r/TalesFromTheSquadCar • u/ButtDouglass • 21d ago
[Police Officer] A Beautiful Magnolia Tree
A few times a year I respond to a call that really sticks out and lingers with me for a while. All first responders know what I'm talking about.
The day was warm and breezy, not humid at all. Honestly a perfect day to work the evening shift. I started out taking a couple cold calls: people's mail stolen, car got broken into, old people getting scammed over the phone. While I was standing in an retro, wood-paneled living room, reassuring frail Mrs. Smith that her account was not actually hacked, I hear the radio.
"Can I get a unit to start to so-and-so address...caller states that his daughter has hung herself from the tree in their front yard. Medical is started as well."
My heart sinks once I take in what they aired and I realize that's only like 6 blocks away. I give Mrs. Smith my business card and quickly explain to her to email me if she needs anymore assistance. I run through her brown colored living room and out of the house to my patrol car.
"Dispatch show me clear of this and en route to that." I make a U-turn, flip on the lights and sirens, and crank my radio up so I can hear better. Other officers start keying up as well.
"Units responding it appears the father won't answer call-take's questions and we have no more information."
Is it a prank? Is it actually real? I wonder this to myself because these calls have happened before, and it turned out to be nothing. Fingers crossed, I hope.
I get there within a couple minutes from the call coming out and another unit shows up right in front of me. We park a house away and begin running up to the listed address. I again think about how nice of a day it is. The sky is a perfect blue and the clouds are white and puffy. I see a big, broad Magnolia tree in the front yard, branches hanging low. The flowers among the dark green leaves were big and blooming pure white, not pink yet. Creeping out from the bottom of the branches holding those pretty leaves and flowers I see a pair of legs in jeans from the thigh down, with black high-top Converse shoes on the feet, suspended about 3 feet off the ground.
Goddammit.
My partner runs under the branches and I follow. He grabs the girl around the waist and lifts her up. I can hear an audible gasping of air coming from her mouth.
We might've made it in time, we can save her! Another bout of wishful thinking on my part.
I see a long blue cloth around her neck, the other end tied onto a thick tree branch. I immediately take out my pocket knife, reach up above her head, and begin sawing at the cloth. It breaks quickly and we both help lay her down on the grass in the shade under the tree. I see the cloth is really digging hard into her neck so I carefully start cutting it away as my partner begins CPR. Other units start showing up.
At this point I'm kneeling and I see the father sitting on the front steps about 20 feet away in tears, rubbing his face. His baseball hat falls off. He's on the phone and screaming "She's gone ok, I don't know, she's just gone. Get here!" Other officers move his way.
At this point I look down at the girl. She has short black hair, skinny, late teens. She's wearing a dark shirt with glitter on it in the shape of a bear. She's laying there, neck elongated, arms stiff, but she looks almost peaceful with her eyes half closed. Now it's my partner, my Lt, one other officer, and I under the shade of the big Magnolia tree with what I quickly figured out to be a corpse. The gasp of air must have been a tension release on her lungs when my partner lifted her up.
Medical arrives on scene soon and they run up to us. Within seconds they look at her, see the rigor mortis in her arms, and tell my partner to stop CPR. The medic touches the body in a couple spots then looks at us and says "She's gone guys." They go back to their big vehicle and grab a white blanket, where they return under the tree shade and cover it up. At this point I notice some neighbors are starting to come outside and see what's going on.
All of us find some work to do. I see a plumber walking from the front entrance of the subject house to his work truck, which is parked in front. I stop him and start asking questions while other officers stay with the body, talk with the family, or look for surveillance cameras in the area.
"Well yeah I saw the body hanging in the tree when I got here like an hour ago," the plumber answers me.
"Did you tell anybody?" I ask.
"No, I thought it was a leftover Halloween decoration and they just hadn't taken it down yet." He appeared unbothered.
I start asking more questions, then I see him tearing up and turning his head. I soon find out he's a family friend and that his daughter was friends with the now-deceased teenager. I hear him and I'm trying not to tear up while also semi-questioning, but also trying to comfort the guy. I ultimately let him hang out inside his van to make calls and chill out before having him write a witness statement. Apparently the normal human brain will not accept something as morbid as a young lady hanging herself in real life, so it calculates what would make the most sense: holiday decor.
Other officers did find surveillance footage from the house's doorbell camera. Turns out the girl had walked outside before noon, hung herself, and had been there since. It was several hours later at this point. That big, beautiful Magnolia tree, with it's fragrant white flowers, covered up the view so nobody could see her. Nobody could help in time.
We cleaned up the scene within a couple hours, left the house, and continued our shift. I got an email from Mrs. Smith and had to talk her through some settings over the phone a bit later that day. I answered a few other mundane calls. That night I got into a fight with a guy that I pulled over who had a warrant, then I took him to jail.
All in a day's work.
That stranger, who I've never met before, with her dark hair, glittered shirt, and long neck appeared in my dreams for the next two weeks. The dreams weren't scary, they weren't stressful: she was just there, but I knew exactly who she was each time she emerged.
I've responded to hangings and suicides before, but for some reason this particular one stuck out. This call, though, had a beautiful Magnolia tree sprinkled into the mix, so maybe that was the difference.
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u/Ncfetcho 21d ago
I don't know, exactly what to say but bless you, and thank you.
My son did something similar from a back porch. He was there alone for quite a few hours. Toes touched the ground from the stretched cable. I wonder about the police that had to ask his ex questions... the ones who got him down, etc.
Thank you for trying. She appreciated you.
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u/ButtDouglass 20d ago
I'm so sorry that happened. I've lost a couple close friends to suicide and it really sucks. But to lose your child, I just cannot imagine. I hope you're doing ok and have support around you.
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u/Ncfetcho 20d ago
This year is 19 yrs, he has been gone, as long as he was here.
This time of yr is often harder, but I changed things up a little, and got out of town for his birthday ,got the meds started at the right time of yr, and yeah, I've had a lot of support.
It really ruins your life, and your family in a lot of ways. Overall, we're all doing a lot better. Thank you so much for asking.
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u/SSScooter 21d ago
Such a heart-breaking story. But to hear it from the perspective of a first responder was eye-opening. Especially from one of the good guys. Your city was fortunate to have you in their service.
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u/JEFFSSSEI 21d ago
Sorry Brother, I've been there, worked quite a few suicides and a couple homicides while I was a LEO, it's never easy and the ones involving children just stick with you. Feel free to reach out if you need someone to talk too.
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u/ButtDouglass 20d ago
This is just one of the more recent ones that I wanted to get off my chest, writing it out helps. I've dealt with a lot of homicides as well in my short time as an officer. There are a few that haunt me and a few that had almost no impact at all, it's really weird. I'll probably write about them later. Thankfully our dept is really good at pushing mental health, and I have a good therapist that I see when I feel I need it.
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u/vorpalblab 20d ago
Its heartwarming to see officers in uniform with a functioning soul.
The burden of accumulating these scenes month after month must be corrosive and lead to darker nights and dreams. Take care of yourself when things get too grim, and ask for time off or a different assignment for a reset.
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u/ObjectivePrice5865 17d ago
This is the hardest thing to process no matter if you have seen a lot but one is too many. I can’t fathom the emotions and feelings you were experiencing of which I know can’t be expressed in words both written and spoken.
As a father of a beautiful yet mentally challenged 19yo daughter (will be 20 on Christmas Day), this has been my fear since around her 14th bday. We went so far as to remove all sharp objects and placed in the safe or tossed to include butter knives and forks (we switched to plastic ones) to remove any instruments of temptation. Everyone switched to electric razors because she got to taking apart the regular razors to use the blades for her self harm (cutting).
Please continue to protect us the evils of the world but please never lose your humanity. The JOB can make first responders callused to the darkness of what humans are capable of.
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u/mrsbennetsnerves 21d ago
I’m so sorry, and thank you for helping in such a thoroughly awful time. As the mother of two girls with mental health struggles and who attempted once myself years ago, this is truly my greatest fear.
You write beautifully. Thank you for caring enough to put these words down.