(I will not be discussing any of the totally and completely gross and graphic aspects of this story so fear not and read on...)

The amount of stress carryover from Friday at "clock out time' to Monday at "clock in time" is directly proportional to the amount of POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS tape residing in your refuse dumpster. No tape in the trash on Monday morning and your all smiles, ready to start the week. Now, for the first and what I hope is the very last time in my life, I can tell you from personal experience that if there is tape in the trash like there was at my repair shop this Monday morning your stomach churns and you don't look forward to any of what lies before you on an otherwise beautiful morning.

Oh.... and there wasn't just a little tape in the trash.... it's a big honkin' wad of tape, after all Lawton's finest had taped off an entire quarter block at about 5:45pm on Friday evening in an effort to keep the possible crime scene as "sterile" as possible and to keep public back so that the Police and others could more easily perform their jobs.

Shortly after 5:15pm I had noticed a very strong odor while locking the rear door of the shop. I have smelled dead animals before (cows, large dogs and such) and knew immediately that something had died. I glanced out the back door before locking it but didn't see anything by the back door. I continued on with the nightly ritual of locking the rest of the building and setting the alarm all the while wondering what had died and where it might be.

As I walked to my truck I could still smell the odor, faintly but it was in the air and I was 200 feet downwind from the back door where the smell was the strongest. I decided that I couldn't leave without at least checking the garbage dumpster. I imagined that an animal had found it's way into the dumpster and couldn't get out. Or since the city is in a seemingly constant uproar about the garbage system another thought had occurred to me. It was possible that someone had thrown a dead animal in my dumpster to show their displeasure with one of my votes concerning the sanitation rules change.

I got in my truck and drove to the rear of the shop so I could examine the dumpster. I exited my vehicle and was immediately hit with a wave of stench. I tentatively opened the dumpster and peered inside. There was nothing there but some grass clippings someone had dumped. Next I walked to the north side of the door and looked into a box that holds steel for the scrap man and found nothing that could account for the smell. As I was about to give up and return to the truck I wondered to myself if an animal could have gotten into one of the cars on the lot and become trapped. I looked toward the lot and noticed something in the front passengers seat of a BMW facing the alley where I was standing.

If this had been a movie I would have heard that music they play when a body that was hidden suddenly springs into view when it is hit with the beam of a flashlight. I saw what looked like a body. It was slumped to one side and it looked like it had been there for a long time. It was very surreal. The first thing I thought was, "Well it looks like a decomposed body but I know that's not what it really is."

My mind instantly rejected the possibility that it could be a real body. I had a flash of a scarecrow that my brother had stored at the shop. It had clothes and all. That must be what it is. Someone put that scarecrow in the car to try and scare me. See... I had for that instant forgotten the putrid odor that was surrounding me. Then just as quickly my mind allowed the smell back in and I knew it wasn't a scarecrow.

I dialed 911. The dispatcher that I talked to was very calm and professional. I think it was a he, I think I was calm, but I can't say for sure. Something weird happens when you're suddenly confronted with something as foreign as a decomposed body. I can imagine it is the same thing that happens to people who are victims of violent crimes. If it's the same, I don't know how a victim ever remembers anything in enough chronological order to testify. I wasn't in fear of my life or defending myself or being assaulted and I couldn't remember the order of events in any way that even remotely matched reality. At some point my brother called wanting dad's cell phone number and I was talking to him while part of it transpired, but I have no idea when it happened. Hey... I'll call Brother Phil.

Okay, I just called Brother Phil and he says that he called me about 5:25 and he asked me what I was doing and I said I was looking for a dead cat or something that was stinking up the place, and that with my luck I would find a dead body. This was followed within a few seconds by me saying to Brother Phil, "Holy #$%&! It is a dead body!" I told him I needed to go so I could call 911 and then hung up. Until I just talked to him, I had no memory of that entire part of the conversation. I just checked my phone and it shows I called 911 at 5:27pm. 

After notifying the Police I called Dream Girl at 5:28pm but only connected with her voice mail. I didn't know what the next hours held but I wanted to let her know not to worry so I left her the following message, "Hello... I don't know when I will be getting home I found a dead body in one of the cars on the lot." It's not verbatim, but it's close enough. She hates when I leave messages.

Shortly after leaving DG the message the sirens started and Police started arriving from points unknown. They secured the area and began putting the yellow tape in place. They verified that the individual was indeed very dead and radioed in that there would be no need for Rescue or an ambulance but they would be needing the CSI or as they are called in Lawton, Forensic Investigator.

The investigator arrived and began the process of photographing the scene, measuring, and the mandatory  filling of blanks with words and numbers. The investigator then called the Medical Examiners office and they said that they would send a representative. Different members of the PD came and went as the sun began to set behind the buildings.

The ME arrived and began the process of searching the body for clues to the cause of death. After a very extensive search, he said that it did not appear that the body had suffered any trauma that would indicate that death was caused by anything other than natural causes. He searched the vehicle and found many articles of clothing and a large comforter that I do not remember being in the vehicle and are not consistent with items that the owner would have allowed to collect in his car. It appeared to me that the deceased woman may have been sleeping in the car at night and storing her belongings there in the daytime. We never saw anyone around as we have in other places we have been located. We have in the past always had "regular" homeless that try to sleep in or around the building but not in this location.

The men from the mortuary arrived and the ME helped them remove her body from the car and load it onto the gurney and load it in their vehicle. They had a can of glade in their SUV but I promise you that it would not begin to touch this smell. They are dedicated people.

I was most appreciative of the actions of all the individuals involved. These people who are so very good at their jobs.  Their professionalism made this experience much less traumatic than it could have been. I have pretty thick skin. It really didn't bother me much. I can only imagine how stressful, nerve racking and shocking it would have been if I were one of those individuals that are prone to anxiety attacks and such. These men and women are all to be commended for the jobs they do. They do the things that none of the rest of us want to be bothered with and they do it on a daily basis.

Every single person involved in this ordeal conducted themselves in a professional and respectful manner, from the first person I spoke with at 911, all the police officers and their supervisors on the scene, to the newspaper reporter and photographer, Investigator, Medical Examiner and the men from the funeral home. These individuals truly do have a thankless job. No amount of money can adequately compensate them for the service they perform for the public.

Now for the preachy part................

The one thing that strikes me about this event is how sad it is that we have come to a place where someone's wife, mom, sister, aunt, niece or cousin died alone in a car in a dark parking lot because our society quit caring about those less fortunate. There was a time when families stuck together and took care of their own, then when the families gave up there was even a time when government run facilities that cared for the lost, the mentally challenged or those people that were just a little down on their luck. Not any more, the government keeps cutting the programs that care for these individuals.

There are still those that spend their every waking hour caring for these causalities of the system. There is one lady I can think of in Lawton that has dedicated her life to caring for the less fortunate. Her name is Betty and I so wish I could help her more than we currently do in the City's budget. Every year she is expected to do more with less. Soon she will be expected to do everything with nothing.

How much did society spend on that warm May evening for Policemen, Investigators, Examiners, Dispatchers, Morticians and yellow tape? What would it have cost for one more cot in one more dorm room and a few hot meals?

Something has to change.