That Time I (almost) Found a Dead Body on a Run

Well, it was bound to happen. After years of running  around random southern California running paths I was bound to find a dead body eventually, right? Yes.

Everyone knows runners are the ones that find dead bodies. 88% of Law & Order SVU episodes start off with some random jogger turning a corner and practically tripping over a body barely hidden under a handful of leaves. And since .88% of what you see on TV is true, I figure it’s basically how all crimes are discovered.

Finally  it was my turn to stumble across a special victim. I figure all the hours I’ve spent listening to random ‘true crime’ podcasts plus the OJ documentary AND mini-series had really prepared me for this. I was ready to do my job as a jogger, or jobber if you will.

This morning I only had 4 miles on the agenda, just a short shake out run at an easy pace. I was going along when I noticed spots of blood on the path. It was a pretty long line of drops / smudges of blood that went on for a while. I took note of the frequency, consistency, color and taste of the blood.

Hmmm. This definitely wasn’t just some drops of cherry popsicle.

So, I did what any other amateur detective would do = I stopped to take pictures of it. I tried to remember details of the scene to tell the police later (and also for the book I knew I’d eventually write about this tragedy).

I was doing a short out and back run so when I came back past it again I realized the drops of blood were telling me the story of what happened. The drops were not in a straight line. They were on both sides of the path. They seemed to be consistent in amount of blood – which said the victim didn’t try and blot it or anything.

These were all signs!

The fact that the trail of blood kind of zigzagged along the sidewalk seemed to say the victim cut himself/herself but then wanted to walk up the path. No. They wanted to walk into the flower bed. Then, they wanted to go to the left… nah, maybe the right? And turn back around all together and go the other way. WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?

I think it means it was a dog.

It looked fresh, not from overnight and there are mostly walkers with their dogs in this area. It didn’t look like a drip from a wound. And my dog has cut herself on the sprinklers in the yard before and left a similar trail.

Case solved. What do ya got next for me chief?

 

When I got back my internet was moody and I was running out of time so I headed to Bible study. After study I came back home to do a strength workout with Beachbody on Demand.

 

Oh! And something super nice happened to me today too!! I have to share because it made me so happy…

A few weeks ago I told one of my new Bible study friends that I loved her cross necklace. I’ve been wanting one of those cross pendants that attaches at the top and bottom for the longest time!! I must have really raved about it because she remembered and this morning she brought me a gift.

She bought me a cross necklace! How sweet is that?

I have really only known her for a few weeks (I’m new to this group and this bible study). We have basically  just met and she remembered what I said and bought me one. That is the sweetest thing ever and I really appreciate it.

I feel like I want to do something nice for her and I don’t even know what. I am going to get her address from our group leader to at least send a thank you. It was just really thoughtful.

 

Question: Do I make a good detective? Should I go to detective school and retire from the blog?

What else could I have / should I have done?