Tracking Criminals
A true story
By Kim A. Cabrera
Above is the map of the trail I
followed when tracking the criminals who burglarized my
place.
You can use it to follow along with the story of the
incident below.
Due to unusually cold weather for May, I had slept with a space heater running all night. The heater is very noisy and covers any sounds, except those that are very loud. When I was ready to head off to work in the morning, I went out to lock things up in the building below my cabin. This building is the kitchen, dining hall, and rec room for the summer camp I caretake. Outside, I found some fresh dog tracks. The dog had run through a puddle and over an area of wooden deck, leaving wet prints. I stepped next to them on my way out, thinking that they were from a feral dog that had been seen in the area. I had locked the back door of the lodge and was heading to the front when I noticed that the plywood door to the dining area was open. Some cabinets were standing open too. I looked around and noticed other cabinets open as well. Everything had been closed the previous night when I left. I immediately went back outside, not knowing whether or not anyone was still in the building. I then called the sheriff. Of course, due to budget cuts, our area is only staffed part time with law enforcement, and I happened to call too early in the morning. No deputy was on duty yet. The dispatcher told me it would be an hour or two until anyone could come out. (Another disadvantage of being out in the middle of nowhere.) I was on my own.
So I grabbed my pepper spray from the truck and went to take a look around the outside of the building. I found that they had gained entry by slicing through a screen and climbing in a window. They then used a knife, or other object, to pry open one of the plywood back doors on the lodge deck. When they had climbed in, a lighter had fallen out of someone’s pocket. I did not touch it, hoping it might yield some fingerprints.
This is how they gained entry to the building.
I went around the outside of the building and identified two sets of tracks, along with the dog tracks. The dog tracks that were next to the ones I had made a few minutes previous were already beginning to dry up at the same rate as mine did. This told me that they had been there not too long before I discovered the break-in. Below the screen at the back of the building, I found their tracks, as well as imprints in the soft soil that looked like they were from objects that had been dropped out of the window above. One imprint was square and the exact size of the battery pack on our missing cordless drill. I knew at least one item they had taken from that imprint alone.
The shoe print of one of the criminals. A perfect
signature track, with good identifying features.
The same shoe pattern found along the trail I followed.
This is called a "signature track."
The deputy did not want to take the time to follow up the trail I had found leading out of camp, so he left. On his way out, he drove right over the tracks I had asked him to not drive on. (Oops!) He thought tracking would take too long and would be a waste of time. (This seems to be a common attitude in the law enforcement people I meet. They don’t see the value in tracking. It’s something we, as trackers, should work to change.) Seeing as how they are understaffed, I can understand his reluctance to spend a lot of time on any one case. However, that did not mean I couldn’t go track them myself. So that’s exactly what I did.
The route they took out of camp. Trackers call this
sign "shine."
Trail through poison oak. Arrows show sign of human
passage. Leaves have been bent over, exposing the
lighter undersides.
I went inside the fence to talk to the employee working at the sewage plant. He told me he had arrived there around 8:30 in the morning. That would be about right with the timing I had come up with from the age of the dog tracks. I had first found the break-in at 8. It would have taken them at least half an hour to get to where they turned around in the tall grass by the sewage plant. So now I had established time using the track evidence as well as the input from the employee. They must have seen him arrive and, thinking they would be caught, retreated back into the brush.
The route through tall grass. Shine is an easy sign to
follow.
The suspension bridge. It's a long drop from there to
the creek...
Plants trampled on the suspension bridge indicating
passage of humans.
It was easy to pick up their trail. The burglars had climbed over the fence, even over the barbed wire at the top. The dog had been small enough to slide under the gate. I followed their trail, much easier now in the tall grass. They went into the forest about 20 feet from the gate. There, they dumped out the contents of the storage drawer and proceeded to disassemble every ink pen in there. They took them apart and removed the outer tubes and left all the other parts. This puzzled me, and I later asked the deputy why they would take only the tubes. He said they can use them for taking drugs. That must have been quite a good motivating factor for them because they hauled that heavy and awkward drawer a long way and over a dangerous bridge.
This is how I found the drawer of office supplies.
The fence they cut through.
Shine trail through tall grass. This was the easy part.
A twig broken off when a person walked by and broke it.
This is called "aerial sign" or "aerial spoor."
The twig from the photo above and some arrows showing
sign on the ground indicating they walked this way.
Notice the bent leaves and the disturbance of the forest
duff.
The dirt clod that broke off and caused the fall into
the creek bed.
The place where the fall happened. Notice the denseness
of the poison oak plants in the creek bed below.
This is what broke the fall and probably prevented
injury. (If you don't count being covered in poison
oak!)
The trail of the boot then headed up the hill. I followed that, being the only sign I had left to follow. This person went up into a flat area of forest from which he had a clear view of the correctional facility. His trail then meandered back and forth in the forested area, as if he was undecided what to do. Should he walk into the prison facility and ask for help? Somehow, I doubt he even considered that an option!
Before quitting the trail, I marked my last location
with orange tape so I could return if needed.
The deputies decided that it would not be worthwhile to go look in the creek. They figured that, even if the burglars knew they would be in trouble, one of them would have gone for help if his buddy fell in the creek. So they talked themselves out of even going to look. The poison oak was also a big deciding factor in this decision. They said that it would take “an act of God” to get the SAR team called out for something like this.
It was getting dark by this time and I had no other trackers to assist me. I was shaky and had low blood sugar. My own rush to stay on the trail had caused me to neglect some basics. Such as bringing enough water and snacks to keep me going for hours and hours on the trail. This was a good lesson for me. I tend to rush into the follow-up sometimes and neglect to slow myself down and think it through and bring the supplies I need with me. So, we all left and went home. I checked the roadside as I drove out of the facility. I saw no tracks coming out of the tall grass there. The roadside was steep and I didn’t see any sign of anyone having come out that way either. But, at the intersection where the road to the prison met the main road to town, I found the boot tracks of the second person. No herringbone tracks were with him.
Did the other person get out of the creek? I hope so. I should have just stayed with the trail and found out what happened, but I was trying to think about what would be the best thing to do, assuming someone was down there lying injured in the creek. I figured getting help was the best decision, even if they decided not to have a look.
The next day, I called various businesses in town to ask them to keep an eye out for our missing stuff, should anyone try to sell it. I also called the deputy and told him about the bag of marijuana I had found. I asked what he wanted me to do with it. He was being a smart-aleck when he told me to “smoke it.” The stuff is so common in this area that such a small amount apparently is not that important. I photographed the "evidence" and then threw it in a dumpster. A road crew working on the roadway above the camp found our cordless drill tossed into the brush at the side of the road the next day. It had the camp name engraved on it, and the burglars must have realized it would be hard to sell it like that. The sheriff took it for evidence and we may get it back.
Later that week, I was at work and happened to see the underside of a co-worker’s boots. “That’s it!” I shouted. “That’s the pattern of the boots of one of the burglars!” She must have though I was nuts when I asked if I could take a photo of her boot tracks, but she allowed it when I explained. It was a HiTec brand boot and the pattern matched perfectly with the one I had found from the burglar. So I know what type of boots one of them was wearing.
So much can be learned from tracking! In following this several-mile long trail, I learned the kind of boots worn, whether or not the person was a smoker or drug user, the color and curliness of their hair, that they had a dog with them, that they weren’t afraid of heights, and are not bothered by poison oak. They seemed to be somewhat familiar with the area. They seemed to have a good sense of which direction to go to get back to the road to town, even when walking through the prison property. They walked in here to do their deed, and there was no car parked at the gate. Since a lot of the homeless people in this area live in the forest, and have dogs, and walk everywhere, I suspect it could have been a couple of them. I should keep an eye out for two homeless people in town, with a dog, and who are covered with poison oak rash. Later that day, I did see two homeless people, carrying a heavy black plastic garbage bag, heading out of town. By the time I turned my truck around, they had disappeared. Weeks later, I saw the same people take a trail off the road into the woods near where they had disappeared last time. I suspect their camp is down there. Maybe some of our stolen stuff is there too. Maybe this isn’t the end of this story….
Kim A. Cabrera
5/5/2005
Page updated: July 2, 2008
More photos showing sign from the trail below.
This is the fast-moving part of the trial. When you can
see the shine like this, you can just walk across the
field and pick up the trail on the other side. Just
watch to make sure your subject doesn't change direction
on you.
Bruised and bent over vegetation. The dark bruise marks
indicate that this is fresh sign.
Scuffing of the moss and needles on a fallen log.
Scuff marks and torn up moss on a log where a person
went over. Note the poison oak on the right!
This is the fun stuff when tracking. The subtle signs
like this are what makes it so exciting. Broken twigs.
Torn and bruised vegetation. Compacted forest duff and
soil. This is the stuff that makes you slow down
and pay attention.
Author's Note: I thank the instructors at
Universal Tracking Services for the many, many years of
training that
provided me with the signcutting skills to track these
criminals.
