Friday, September 21, 2007

The Searchers

Police search a house and fail to find a body-

The body of a woman missing for three weeks has been found in her home, despite the property being searched by two officers when she vanished.

Yes, the highly professional "only ones" missed her dead body during the first search, but what if she had been only dying then? Could they have perhaps saved her life?

The premises were initially searched on 29 August by two officers," a Hampshire Constabulary spokesman said.

"The house contained a very large quantity of items, which were stacked in layers and piles which made searching very difficult and at the conclusion of the search Mrs O'Sullivan was not located in the property."

So the house sounds like a complete mess, packed full of stuff all over the place- is that a reason for the first officers on the scene to not do a thorough job? The story claims that specialist search teams took a half hour to find her body- they don't mention (and the reporter doesn't think it worthwhile to enquire) just how long the first two officers searched the residence for. Doesn't that seem relevant to the story? And what was the condition of the woman when she was found- was her body covered by items that had somehow fallen on top of her? Again, the journalist doesn't seem to think this important- only that the police say that the house was messy and full and that she was "hidden from view". But view from what? The doorway of a room as an officer looked inside but didn't enter or was she completely covered so that someone entering the room and looking around couldn't see her without looking underneath something? It's a pretty vague description if you ask me.

Perhaps the police who did the first search did have a good look around and this is just one of those odd things that happens- but from this reporting it's hard to tell.

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