I keep seeing the suggestion that bones "intertwined" with steel belts would confirm the burning in that pit but weren't they bone fragments?
Yes but it was testified that some of the fragments had to be physically seperated from the steel belts.
Day 18
SPECIAL AGENT RODNEY PEVYTOE ~ Transcript pages 18, 19, 20 and 21
Q. Did you find any interest in and around the dog house?
A. Not in what I expected to be human remains, but we were in the process of taking everything that was there to ensure for it's preservation.
Q. After examining the dog house and the elevated dirt pile, how did you proceed?
A. Once we completed that elevated area, we then proceeded into this depression that's been called the burn pit. I divided that pit in half, visually, east and west. And we moved in from its perimeter, the edge of it, on our hands and knees and moved through that, and removing items that we suspected would be evidence. And eventually removed all of the ash, there was like a caked, baked on layer of the top soil right there. Actually crumbled that and sifted all the debris and then preserved and removed all of that from the same.
Q. All right. Tell us about the material that you found as you began to examine the burn pit.
A. Well, there was this heavy layer of black -- blackened soil. It kind of had an oily residue. There was some heavy black, dark charred material. Didn't look like cellulose or wood type charring, although there was some there. There were some different remains of -- I think there was like a couple hinges, and like different metal parts that we would encounter in that process.
And also we found some things that we suspected were some potential bone fragmentation.
Q. And tell us about some of the other items; did you find any wire, for instance?
A. Yes, just off to the side of the burn pit there was a large ball of intertwined wire that was present. And then there was also the metal remains of what I thought was the -- like a back seat of a SUV type vehicle that had been removed and that also was burned.
Q. All right. And tell us, was there anything noteworthy about the balls of wire that you found in conjunction with your examination of the pit area?
A. Yes, the wire is consistent with what I have seen in the past in other fires. And it's the wire that remains after steel belted radial tires are burned. So we had this large groupings of oval shaped wires, so to speak, that were all entwined. And in examining those, I noticed that there was some bone fragmentation entangled in the wires, so we attempted to photograph that and recover those items also. And eventually took the whole tangled wires and that rear car seat that I had mentioned.
Q. All right. In your fire investigative experience, can you tell us whether steel belted radial tires, do they burn?
A. Yes.
Q. And is rubber considered an accelerant?
A. It can be. It certainly has -- When we look at materials, we judge it by the amount of heat energy it releases. And in my definition, tires being introduced to a fire greatly enhances its ability to burn. It releases a lot more heat energy into it and I believe that tires can be used as a form to accelerate a fire.
Q. All right. Now, why did you take the rear seat of the vehicle; why was that of some particular interest to you?
A. Well, first of all, because it was there. And it was in the crime scene area, so we removed that. And, also, I didn't know if it would be matched up to a vehicle later on. And, also, the seat itself may have had some impact on the way the fire burned. The foam rubber on the seat, once the seat covering is removed in a combustion process, the foam rubber also burns with great intensity.
Q. All right. Approximately how long did the processing of this area take?
A. Several hours because we went into the hours of darkness that day. I wanted to -- Once we initiated the process, I wanted to complete it. So we brought in a generator and some large -- several sets of large floodlights to illuminate the area. It might have been as late as 9, 10:00, when we were completed.
Q. Okay. With the -- With the items that you suspected of evidentiary value, what -- what did you do with those items which were collected from this area?
A. Deputy Riemer was, again, accompanying us in this examination. His role was to take any items that we seized as evidence and, then, he was the evidence custodian for that process.
