It’s a tragic tale of a victim shot multiple times and buried in a shallow grave in a field just off of 49^th Street… remarkably, a field where many bodies have been recovered before, located conveniently adjacent to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) Forensic Science building. A couple of years ago Inside the Star brought you a story about how Forensics buries anatomically correct plastic skeletons along with evidence to practice the painstaking process of recovering remains. Now they’ve upped the realism by collecting and processing a real buried pig.

In December 2021, Forensics members participated in an advanced shooting reconstruction and trajectory class that involved trainers at our firearms range shooting a pig carcass purchased from a meat market. Our Forensics team had the chance to examine how a bullet enters the body, see what it does to the skin surface, and then follow the track of the bullet through the body and see how hitting bone can change its trajectory. After the class the pig was buried, and we all waited anxiously for the remains to fully skeletonize. Now it is finally time for the Big Pig Dig.

Dr. Meredith Tise, our Forensic Quality Assurance Coordinator who also happens to be a skilled Forensic Anthropologist, led the dig with Forensic Science Supervisors Amber Camacho and Kristen Stropes, and Assistant Forensic Science Supervisor Rhonda Klein also taking part. They used Ground Penetrating Radar to reveal a disturbed area underground, then started scraping away the grass and flowers. In a real scene they’d sift every piece of dirt, searching for evidence like bullet casings or cigarette butts.

Once the upper layer was removed, Dr. Tise pointed out the change in dirt coloration that shows the area has been previously dug. Most soil has different colored layers, with dark organic material at the top and paler dirt below. “When you dig a hole, you’re mixing all the layers of the soil when you fill it back in. Here you can see white speckles in the dirt that has been dug.” The demarcation was clearly visible, dark topsoil blended with sand, and the team knew that something was buried beneath them. But how far down? They stuck a thin metal rod into the dirt. At first it slid in easily through the churned soil of the burial site, then got harder to push, showing the lower limit of the hole. How long the dirt stays loose depends on the soil composition. Sandy soil – like we have in Florida – will compact faster. The change in dirt coloration will last a lot longer.

Finally, they hit the first bone. After that the training slowed down as they began the detailed work of uncovering the bones in situ, digging and then carefully brushing until the whole pig skeleton was revealed.

As they screened the dirt, Dr. Tise got one question over and over: “Bone or stone, Meredith?” It can be surprisingly hard to tell the difference between a rock and a small bone, though Dr. Tise can tell at a glance. She can also quickly discern the difference between animal and human bones. When deputies find a bone they suspect might be human they can send her a photo. The most common false identification? Pig bones. Pig feet are commonly used to bait crab traps and then wash ashore, leading people to believe they’ve found evidence of a crime scene. Her skill at remotely identifying bones means that we don’t have to send Forensics and a detective to the scene of an old barbecue or the scattered bones of a roadkill deer.

It is important for Forensics members to practice recovering buried bodies or scattered skeletons, because in heavily urban Pinellas they are few and far between. But when they happen, our Forensic Specialists will leave no stone – or bone – unturned to help solve the case.

Dr Meredith Tise will be our guest on the next episode of 56: A Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office Podcast. Tune in to find out more about her adventures as a Forensic Anthropologist, from her work finding gravesites at the Dozier School for Boys to recovering the remains of WWII servicemembers in Germany and the Pacific.

Love and fear are both primal emotions that can cause people to make bad decisions or do things that aren’t in their best interests. In the last issue we talked about romance scams, and a deputy whose identity has been stolen hundreds of times by criminals who want to take advantage of people’s affections. Romance scams can take weeks or months of cultivating the victim. Far more common are scams that create a sense of fear and urgency, like the warrant scam. Not long ago, a criminal pretending to be a Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) captain placed calls to people around the county telling them they had an active warrant and would be arrested if they didn’t pay immediately.

“The scam like the one that used Captain Melvin Jackson’s name is one we get all the time,” said Economic Crimes Unit Sergeant Chase Berger. “The scammer wants to create a sense of fear using the authority of law enforcement.”

The unsuspecting victim will receive a call saying they have a warrant, and a deputy will be coming to take them to jail. They work the victim up into a panic, and then offer a possible solution: I can see you don’t have a record, so let’s see if we can work something out. Instead of being taken to jail, they say, you can pay a fine. But the deputy is about to get into his cruiser and head your way, and once the handcuffs are on it’s too late so you better pay RIGHT NOW.

A skilled scammer can manipulate their victim until they’re so scared, they’ll happily pay to keep from feeling the cold click of handcuffs on their wrists. They’re so worked up they don’t even think it’s strange that the payment has to be in cash handed off to an Uber driver, or by gift card or crypto. Only later when they calm down does it occur to them that there’s something a little fishy about the whole thing. That’s when our Economic Crimes Unit gets the call.

Scammers frequently target the elderly, calling during the daytime when they think retired people might be home. “But anyone can become a victim,” said Corporal Kyle Cruise. “We recently had a guy in his 20s who had gotten a fake call that he had a warrant.” About three-quarters of the people who report scammers to PCSO have suffered an actual financial loss.

The victims – most of whom have never had any brush with the law – may not understand how warrants work. “We’re never going to call you up and tell you we have a warrant for your arrest,” said Sergeant Berger. “We’d just show up and knock on your door. And we’re certainly never taking any kinds of payment in gift cards. Whenever someone asks for a payment in gift cards or crypto it’s a scam.”

If someone calls saying you have a warrant, you can just hang up. We make no direct profit from warrant arrests, and we’ll never ask for money in lieu of going to jail. If you still worry you might have a warrant, you can call the agency yourself to double check. But most people will already know if they have a warrant. Rob any convenience stores lately? Violate your probation? Then you might have a warrant. If not, you’re probably safe.

The real Captain Melvin Jackson has some thoughts about the people who are stealing his name for the scam. “Seeing my name used to victimize people angered me tremendously,” he said. “I swore an oath to protect the citizens of Pinellas County and seeing my name associated with something that was devised solely to victimize those same citizens made me want to personally put handcuffs on these scammers.” Believe me, scammers, the real Captain Jackson is not someone you want coming for you. If I were you, I’d scram.



If you suspect you are a victim of a scam, you can call the PCSO non-emergency line at 582-6200.