Melissa,+Jess,+Allison,+Alex

   At 6 am on October 15 th a body of a man was found on the banks of a river in the middle of a thick forest. There are no foot prints or tire tracks to be found around the scene. None of the police know how the body got there or what the time of death was. The police could not find a cell phone on the man, but he had his hunting license in his pocket. His rifle was found 100 yards away from the scene of the crime. The man had what looked like poison ivy on him but there was no autopsy to confirm it.

Answer: The man was hunting and he ate raspberries because he was hungry after getting lost hunting for a few days. He started to get dizzy from an allergic reaction from the raspberries. He tried to call for help but there was no cell service so he climbed a tree. The tree was bent over the river and he got very dizzy and fell into the river where he drowned.

Hired or Fired Report :

Dear Captain Barra, We are faced with the case of a dead hunter. On October 15 a hunter was found dead on a river bank. The question is how did he die? This is a complicated and unique case in that we have no witnesses or suspects. After much investigation however I have made some conclusions. To begin, The hunter was found with what looked like a vine of poison ivy on him. He also had a small rash which looked like it could be hives. At first, like most people would think, I believed it was just a very bad allergic reaction to poison ivy. However, after thinking, I realized I had never heard of a fatal reaction to poison ivy. Also reactions to poison ivy occur hours after you come into contact with the plant meaning he had time to get back to civilization before the reaction started. This also would not account for his gun being 100 yards from the crime and there being no footprints. The fact of there being no footprints or tire treads was a very peculiar one in this case. This made it very difficult for me in the beginning. However with some deep thinking it reveals some answer’s. First of all, if the hunter was murdered deep in the woods, there would be no reason and no way for the killer to cover their tracks perfectly. Also because his footprints were not found leading up to the river we know that he didn't get there by walking. The only logical way he could have got to the river bank without there being footprints or any marks. Would be to fall into the river upstream for some reason and then float down stream with the current to where the body was found. This leads us to wonder how did he get into the river. Near where the gun was found I noticed there happened to be a tree with what looked like a branch overhanging a river. There were foot prints around this area that seemed to match the hunters. The footprints stopped at the tree. If the footprints stop at the tree the hunter must have climbed it for some reason and then fallen into the river which explains how he could have drifted downstream. But still why didn’t he swim out and how was he killed. The body showed no signs of bruising only the small rash. This is where I had my breakthrough. By the tree I had noticed there to be a good number of wild raspberry plants. Some of the plants had broken branches and were missing fruit however when I first saw the i did connect it with the rash. Once seeing the body and the spot of the fall together I realized since the body contained a rash from some allergic reaction and since raspberries from the plants were missing it is very possible that he fell because he was having an allergic reaction from the raspberries. This would cause him not to be able to swim and die from drowning or asphyxiation from the raspberries themselves. Based on all my collected data and discoveries, I believe the hunter fell from the branch overhanging the river due to an allergic reaction to raspberries. The reaction impaired his ability and caused him to drown. Once dead he flowed with the rivers current downstream to where he was later found. As is the case in many cases, further evidence from, in this case an autopsy is required to confirm my claim of how the death occurred. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Detective Wahl.

