Let me explain. In the Wyoming State statutes there is a charge of Reckless Driving but this is given when someone intentionally drives badly. In many cities there is a law against Careless Driving which is when someone drives badly unintentionally. Careless Driving would work in this case but it isn’t a state law so the state highway patrol can’t write a citation for it. The way that Ed has taught me to look at it is, if the person breaks a law causing a homicide then they can be charged. If he does not break a law, then no charges are appropriate.

I have been reading presentations that were given in Colorado by forensic pathologists around Colorado. One presentation was given by Stephen J. Cina, M.D. (the same forensic pathologist that I had Mom and Dad watch a video of when he made a presentation to my Forensic Anthropology class a year or two ago). This man is incredibly interesting to listen to, and its too bad he isn’t in Loveland anymore; Florida kidnapped him :( Anyhoo, I found the following information of interest:

Blunt Force Injuries are caused by a dull weapon impacting the body or by the body impacting a firm surface. They are broken down into three categories:
1. Lacerations are bursting injuries of the skin caused by compression between bone and firm object and are characterized by marginal abrasion, “tissue bridging”, and irregular borders.
2. Abrasions are loss of skin and superficial tissues due to friction, commonly called scrapes.
3. Contusions are bleeding into the soft tissues, commonly called bruises.

Blunt Force injuries may be associated with acceleration/deceleration injuries:
1. Intracranial- Subdural hematoma (SDA)
2. Aortic transection at ligamentum arteriosum (transection is when a force causes a separation and in this case with the aorta)
3. Cervical spinal injuries (a subluxation with the vertebrae is when two vertebrae separate and the spinal cord is cut then vertebrae return to their original position without any fractures.

So as you can see vehicle crashes, falls, and assaults, and abuse can cause a lot of inner damage that is not always visible to those who view the body afterwards. A sudden stop in momentum can cause brain problems because the brain will hit the skull when stopping. Also the other organs can do the same causing inner organ problems.
Key point: Blunt force injuries are not cuts.

Sharp force injuries are caused by implements with at least one sharp edge.
Two basic types of sharp force injuries are:
1) Incised wound (cut) is when the surface dimension of the injury is greater than its depth.
2) Stab wound is when the depth of the wound is greater than its greatest surface dimension.

Two other types of sharp force injuries:
1) Chop wounds (axe) is combined blunt and sharp force injury characterized by an incised wound of the skin and crushing of underlying tissues/bone.
2) Punctures (icepick) are stab wounds with a very small injury of the skin.

To re-approximate, a weapon forensic pathologists can take the skin and push it back together with the use of their fingers, superglue, or scotch tape- not forceps/hemostats.

Postmortem wounds, also called after death wounds, such as mutilations, are often yellow and bloodless.

So after talking about this information with Mark Stratmoen, who was a nurse before taking this job, I was told that we label any form of the skin getting cut as lacerations. Also contusions or bruises that people see aren’t always hematomas because a bruise is just a discoloring of the skin which can happen when blood seeps between skin tissues. A hematoma is clot of blood which is found when an autopsy or other in-depth cutting on that area is done.

I’ve also learned that when writing reports you don’t use the word 'accident' when talking about a vehicle crash. Doing so identifies that incident as an accident, unintended event, when in fact it could be a homicide like those we discussed earlier. So now I use 'crash' or 'collision' and not 'accident'. Another word that isn’t used is 'paraphernalia' because that usually gives the impression that the items are drug related. Oh, and when you are taking pictures, you take a lot because the more the better. Also, none of the pictures you take will ever be deleted, even if you take a picture of the inside of your coat pocket. This is because during a trial a defense attorney could ask you if any pictures were deleted. If you did you would have to say yes, and you open yourself up to the claim that the ones that were deleted probably showed their client was innocent. So to eliminate this possibility, no pictures are deleted.

Finally, I have been reading several books that I have found very interesting. There is a historical fiction author that writes about the Arapahoe and Shoshone on the Wind River Reservation. They are murder mysteries in which the author incorporates information about the People’s traditions and history. Her books are very interesting as well as informative. So far I have read one called Eye of the Wolf. It taught me about the last battle fought between the two tribes. The Arapahoe had been moved to the Bates Hole area by the U.S. However, they were starving so some warriors went out and killed some white settlers’ stock. This came back to the U.S. army and justice needed to be served. The Shoshoni found out and offered to mount an attack on the Arapahoe. The attack occurred on the Arapahoe village early in the morning. It was a slaughter of the Arapahoe tribe only ending when some Arapahoe warriors were able to get up into the trees and begin fighting back at the Shoshoni warriors, eventually sending them into a retreat. I also learned about the Moccasin Telegraph which is term for how fast news on the reservation moves. Ed told me that the Moccasin Telegraph moves information so fast that sometimes people are already present at a scene before law enforcement is even called.

Here is the book information in case you want to read it:
Coel, Margaret, 2005 Eye of the Wolf. New York, New York: The Berkley Publishing Group.

Sheep Docking Weekend

June 19-21, 2009

Sorry this is so late I had it written and just forgot to post it. Which is OK because now we have the pictures to supplement it :)

This past weekend Roni, Ed, and I drove to the Taliaferro's ranch located just east of Kemmerer, to help with sheep docking. Now most people know that I have gone sheep docking for the past 5 years with Taliaferros but most are surprised to learn that Roni and Ed went with me, and LOVED IT!! Who knew that Ed would be so eager to try cutting off the tails and removing the testicles of young lambs so quickly? He jumped in to do it during the second pen, but then he is a coroner and blood does not scare him. I think the best way to describe this is to show you these pictures of him docking.

Saturday afternoon we rode four wheelers to the field that we were going to dock in. Lucky us - a storm decided to hit that area just as we were completing that pen and when we rode out we got soaked. The rain, mixed with the blood and the mud, made us quite messy. Here are some pictures of Roni and I when we got back to ranch, which as you can see, was not experiencing any rain storm. The weather was actually quite nice when we got back to the ranch. Gotta love Wyoming weather. Here are the pictures as proof.

However, Ed wasn’t the only one who jumped in on the docking fun. Since we got rained out with the last flock on Sunday, Roni got her sheep to dock from a herd that was staying in the field near the ranch. It was neat to watch Laura (Taliaferro) Pearson’s new sheep dog round up the small flock and move them to us so we could catch the lamb that Laura had in mind. (This lamb was special to her because it was the first- and so far only- circumcision she had ever performed.)

We made sure that Roni got to do this docking because 1) she wanted to, and 2) Ed had made a bet with his deputy Amy that Roni wasn’t too 'girly' to do it. Amy was betting that Roni would never actually dock in the traditional manner. Sorry Amy, but Roni came through.

Here’s the pictures we took.
This is Roni cutting off the tail. This is done so that the animal is cleaner because a long, limp tail has a tendency to get dirty when the animal is sitting or laying down, and gets covered in feces when the animal relieves itself.

Sunday was Father’s Day so here is a picture of me with both of my Dads.

Kindness

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

So now we are up to 16 deaths in a week and a half. When Ed said that Fremont County was busy I never imagined this. However, this is not normal for this area so please don’t get the wrong impression. Today was supposed to be my day alone in the office to just work on catching up on paperwork. However, just when I was getting started I was called out to work on a call that I believe will be of interest to Aunt Micky because the person that passed away was living in Des Plaines, IL.

Last night there was an accident in Togwotee Pass, the stretch of highway that runs between Jackson and Dubois. There were 4 occupants in the car, three males and one female. The driver fell asleep and woke when the car was close to the side of the road. He awoke in time to over correct, causing the car to roll 4 times off the road. Two of the individuals were not wearing seat belts and those are the two currently in the worst conditions; one is dead and the other had to be life-flighted to Casper Medical Center and won’t be getting out any time soon. While I was not on the scene today as it was handled by the deputy coroner in Dubois, we did work trying to help the family make necessary arrangements.

We began by first driving to Lander where I learned that the female, who was wearing a seat belted and consequently was in the best condition, had been released from the hospital after x-rays and an analysis of her bruises. The town really stepped in to help her, with the Best Western giving her a free room for the night and they were willing to give it to her again for the tonight, and the police helped by driving her to the hotel. We met up with her at the hotel in Lander and drove her the 90 minutes back to Dubois where the accident occurred. Now this is not a usual practice but this situation is a bit different in that the woman is the fiancee of the man that passed away. That does not mean she is the next of kin, and neither is his ex-wife or his adopted daughter. Instead the next of kin is his parents but they live in the Ukraine and they don’t speak a word of English. So we needed her to help contact everyone. The problem was the contact information was in the cell phone which had been left in the vehicle. So we were driving her to Dubois to get the property figured out.

This woman was a God-sent because she had a very positive outlook on the situation and did not fall apart. Instead, she immersed herself in the things that needed to be done. On the way up she answered all of our questions and even asked a few of her own. When we got to Dubois she separated out all the property and began making phone calls, both on her phone and that of her deceased fiancee, to get information, which was important because we don’t know anyone that speaks Ukrainian.

This was a horrible situation for this woman to have to go through. She's in an unfamiliar place where she knows no one, she has to get her fiancee’s remains taken care of which meant conversing with his parents for control of the situation and which was made doubling difficult in that she had to go through the man's ex-wife because she hadn’t even met his parents yet! She also needed help to take care of the other two men who were still in the hospital. Needless to say, we helped her out a lot. We drove her to the hospital to check on the man who had stayed there, went to fill prescriptions for when he got released, went to a travel agent to get prices on flights for both her and the man in the hospital to leave Riverton to their perspective homes, to the funeral home to make arrangements, and the airport to get a rental car.
While this could be considered part of the coroner job, to an extent, Ed definitely went above and beyond. He and Roni invited both of the individuals to stay at their house for the night. Roni even picked up the man at the Lander hospital and drove him to Riverton on her way back from work. Roni and I made dinner for everyone and did special things to help the man with the condition he was in. Roni calls their house a Bed and Breakfast for that reason. When asked why, she responds with the simple explanation, "that if this occurred to her or Ed in another country, she would hope the same would be done for them." Both of the visitors are amazed with how open Roni and Ed are but for me this is just another example of the love they have shown to me and so many others before me. They are both just very open and care people and Ed and Roni are loved by many because of it.

7/6/2009

July 6, 2009 Tuesday

So today and yesterday have been interesting for me. Yesterday, Sunday, during the evening Ed and I were called out to Morton Lake, which is near Grandpa Westling's ranch, to a case in which a man had drowned. I can’t talk about the specifics as to how this event occurred but I can say that this was interesting for me because of how things were done. We were called to be there while Search and Rescue had three boats in the water; two running sonar looking for the body, and the other with 4 divers who would go down to search the bottom for the deceased. The search efforts were called off that first night due to darkness. This happened earlier than I expected until I remembered that 20 ft down it gets dark fast!

That next morning we were up at 5am and after loading our vehicles with supplies for the day, we were headed back to Morton Lake. We hooked up to our trailer that is set up to be IC (Incident Command) Center at the scene. Our trailer was blocked in a bit by a dump truck so in this picture you can see Ed, our fearless Dump truck mover :) Erin and Mark were up at 4am to buy supplies and get things ready for the day. Together we drove out to the scene and had divers in the water at around 8am. The man's body was found around 10am.

Now this incident got me thinking as to how the water would affect a body. There are lots of factors that play a role in the rate of decomposition of a body. The temperature of the water will slow down the process, the size of the individual, climate, and so many other different factors. It is a known fact that that during decomposition a body gives off methane which builds up within the body cavity. This gas is not released and it causes the body to eventually float, even if the body has been weighted down by cinder blocks. At least this is what one man at the scene told me. The only question is how long will it take for enough methane to built up to overcome the weight of the body and make the body float to the surface. Another potential problem, in this case at least, was an area where the rock cliff was cut out. This created an underwater cavity where the body, once filled with methane, could have floated up to and gotten caught, so that it would never float to the surface. I wonder if anyone has done tests and kept records of how all these different factors involving water drownings affect human bodies, like the tests they do at the Body Farm in Tennessee?

One event interesting thing happened to me while I was at this scene. I ran into a man on the scene Saturday who came up to me, and before I said anything, asked, “So are you are Dave’s daughter?”. I was not expecting this and answered "yes" with a puzzled look on my face. I then asked him, “And how do you know that?” He smiled and said, “Oh, I’m Speed”. Speed is one of my Grandfather’s best friends so I immediately was able to put two and two together. I laughed and asked him why my Grandpa wasn’t on the scene today and he told me that he had just left having coffee with my Grandpa, who was now on his way to get his car fixed in town. Evidently my Grandpa had told Speed that I would be there with the Coroner so he has inside information, and did not just miraculously remember me from some past event when I was a child. He did impress me though, at least until I got to the bottom of how he knew who I was.


Oh, I forgot to mention that I was sent to take pictures of the scene looking for evidence and I discovered my first piece of evidence. This boggled minds when we were able to identify that the man who drowned may have been pushed into the lake by someone else. What is interesting is that the perpetrator initialed the site, glorifying the crime for his own personal edification. I am only showing you this information because we are for anyone who might recognize this individual for who he is, so we can perform a thorough interrogation. The picture below shows you the evidence that we found


Beware we don’t know how dangerous this individual is or where his location may be. Obviously, he is not completely right in the mind as he left his initials at the site before leaving the scene. Instead of trying to hide his involvement in this crime, he seems to have advertised it, almost as if the culprit wanted to be caught. Dad, do you recognize them??

Busy Week continued (Friday-Sunday)

Friday, July 3, 2009

Ed, Roni and I left Green River in the morning to drive back to Riverton. On the way back we made a stop in South Pass City. This is a historical site that is viewed by over 14,000 people a year. It is Wyoming’s second oldest incorporated town. It was founded in the summer of 1868 when the gold rush was at its peak. This town was based upon mining and panning for gold. The area is still full of different claims where people are panning and digging for gold. Even Ed used to have two claims in this area where he searched for gold.

At one time South Pass City was up for being named the state capital. It's big bust came when the mine was closed forcing many move away. Today some still live in the town and the historical portion that was privately run for 20 years as a tourist attraction. It finally closed when it became too expensive to maintain the 24 century-old buildings. At its centennial in 1968 a group of South Pass Citizens banded together and bought the old structures and donated them to the public. Now these buildings and the land around them make up the South Pass City State Park. Here are some pictures of the site that I took while we wandered around.

The day didn’t end there though. That night we went to the big firework celebration in Lander where a one of the dentists in town puts on a big firework display for the town’s citizens every 3rd of July. (We thought this was going to be cancelled this year because that dentist and another were arrested in June for disturbing hydrocodone, a drug that is highly addictive. One was using the substance too. In the paper they said that the other doctor could be sentenced for 295 years in prison. The one that is putting on the firework show has been put on probation and he gets to keep his dentistry license so he’ll be in staying in society, just well watched.) This show was great because we had a truck that had great speakers in it. We tuned into the radio station where the dentist was Emcee'ing the event. They played a recording that described the U.S. history during the revolution when our country was just getting started, and the firework displays went along with the music and the storyline. The majority of the time the fireworks were shot in a way that made it look like a battle was going on, with lots of fireballs shot up into the air that made it very smoky.

July 4, 2009, Saturday

This was a great day filled with lots of activities. Ed’s sister Cynthia came with us to the parade in Lander. This was just like every other parade with lots of people dressed in 4th of July colors. We got there early so I had time to walk around,see the people, and take tons of pictures.

Lander has a very different atmosphere than Riverton. It is in a sense "more hippie", with more people riding their bikes, and a city park where people can camp for free (and it is well used). The city is designed so that water can flow under streets and it runs through ditches in some front and back yards, and a lot of people dress in loose fitting, flowing outfits. This is really hard for me to explain so I guess you will just have to experience it yourself.

The best part about the parade was the end when all of the different fire trucks came through. Fremont County is made up one of department with lots of divisions. So when the divisions come together what do you think happens?? There was a HUGE water fight. I mean the King of Water Fights. There were two trucks positioned on two side streets with one having its ladder extended and a hose ran up it so that it extended over the main street. They were both shooting water from their hoses that sprayed softly down on everyone and it was quite refreshing. Quite an ending. Here are pictures of the scene. Mom we have got to try this with our fire dept. at a parade!

Our next stop was a BBQ put on by the Rotary club. Roni's new boss is amazing. He is a Rotary Club member and he gave us tickets to the BBQ. We ate brats, beans, and potato salad. Luckily, we had finished eating by the time the rain started so we drove back to Riverton and stopped at the house just long enough for Cynthia to grab her car to meet a friend and the rest of us drove out to the 1838 Rendezvous site.

At the Rendezvous there was a lot that was happening, and I am sorry I left the camera because Jake was hilarious wearing a woven basket his daughter had bought on his head. He really did look Russian. We walked around the exhibits and took in the different events. We watched kids throw axes into raised stumps. I had Jake Korell - the 95 year old mountain man I spoke about earlier, serenade me in Spanish, German, English, and then with a harmonica. Roni and I even learned how to make rope. One man at the rope making class kept asking me to let him cut off a patch of my hair so he could make a beautiful rope. Actually, many were commenting on how beautiful my hair was and how nice a rope would be! While I was not inclined to donate my hair, I am aching to get some material to try out my rope making skills.

That night ended with weather warnings every 10-20 minutes about how there was going to be a hailstorm in Riverton. The weatherman predicted hail the size of softballs, half dollars, quarters. Well it did hit and even though the hail was only the size of peas, it had the wind backing it up and it made for a very rough storm. The street was filled with water and the hail made it look like winter. Here are some pictures that I took during the storm.

Busy week continued- Sunday-Thursday

June 28, 2009, Sunday

I went to church with Ed and noted that this is one of the only times he doesn’t carry his phone with him. That afternoon at 1:15 pm there was an accident on Highway 28 near the South Pass rest area. An older man, by the name of Skinner, and his friend had ridden their motorcycles to Farson for ice cream and were returning to Lander when one was hit by a car driven by a college age student. As so often happens with motorcycle versus car crashes, the motorcyclist lost. The student told police that he had fallen asleep and woke up when the collision occurred. After investigating the scene police identified that the student’s car crossed the center line of the road and for that reason he broke the law and can be sent to jail for vehicular homicide. It is unknown what they are going to do right now but the key point in me telling this story is to warn all of you drivers ... Don’t drive when you are sleepy. It could ruin your life!

June 29, 2009 Monday
At 1 am there was a vehicular accident. It occurred near Lander so the Lander coroner staff responded and called Ed throughout the night with details and updates. This accident was a one car roll over. The key reason for the death was, just like the case on Saturday, a one vehicle rollover in which the individual inside was ejected because he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.

June 30, 2009, Tuesday
We got our call at 7:50 am. and Ed and I drove with lights and siren to just north of Milford where there was a head-on collision between two trucks. Those that witnessed the crash described a lot of smoke and fire. The fire department and EMS had been at the scene before we got there and it was from them that we learned what had happened. This scene was very popular in the news so there are a lot of pictures of the accident.

July 1, 2009 Wednesday

Our call came at 4 am. We were sent to the Riverton hospital to investigate a death that had occurred. Chief Deputy Mark Stratmoen had been on vacation, having just returned today so he was called out early this morning to help Ed and I work the scene. This case was tough because it was so early in the morning that we didn’t have time to go back to sleep before going to work. Instead, the three of us went out to eat breakfast and then went right to the office for a full day of work.

While at the hospital Ed was called by the Natrona County Coroner letting him know that we had another case. The same time that the accident on Milford occurred on Tuesday, there was another head on collision in Ethete. This crash didn’t receive as much media attention and we weren’t called out on it because no one died at the scene. The call this morning was to advise Ed that the women from this accident, who had been life flighted to Casper, had passed away early this morning. This is one of the key points that people need to remember about the Coroner’s office. Unless there is a death the coroner is not called out to a scene. Consequently, we now have to go back to the accident scene, which has been released, to conduct our own investigation.

That afternoon we went to different offices trying to learn the background about that second head on collision. While in that area we went to a feast that was held in honor of one of the natural deaths that occurred over the weekend. (We were not called out to it because it was in a nursing home and the funeral director deputy coroners normally work these scenes and don’t call us unless there is something suspicious). The man that passed away was the uncle of Kim one of Ed’s deputy coroners. Kim had spent that day baking and the feast was amazing- especially the home made pumpkin pie. Ed and I were exhausted that whole day and when we got back to the house that night we took naps.


July 2 , 2009 Thursday

Ed, Roni and I took off to go to Green River for a Centennial celebration. This year is the hundredth year in which the Taliaferro’s ranch has been in operation. We drove to Green River and met my parents then together with my whole family, Tyler Reese, and the McAuslans, we drove to Manflat for the celebration. All of us had a really good time and Kayli, Adar, and Tyler were sad they had to leave about 5 to go to work that night. The rest of us stayed and danced the night away at the barn dance. Who knew the Taliaferro family had so many good and active dancers! Most barn dances have only the kids dancing but this one had everyone dancing. A really great time.


Thursday was also a noteworthy day because it was the first day that we didn’t have any calls. After 10 calls in 6 days we were more than ready for the break. There are a few key points to note after this week of excessive calls. First, there were 5 vehicular accidents and only one survivor. That one survivor was the only person that had his seatbelt on. Second, I’m repeating this I know but it is important ... Don’t drive when you are sleepy.

The Amazing Race

The Amazing Race

This is an interesting story for those of you who have ever watched the Amazing Race on TV. Evidently a couple years ago the race ran through Wyoming. Producers went to Willie LeClair, the man whose sweat I went to for my first ever sweat. Willie is an elder in the Shoshoni tribe, a chaplain for the state, and will be performing Roni’s sister’s wedding in August. Anyway, the producers asked him if he would gather a group of people together to help run an obstacle for the participants to complete. The program wanted to capture the spirit of the west so they planned for the racers to put together a tipi and put a wheel on a cart. Willie accepted the request and told the crew that he would he get his boys to help the participants complete these tasks. Taking this into account the program named Willie’s boys in this program Indian #1, Indian #2, etc. This is hilarious because as I told you before, in the Shoshoni tribe as well as in other Indian tribes, it is a common practice for adoptions to be performed. Willie has adopted most of the people that go to sweats with Roni and Ed. In fact, one of his adopted sons is Mark Stratmoen, Ed's Chief Deputy Coroner and the only other full time employee in the Coroner's Office. (Mark is the individual telling me this story.) Mark said that when he and his other adopted brothers, most of whom are Caucasians, showed up to help out with the television program, the producers were a bit surprised to learn that most of "Willie’s boys" weren’t your typical Indian boys.

The busy week- Powwow

Monday, July 6, 2009

This whole week has been pretty hectic so forgive me for not having posted sooner but there really has not been any time to do so. What has been keeping us busy you may ask? Well let me tell you.

This all began Friday, July 3rd when we got a call that an older man had passed away in his house. He was found when his son showed up at the house to take his father see the doctor. I revisited this case again when later that afternoon Erin, Operations Deputy and the owner of a biological cleaning service that cleans houses and vehicles after a loved one has passed away, returned to the house to clean it. It is tough for family members to clean a room after a loved one has died in it. So Erin’s business helps with that problem and from the many scenes she has dealt with, she has learned a couple tricks, which she passed on to me when I worked as her tech assistant on this project. Erin told me that it is difficult for her to find tech assistants because she has to find individuals that can be around biological matter and, depending on the scene, bugs and decomposition smells. Not everyone likes to work under these conditions. It was quite an experience for me.

That night, Friday the 3rd of July still, we went to a Powwow for Shoshone Days. This was a fun event for me because we went with Ed’s sister Cynthia Hamilton, and she and I had a blast watching the activities together. At a Powwow, Native Americans from all over the USA gather together to dance. They dress up in elaborate traditional costumes made from buckskins, beads, eagle feathers and more. All of the dancers present for a Powwow enter the dancing area in the Grand Processional. In this procession the flags are carried by vets. Next the royalty made up of young women dressed in their buckskins with tiaras made out of buckskin, feathers and bead work describe who they are. Some even had buckskin sashes with bead work naming their title. The traditional women dancers follow the royalty. These women tend to be dressed in buckskins that also have bead work but it is not as elaborate as other dancers. Over their left arms the women carry buckskin purses decorated with beads of various designs. The women dance in a slower fashion making sure they don’t miss a beat.

The next set of dancers were traditional male dancers. These men dressed in buckskins with decoration similar to that of the traditional female dancers. They carried a war club and/or a spiritual stick in their hand that was usually decorated. Also on top of their heads they wore eagle feather headdresses.

Next came the Fancy Dancers, men that were dressed in shorter loin cloths with tights or short shorts underneath. I did see one man that did not have this underneath, and he was a bit more revealing. They were all elaborately dressed with lots of colors and decorations, including big bells around their ankles to help make more noise.

Jangle Dress Dancers are women dressed in skirts that have bells sewn on them that make a lot of noise like the Fancy Dancers’ bells. These skirts tend to have 365 bells on them representing the 365 days of the year. Some of these jangle dress dancers are also shawl dancers and carry cloth (and a few leather) shawls that were beautifully decorated with designs on the back that matched the rest of their outfit. These shawls tended to have longer fringes and when the shawl was swung around rapidly, the colors really caught your eye.

Grass dancers. These men were dressed in buckskins or cloth that was very colorful and had feathers on their heads and on their buttocks. Their outfits consisted of the loin cloths and leggings that were highly decorated with lots of colors and often fringes that caught the eye when the dancers moved fast and enthusiastically. They also carried coup sticks with them and as they moved it added even more to the commotion of their outfit.

One of the drawing points to get people to travel around the country dancing in these Pow Wows is that the dancers compete for great prizes. The categories are based on the different type of dances being performed and the age groups. Roni and Ed were telling me that this teenager they knew started dancing when he was 3 and by the time he had graduated from high school he had enough money saved up to go to college.

Saturday, July 4, 2009, Ed, Roni, Cindy, and I returned to the Powwow staying the afternoon and well into the night. In the afternoon there was a small rodeo which we went to for about an hour. Then we hurried over to grab seats for the Powwow. We had snow cones because it was hot and that night we had Indian tacos, which are always amazing! That evening I saw a man that had rows of small scars on his upper arm. These Roni told me were indicative of him performing a Sioux Sundance. The Sioux believe that the giving of flesh to the heavenly creator is sacred. After fasting for an extended period of time during their sundances, there is a ceremony where they cut small pieces of the upper arm away as offerings to the creator. I will be able to discuss sundances better later as I will be actually going to the Shoshoni Sundance later this week. Then I will be in a better position to explain what occurs at a sundance.

While we were at the Powwow there were two calls. One was in Lander with a single car rollover. The individual that passed away in this crash was a few years older than me. He did not have a seatbelt on and was ejected from the vehicle. The other call was in Riverton at the hospital where an older gentleman died from a heart condition. I was upset that we had missed the one in Riverton but Ed reminded me of the important lesson that all emergency responders learn- you can’t keep your life on hold waiting for a call.