Zombie CSU (9 page)
The Zombie Factor
For our zombie hunt, one of the most critical factors during the process of establishing the crime scene is determining likely points of escape. Zombies don’t hide, they don’t climb fences, and they don’t hop in cars and drive off. Any road or path leading away from the crime scene is likely to allow searchers to track the killer.
Footprints are particularly useful here, as is scent, and K-9 units are often called in to track suspects over all sorts of terrain. A slow, shuffling zombie can’t walk farther or faster than a determined and coordinated pursuit.
Why Zombies?
“Modern apocalyptic zombies (as opposed to voodoo zombies) represent Armageddon at the most primal level. Doomsday, in which the last remaining humans must fight to survive on the most primal level. Hand to hand. Face to horrifying face. Against overwhelming odds.”—Joe Augustyn, screenwriter for
Night of the Demons
(1989) and
Night of the Demons 2
(1994).- “Zombies are us; humans stripped of our souls and denied final rest; left to wander in an Earth bound purgatory (and depending on your Director—motivated by terrible desire to eat human flesh.). They are truly one of mankind’s most terrible fantasies and fears.”—Andy Bark, screenwriter for
Dark Waters
(1994). - “Because they give us a chance to hold up the mirror to all of society. Monsters like Frankenstein and Dracula were useful morality tools, but limited in certain way. Zombies, as a mass, as a section of a culture, can be used to stand in for all of society.”—author C. J. Henderson
J
UST THE
F
ACTS
The Witness
When a witness makes a 911 call and remains on the scene (like in our example), one officer will conduct a short interview with her. He’ll make sure she’s not injured. He’ll make an initial determination as to whether this person was in any way involved in the crime (if she’s sitting there reloading her pistol, that could be a tip-off). And he’ll ask her to recount what she saw, going over it several times to make sure he has every detail. Witnesses are often upset and highly emotional, but an officer trained to elicit information knows how to calm the witness down, and knows the kind of questions that will pluck out all the previously unspoken details.
What a victim sees and can later accurately describe is dicey at the best of times. Time, distance, available light, movement, shadows, obstacles, angle, and clothing all conspire to make easy positive identification tricky. With five days’ worth of beard, new glasses, a woolen cap, and sunglasses Brad Pitt could probably walk down Broadway and few people would recognize him. Celebrities count on being able to make a few subtle costume changes to their appearance as a way of dodging throngs of fans and hordes of paparazzi.
So, given all these variables, we have a woman who witnesses a crime while driving. She pulls over across the street. County roads in industrial areas are generally 24 to 30 feet wide. Add to that a 48-inch shoulder, 42-inch-wide single-block sidewalk paving, a chain link fence, and a 26-foot-wide stretch of parking lot. That leaves the witness with a total minimum distance of 57.4 feet. This was in late afternoon/early evening and the quality of daylight will certainly affect vision. Dusk is one of the worst times for accurate witness descriptions. The eyes have not yet adjusted to darkness, and the light values play tricks on even the most eagle-eyed observer.
So, the interviewing officers will know that the information they get from the witness may not be 100 percent reliable. All cops know this; but it gives them a starting point and allows them to broadcast a BOLO (be on the lookout) with as much of a physical description as possible. The physical description of our attacker, based on the witness description, is as follows:
All units be advised. In connection with a possible aggravated assault, witness describes a white male, six feet, one-seventy, with short dark hair wearing light colored pants, possibly hospital scrubs, and a white V-neck undershirt. Pants and shirt possibly stained with blood. No shoes. Suspect is described as extremely pale, with injuries or possibly bloodstains on his face and arms. Suspect is described as walking erratically like he was drunk. Last seen crossing Argento Road heading into woods across from Martin Medical Research. All units use caution when responding.
This visual description will be updated with any new information as the case progresses. Much later, if the suspect is not apprehended, a police artist will do a sketch—either freehand or with an identikit.
Expert Witness
I asked Professor Greg Dagnan to comment on the process of interviewing witnesses at a crime scene: “The responding officer should have identified any witnesses and separated them from everyone else. Nothing makes a detective madder than seeing all his witnesses in a huddle discussing the case. The witness is then taken to a quiet place and interviewed in what is hopefully a neutral, fact-finding manner. Witnesses can be easily swayed so questions like ‘Was the gun black?’ are not acceptable, as it gives the witnesses only the option of yes or no. If the gun was black with a chrome slide, an investigator who does not know how to interview a witness will never discover this information.”
The Zombie Factor
Let’s face it, the first few people who report zombie attacks are going to fall into two categories: those who will think they’re seeing something else that doesn’t involve zombies and those who report seeing a zombie and aren’t believed.
The first kind will be the most common because the phrase “hey, I think that’s a zombie attack” just isn’t likely to pop into most people’s heads. Even if we see a vicious fight and someone is getting bitten, the assumption will very likely be: Some crazy person is attacking that guy. Maybe followed by “I’d better call this in,” or “I’d better mind my own business,” or even “I’d better get the hell out of here.”
Why Zombies?
- “Because we can identify with zombies so easily. If we sit in front of the television, we’re zombies. When we work at a repetitive job we become robotic zombies; when we wait in lines we feel like cattle or zombies, when you get tired you feel like a zombie…eyes glazed over…it’s late…I am a zombie…”—Dan McConnell, comic book writer, penciler, and inker who has worked on
The X-Men, Captain Universe
, and
Zombies of Liberty - “Why Zombies you ask? And I say why not? I’m not sure why people are so fascinated by zombies but I’d have to say that it has to do with man’s innate fear of death. In a way it allows him to see death
after
death, and that is a scary thing. Sort of like letting someone walk into a morgue to see a body under the sheet and asking them if they want to pick up the sheet and take one quick peek at the body. I think that most people have a sick enough sense of curiosity that they would want to take just a peek.”—David A. Prior, writer/director
Zombie Wars
(2006). - “Zombies are a blank screen onto which we can project whatever fears we are having as a society. Zombies can represent our unease over terrorists, super-viruses, nuclear war, crime or civil unrest. And often in zombie stories, only a few humans are left to fight the zombies off, and I think that taps into something universal as well—our fear of being left alone. Or perhaps a fear of those closest to us dying, leaving us alone to fend for ourselves in a hostile world. As a society, we also place a high importance on the physical body. In missing persons cases or murders, we often hear people talk about the need to find the “remains” and give them a proper burial. But in a zombie story, it is that physical vessel—the human body—that refuses to rest easy. There is no closure after death in a zombie story. I think that’s terrifying.”—David Jack Bell, author of
The Condemned
(Delirium Books, 2008).