Duplex Search and Witness Sightlines
At 21:05 on a rainy Tuesday, you respond to a reported break-in at 10 Maple Street, a duplex. The front door faces west onto Maple Street, which runs north-south. The kitchen window is on the east wall; the bathroom window is on the south wall. The back door opens into a fenced rear yard. The only yard gate is on the south side and opens onto an east-west alley. A detached garage sits northwest of the house; its side door faces the alley. Neighbor A, at 12 Maple (north), reports seeing a man in a red jacket leave the front door at 21:05 and walk south on Maple. Neighbor B, at 8 Maple (south), reports seeing a man in a red jacket enter the rear yard through the south gate at 21:07. You arrive at 21:09. The front door is unlocked, the kitchen light is on, the back door is open, and the garage side door is open. No one is inside. A wet footprint is on the kitchen floor.
1. Reconstruct the most likely path the suspect took from the front door to the garage. Use the layout and timeline.
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Most likely path: the suspect left the front door at 21:05, walked south on Maple, turned east into the alley, opened the south gate at 21:07, crossed the rear yard to the back door, and entered the kitchen, leaving the wet footprint. The open back door and kitchen light support recent entry through the rear. The garage side door faces the alley; because it is open and the garage is northwest of the yard, he could have checked the garage before entering the yard or after leaving the house. The timeline is tight but possible: about two minutes to walk south, turn into the alley, and reach the gate. The wet print does not prove direction by itself, only that someone crossed the kitchen floor with wet shoes.
2. Both witnesses can be truthful. Reconstruct a single sequence that reconciles A's 21:05 sighting, B's 21:07 sighting, and the wet footprint, and identify one fact that would disprove your sequence.
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Reconciling sequence: A sees the man leave the front at 21:05; he walks south, enters the alley, and B sees him at the south gate at 21:07; he crosses the yard and enters the back door, leaving the wet print; he then leaves through the front or back, or moves to the garage. One fact that would disprove this: the south gate was locked or could be opened only from inside at 21:07, because B's account requires the man to open it from the alley. Another disproof would be a dry, undisturbed threshold at the back door while the kitchen print is wet. The open garage side door is not a disproof; it may be a separate entry or exit.
3. What should you secure first, and what should you NOT do before a search warrant or consent is addressed?
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Secure the exterior perimeter first: the south gate and alley, the garage side door, and the front door, because the suspect may still be inside the garage or may have doubled back. Do not conduct a full search of the garage or house without addressing consent or a warrant. The open side door and the reported break-in may support a protective sweep only if you can articulate an immediate risk that someone inside poses a danger. Preserve the wet footprint by not walking through the kitchen, photograph the doors and any pry marks, and hold the scene for investigators. If you enter for a protective sweep, limit it to spaces where a person could hide and document why you entered.