CASE 4: Patrol Officer Patricia Roberts
Demographic
28-year-old white female, 70” tall, 135 pounds and excellent physical health at the time of death.Died as a result of a self-inflected gun-shot wound (12-gauge shotgun) to the head, (see simulated Autopsy report 2). The weapon and body were located inside her city patrol vehicle parked at her home in the driveway.
One of her neighbors, a physician, returning home around 3 am from a call out to the Emergency Room was in his kitchen eating breakfast when he heard a loud single shot that he immediately recognized as a shotgun blast. He called 911, reporting the gunshot as having possibility originating from Patricia’s home across the street. The responding officers arrived and located Patricia in the front seat on the passenger’s side with her 12-gauge duty shotgun resting on her torso and extending down between her legs. Her right-thumb was inserted and resting on the trigger ring.
Suicide Notice
Responding to the scene was Patricia’s boyfriend, patrol officer Rich Caldwell. He had just left her asleep about 45 minutes earlier. She had returned home from dinner and drinks with several of her girlfriends and Rich stopped by while on duty to see that she arrived home safely. Rich reported that she was in a melancholy mood since the anniversary of her mother’s death had just past this week. She once again told Rich that she wanted to be with her mom and dad and that she was tired of living this life. Although she had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol and previously demonstrated this line of rhetoric before several times to Rich, he felt a more empathetic level with her expressive mood this time. Rich made sure she was asleep in bed before he removed her service weapon and off-duty gun. He had planned on returning it in the morning at breakfast.
Background
Patricia and her younger sister grew up and attended school and church in this neighborhood with their parents. Her father was a local physician and her mother was a stay-at-home mom. This allowed her mother time to volunteer at the school and other civic organizations and be at home when Patricia and her sister arrived home from school. All of that changed when Patricia was 12 years old. She came home and found both of her parents dead from gunshot wounds. Police would later determine two-armed individual, a man and woman entered the home around 11am to rob her father of his prescription pad and signature stamp and then executed both of them.
The investigation and court case took over four years to resolve in some form of justice for Patricia and her younger sister. The male perpetrator was sentenced to death while his female accomplice received life without parole. This life event sparked a career interest in law enforcement for Patricia. Her local police agency had grown close to her during their investigation and were eager to sponsor her to their police academy when she turned 19 years old and then hired her and placed her in the patrol division.
Patricia met Rich Caldwell while attending the academy. He was two years older and was attending college also. He encouraged and motivated Patricia to attend college and she completed her studies and received a Bachelors in Criminal Justice at the age of 23. Patricia and Rich’s relationship continued to develop and they had talked about getting married.
Rich reported that Patricia had insisted that they not live together until they were married. They each maintained a separate home even though they would spend nights together alternating homes. Rich also reported that Patricia avoided talking about eventually starting a family and having children. She feared that something would happen to her as a police officer and she did not want to leave behind any orphans. Although Patricia attended mental health therapy after the murder of her parents, she still had a difficult time when the anniversary came by every year. She told Rich that she looked forward to joining her parents in heaven and being at peace with her self and the two perpetrators. Adding to her difficulty in understanding of the life event was the fact that the female perpetrator was only four years older than Patricia and the male perpetrator was six years older. Both were teenagers at the time of the robbery and homicides.
END OF SCENARIO
