Ron Wilkins|rwilkins@jconline.com
LAFAYETTE, Ind. —The Lone Ranger singlehandedly solving crimes makes for great campy television, but West Lafayette Police Chief Jason Dombkowski said, on a practical level, law enforcement thrives on teamwork.
In light ofWoodland Elementary second-grade teacher Krista Perdue's39 hours as a missing person on June 20 and 21, the Journal & Courier askedDombkowski and Lafayette Police Chief Patrick Flannelly about their departments' policies for investigatingmissing-person reports. Their procedures standin contrast to the way Tippecanoe County Sheriff Barry Richard and his office investigated Perdue's disappearance.
“We recognized that a missing person is not an exclusive law enforcement issue,” Dombkowski said.
“We would not do this alone," Dombkowskisaid, noting they only have 50 officers, which is not enough manpower to activelysearch for a missing person, as well as track the paper trail of the person.“Itwould become overstressing for our police department."
Sheriff Barry Richard,his administrators — Chief Deputy Steve Hartman and Maj. Charlie Williams— as well as Dombkowski and Flannelly agreed on one point: Every missing-personcase is different. From there, their opinions diverged.
"You’re sitting here telling us we didn’t use resources properly, and we disagree," Hartman said.
Richard, whose department did not ask for help from other agencies,said,“We had it covered with our manpower. Searched the area, following leads. Everything was done that should have been done. We had a successful finish to it. We found her alive. She’s recovered. She’s fine.”
However, Dombkowski believes cooperation is the best way to quicklyresolve missing-person investigations.
“We would not hesitate to ask for assistance,"Dombkowski said of missing-person caseswhen a persondisappears in odd circ*mstances.
In cases of missing children, adults who might be a danger to themselves or adults to behave in out-of-the ordinary manners, West Lafayette police would ask for assistance from Tippecanoe Emergency Management Agency, local fire departments, other police agencies in the county, and if need be, the Indiana State Police.
Flannelly said Lafayette police would have a mass response for missing children or someone who might be in danger.
Apolice dog would be used to search large areas, Dombkowskisaid. If there were reasons to believe the person walked away from a home and was still on foot, it is likely firefighters would be called out to help search large areas and use fire departments'heat-sensing cameras, he said.
Sheffield Township Fire ChiefShawn Alkire said firefighters are trained to perform grid searchesfor people and could have assisted, if they had been asked. Instead,his department was not requestedto help until about 20 minutes before deputies found Perdue.
“That will be a topic of discussion for us,” he said.
Hartman said a K9 search using police dogs would not have been helpful because toomany hours had passed since Perdue left and police received the missing-person report.
"They’re not bloodhounds," Hartman said."You can’t say sniff this clothing and go find my person. That’s not how it works. It’s got to be something pretty soon after the event.”
For searches of large areas, including ponds and woods, Dombkowski said West Side police have used the Indiana State Police helicopter and its infrared camera. In one instance, the State Police helicopter located a missing person from West Lafayette who had drowned in a gravel pit, he said.
Hartman scoffed, saying, "This is 39 years of law enforcement:I don’t remember them ever sending a helicopter up to look for a missing person.”
“Even if the State Police tell us no, at least you asked," Dombkowski said."And they’re not going to tell you no.”
State Police Sgt. Kim Riley said the helicopter responds two or three times a week across Indianato assist smaller agencies in searches.
“That’s kind of what we’re here for. We’re here to assist other agencies that can’t afford those tools," Riley said.
Thirty-one hours passed from the time of Perdue's disappearance until deputies andthe sheriff's office dive team assembled at the retention pond to do a comprehensive search of the area with the assistance of a drone and its camera.
But Flannelly and Dombkowski both said they would call for a thorough search of bodies of waters if someone just walked away from home and family.
“Anytime there’s bodies of waternearby, you’re going to search these,” Flannelly said.
At various times from 11 a.m. June 20 until about 6:15 p.m. June 21—before Perdue was found—Richardsaid individual deputies, including him,waded through the high weeds looking for her, but there was no coordination of a grid search of the fields and ponds near Perdue'shome.
Video from a drone flying overhead alerted deputies to where Perdue was lying about 6:15 p.m. June 21.
What police learned after Perdue was found is that she took painkillers and walked away from her home on the far east side early June 20.
She walked about a quarter of a mile to a retention pond, where she slipped and hit her head. She spent a hot, humid June 20 lying where she fell on the southeast corner of the pond. She endured heavy thunderstorms that night.
About 6 p.m. June 21, deputies searched thepond area in earnest with assistance from a quad-copter drone that caught a glimpse of her lying under small trees.
Sgt. Bob Goldsmith, a Tippecanoe County sheriff's detective, described how detectives worked a paper search of Perdue's records. They found a bank account that her husband, Samuel Perdue, was unaware of and found her passport missing, Hartman said Wednesday.
"Monday morning quarterbacking, it’s easy to say," Goldsmith said.But "we followed the leads that we had in the present time."
J&C breaking news reporter Ron Wilkins can be reached at 765-420-5231; follow on Twitter @RonWilkins2
