Pennsylvania Game News - August 2009 - 33

later Deputy Ruth called me with the name of a possible suspect. Several people had seen a man walking out of Bainbridge toward the field where the deer had been shot in the days preceding the killing. After discussing the findings with Deputy Ruth I figured we had all the evidence we were going to get and that it was time to speak to the suspect rather than wait and hope for more evidence. We’ll call the suspect Dudley Dowrong. The next day I drove to Bainbridge and located Dudley’s home. It was a nice, well kept house at the edge of town. When I knocked on the door I could hear a dog barking inside. Dudley answered the door and appeared quite surprised to see me. He was a young man, in his early 20s, at home watching TV in the middle of the day. I asked him if I could come in and speak with him about a matter of importance, and he invited me in. I could tell he was very nervous, but trying to pretend he wasn’t. We sat down at the kitchen table where I noticed an ashtray. I asked him if he minded if I smoked, and he said go ahead, that he was going to, too. At that point I felt both of my shirt pockets like I was feeling for my smokes. I told the young man I had left my cigarettes in my vehicle and I would have to go out and get them. He then did what I hoped he would do, he offered me one of his. Low and behold, he smoked the same brand that was found at the scene of the shooting. Dudley then opened a door and out came a small dog that met the description given by the highway workers. Now it was time to get down to business. I told Dudley why I was there and that he was the main suspect in a deer shooting. I think he knew why I was there, but when he heard it, the color drained from his face. Dudley AUGUST 2009 denied that he killed the deer and professed to be a good sportsman. Because I didn’t have a spent bullet and the witnesses were not close enough to positively identify the suspect, it was time to play “poker.” As I petted his little dog I told him I had made plaster casts of the dog paw prints that were found at the scene of the crime. Furthermore, I told him I was going to call one of my deputies and instruct him to apply for a search warrant, so I could seize his dog and take it to the State Police Crime Lab to compare his dog’s paws with the plaster casts I had prepared. With that, Dudley stooped his shoulders and sighed, and then asked if I could give him a break. I told him I didn’t know if I could until I knew the whole story. I also told him he would probably lose his hunting license for a couple of years. Dudley then told me he was out of work and didn’t have much to do. He was living with his parents and was getting bored. He decided he’d like some venison, so he spent several days trying to find a deer. He said he thought he would be safer doing it during the day than at night, when the “game wardens” were out looking for poachers. Once he shot the deer he saw the workers and decided to leave it and “get out of Dodge.” Dudley also told me he had taken the rifle to his father’s deer camp in another county, because he thought someone may have recognized him and he didn’t want the “game wardens” to be able to match the bullet with guns in the home. I obtained a written confession and cited Dudley with killing a deer in closed season, which carried a $200 fine at that time. Dudley failed to appear at the District Magistrate’s office to enter a plea within 10 days, as required by law, so a warrant was issued for his arrest. But that’s another story for another time. If it hadn’t been for the footprints of the dog, I don’t believe I would have been able to complete the case. Are dogs man’s best friend? In this case, Dudley’s dog was mine. 33

Pennsylvania Game News - August 2009

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