She’d rarely been on a more standard case—insurance claim, young female subject claiming neck and back injuries from a car accident, brick home on a slab surrounded on all sides by identical homes, driveways but all cars parked on street. Easy cover for her van.
Her first day on the case gave up nothing. She arrived at 4:00am for set up. Subject’s father left for work in a company truck at 5:10am. No further activity until 8:25 when young male arrived, exited F150 truck, and entered subject’s home. No further activity until young male exited home and departed at 2:30pm. Subject’s father returned in work vehicle at 3:45pm. She shot her time stamp and broke for the day at 6:00pm.
Next day, same routine to the minute. Nothing but time stamp shots of front door.
On the third day, there were only 12 surveillance hours left in the budget, so she set up at 4:30am. Father departed at 5:15am. Young male arrived again at 8:45am and entered home. No further activity until 2:25 when young male exited residence in obvious rush. Subject followed closely behind, moving with no discernible difficulties.
The investigator was torn whether or not to note subject was dressed only in a large men’s t-shirt and had visible bruising on face and neck, but figured the video would speak for itself upon review.
Through the 2”x2” viewfinder of her camera, the investigator watched the young male stop suddenly before entering the F150, spin around, and punch subject in jaw, leaving her prostrate on driveway.
Without checking status of subject, young male entered vehicle and sped off.
The subject lay motionless on the concrete for a solid two minutes before she stirred awake, sat up slowly, and walked back into the residence. Movement back into home seemed normal.
There was no further activity to report until subject’s father returned in work vehicle at 3:50pm. The investigator filmed her final time stamp at 4:30pm and broke from premises.
The next morning, the investigator completed her written report, logged activity times, and submitted all video to the insurance company. Case closed.
On her way home from the office after lunch that afternoon, though—to family, dog, bath, and A/C—the investigator passed by the subject’s residence one last time. Just like it had been all week, the F150 was parked on the curb in front of the house.
The investigator dropped a DVD cut-up of the assault footage on the windshield of the truck in a plain, white envelope. She’d removed all business and time stamps from the video before doing so, but figured even without that context the video would speak for itself.
