ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Go slow, get a frame and then work your way to the middle.

That’s how Donajean Kapp and her sister Dori Ann Myers put together a jigsaw puzzle.

But Myers disappeared three years ago and Kapp and now St. Lucie County Sheriff’s detectives are using what seems like a jigsaw puzzle of tips to try to find out what happened to her.
(more…)

ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Law enforcement agencies are working to get rid of the hundreds of backlogged DNA cases to make for a safer Treasure Coast.

The Indian River Crime Laboratory hired a DNA criminalist through a $94,922 forensic science improvement grant with the Port St. Lucie Police Department from the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Justice.

Lab Director Dan Nippes said the backlog for St. Lucie, Indian River, Martin and Okeechobee counties at the end of June was 646 cases.
(more…)

INDIANTOWN — State investigators have searched the home of a former Martin County Sheriff’s lieutenant and are now waiting on DNA test results to determine whether the remains of a pet deer reported stolen last year were buried in his yard.

Baby, the 9-year-old whitetail buck reported missing.

Weeks later, a criminal investigation led officials to a home at Fox Brown Road where, court records indicate, then-sheriff’s Lt. James Fogleman, 52, and his 22-year-old son, James Dylan Fogleman, reside.

Now officials are waiting to see whether deer remains found at the Foglemans’ home and at a second location are those of the missing deer, Baby. (more…)