Expert: Dick Rogers - 2/5/2009

Question
Dear Mr. Rogers, I'm very impressed with your previous answers that I've seen here.  Thanks for being so generous and detailed in your responses!

I'm an aspiring novelist writing a story where a series of incidents happen on the Interstate during a morning drive-time radio program.  At first a caller claims to have shot someone; a fatal accident happens at the scene he reports, near a populated area, but it turns out to be a hit-and-run, not a shooting.  State Highway Patrol and the local sheriff think it's a hoax.  They join with the city police (where the radio station is) to see if the radio station's DJ's knew about the accident and arranged the fake shooting call-in as a publicity stunt.  Later the same driver calls again and this time commits a fatal shooting on the Interstate, on live radio.  My question: who would have jurisdiction over the murder investigation?  Would it be a joint investigation?  Because of the terroristic aspects of the phone call, might not Homeland Security become involved?  Thanks in advance for your help and expertise!  --Dennis

Answer
Dennis, law enforcement throughout the US is sometimes complicated.  The scenario as you described it would pan out this way:  The hit and run aspect of the case would be investigated by the Highway Patrol if there was nothing more to it.  In the second event, the caller commits a homicide, so the homicide would be investigated by either the city police (if the situation occurred in a large populated city) or by the sheriff of the county where it took place. I mentioned ..."in a large populated city" because there are many cities who do not investigate homicides due to their small size and lack of experience.  There are some states (primarily northeastern states) where the sheriff has little criminal law enforcement function and the State Police units, i.e., Massachusetts, New York, etc., would be involved in the investigation.  In that the crime seems to be a random and "nut case" type of crime, Homeland Security would not be involved.  Believe it or not, there are many random killings such as you describe throughout the country and their sheer number would overwhelm Homeland Security to the point they would be rendered useless.  Hope this helps.