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REPORTING OFFICER'S NARRATIVE
(Brief narrative of the facts surrounding the offense
and the arrest.)
At 4:44 a.m., Dispatch
received a 911 call reporting a death at the residence located
at 316 County Road 288. The caller identified himself as Alsace
Montenado, employee of the victim. Yoknapatawpha
County Sheriff's Unit 304 (Deputy Fred Willits)
was dispatched and arrived at the scene at 4:50 a.m. Upon
verification of the presence of a body at 4:54 a.m., R/O notified Dispatch and requested
backup. Unit 221 (Officer Maria Richards) was dispatched to provide
backup and arrived at the scene at 5:01 a.m. Reporting
Investigators (R/Is) Detectives T. Armstrong and S. Murphy were assigned and
proceeded directly to the scene. At R/Is' request, Coroner’s Inspector
L. Johnson and a CSU team were
notified to respond to the scene. R/Is arrived at the scene at
5:19 a.m. Upon arrival, R/Is found that R/O had
secured the area. Environmental conditions at the scene upon arrival
are as follows: Weather: Interior crime scene location; Ambient Temperature: approximately
69°F/21°C; Relative Humidity: approximately 71%.
R/O Willits made the following verbal report, which is stated
in summary and not verbatim. Upon entering the residence, R/O
heard a commotion on the second floor of the residence and saw
several people standing on the second floor balcony hallway.
R/O proceeded to the second floor and encountered seven persons:
Alsace Montenado, adult male, blocking entry to the master
bedroom (Person 2); Katrina Brook, adult
female, inside master bedroom (Person 3); Brett Flamé, adult
male, inside master bedroom (Person 4); Macy Lamar, adult female,
outside master bedroom (Person 5); Johnny McPhail, adult male,
outside master bedroom (Person 6); Billy Mummy, adult male,
outside master bedroom (Person 7); David Woolworth, adult male,
outside master bedroom (Person 8). R/O entered the master
bedroom and proceeded to the master bathroom where R/O observed an
adult male lying prone in the bathtub, which was approximately
1/2 filled. The witnesses identified the adult male in the
bathtub as Corwin Fitz (Person 1). Person 2 indicated that the shower was running when
he discovered the body and that he had turned off the water. R/O
observed the adult male's face was completely submerged and that
he showed no signs of life. R/O further observed multiple wounds
on the man's back and head, as well as what appeared to be
bloodstains throughout the bathroom. R/O exited the bathroom,
removed all persons from the master bedroom and secured the
scene. R/O then
reported the situation to Dispatch. R/O
said YCSD Unit 213 (Officer M. Arborogh) arrived at
approximately 7:06 a.m. and provided backup and assistance in
securing the scene. R/O said that, to his knowledge, the
following persons had occasion to enter
the crime scene area and must be excluded by CSU personnel:
witness Alsace Montenado, witness Katrina Brook, witness Brett Flamé, and himself.
After receiving the report
from R/O Willits, R/Is conducted a preliminary inspection of the
residence.
R/Is observed no signs of
forced entry at any entry point into the residence, into the
master bedroom, or into the master bathroom. R/Is
discovered a sizable handgun arsenal on the first floor of the
residence. R/Is instructed R/O Richards to secure the weapons
until CSU arrived to take them into evidence.
Site A (master bath): Bathroom was 16 ft. long by 8 ft. wide.
The bathtub/shower unit was opposite the door. The commode, vanity sink
and counter were on the right. Storage cabinets were on the left. The
bathroom mirror was cracked but little glass is broken off.
Stains, streaks and puddles of what appeared to be blood
were observed
throughout the room:
- Spatters and gray matter on the shower wall
- Streaks and bare footprints on the floor
- Two large puddles on the floor beside the tub (2-3" inches across)
- Smear on the toilet tank
- Two puddles beside toilet (1.5" across)
- Thin trail on the floor under sink (4" in length by .5" across)
- Small puddle on the counter (1" across)
- Two thin streaks by sink faucet
- Thin traces in the doorway and approximately 1 ft. into the bathroom
- Traces on the cabinet
- Traces on the wall to the left of the shower
- Traces above the toilet
- Traces on the mirror
R/Is observed a lifeless adult Caucasian male, lying in a prone position in the
bathtub, which was approximately 1/2 filled with reddish water. The
man appeared to be approximately 30 years of age and was wearing
only boxer shorts. R/Is observed three incised
wounds on the victim: one on the back right side of the abdomen, approximately three
inches below the right armpit; one on the
victim's right shoulder; and one on the right ear, severing
the bottom half of the ear. R/Is further observed multiple apparent gunshot wounds
on the back of the head. R/Is delayed further inspection of the
body until the arrival of the Coroner's Inspector.
Two possible bullet holes (Holes A and B) were observed in the wall.
Hole A was in the shower wall, 70 inches from the
floor and 32.7 inches to the right of the tub's edge.
Hole B was in the shower wall, 68.5 inches from the floor and 25 inches to the right of the tub's edge.
Site B (master bedroom): Bedroom was 24 ft. long by 16 ft. wide. The
room contained a standard double bed, a dresser, a small bookcase,
a desk, and a closet. Room was very disheveled at the time of officer
response. Small spots of what appeared to be blood were observed on the floor
and on two places on the bed: near the left
side right beneath the left pillow, and towards the center of the
bed and a little to the right. Upon further examination of the bed,
R/Is observed four blonde hairs on the right pillow as well as a
note, found in the middle of the bed.
At the foot of the bed was a pile of unwashed laundry. The clothing
found was all of a male style and was consistent with the victim's sizes. Two small spots
of what appeared to be blood were observed on a pair of jeans
on the top of the pile. A long-sleeved white shirt found directly
beneath the jeans had evidence of biological material
on the left sleeve. Further inspection of all of the remaining
articles of clothing turned up no additional stains.
To the immediate left of the bed, R/Is examined the dresser and
found it contained more clothing. R/Is observes movie memorabilia, including a small
promotional card for the movie Psycho, stacked
neatly on top of the dresser. Dresser did not show evidence of having
been searched. To the immediate left of the dresser was the
bookcase, which contained several books on film and film
theory, as well as one book on suicide entitled The Final Solution.
The first chapter of the book is entitled "What Do We Have To Offer
When We Have Nothing Left?" Several magazines were also found in the
bookshelf and were primarily film-related, including
the titles Bomb, MovieLine, and Variety.
Directly in front of the bed, on the oak desk, R/Is
observed a machete, lodged in both a movie script and into the top layer
of the wood. The movie script appeared to be a copy of Fitz's film that
was currently in production at the lodge.
On the window adjacent to the bed, R/Is
observed two distinct black scuff marks
on the window sill and on the wall directly under the window sill.
Coroner's Inspector Luwinda
Johnson arrived at the scene at approximately 6:20 a.m. and
joined R/Is at the body's location. Inspector Johnson pronounced
the victim deceased at 6:26 a.m. by visual observation that the
victim was not breathing and by tactile observation that the
victim did not have a palpable carotid pulse. Inspector Johnson visually examined the posterior of the
body and observed multiple incised wounds to the back and head,
as well as multiple apparent gunshot wounds to the back of the
head. While she withheld an official estimate
pending an autopsy, Inspector Johnson speculated the victim had
been dead approximately 2 to 3 hours. Given the number of
injuries, Inspector Johnson withheld speculation the cause of
death. Inspector Johnson indicated
that further details would be available in the official autopsy
report. After Inspector Johnson completed her initial inspection
of the body, she stayed with the CSU team to ensure integrity of
the body, while the team took photographs of the scene and
performed preliminary analyses, until the body could be removed
from the scene without affecting other evidence.
CSU arrived at the scene at
approximately 6:45 a.m. R/Is requested that CSU take note of and
examine the possible bullet holes in the master bathroom, as
well as the apparent bloodstains in bathroom.
A preliminary search of the
immediate area for the weapon(s) causing the injuries to the
victim met with negative results. CSU will conduct a more
intensive search and report their findings.
Following preliminary
inspection of the scene, R/Is arranged for all seven witnesses
to be transported to the Sheriff's Office for interviews. At the
scene, Person 4 repeatedly claimed he had killed the victim.
However R/Is observed he appeared to be in a highly agitated
state and had Person 4 transported to the Sheriff's Office
before conducting any interview with him.
R/Is left the scene at 9:10 a.m. Before leaving, R/I Murphy instructed CSU to seal the scene
upon completion or end of day suspension of processing. CSU to
notify R/Is of progress by the end of this date. As of this
filing, CSU is still actively processing at the scene.
Body of the deceased
remanded into the custody of Coroner's Inspector Luwinda
Johnson. Deceased was removed from scene at 10:49 a.m. and
transported to the coroner's office for autopsy.
Evidence remanded into the
custody of Forensics Officer T. R. Douglas for transport to the
State Crime Lab for routine analysis. CSU is expected to submit
an inventory of items taken into evidence within fourteen days
of this report, with detailed report(s) of their findings to
follow at a later date.
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