# How would a person cover up evidence in this type of shooting crime?



## ironpony (Jun 12, 2019)

For my story, there is one section I am still fuzzy on how to write.  The main character, a cop, started following suspects on his own time, cause he doesn't want to give up the case.  While following them, the suspects know they are being followed, and lead the main character into a trap, which leads to a gun stand off between the villains and him.

Another cop character shows up and was following them as well, and tries to save the main character, but the main character ends up shooting him thinking he is one of the villains shooting at him, in the dark shadows.  When the main character realizes it was a cop he knows, he wants to cover up that he shot the cop and make it seem like the villains did it, for personal reasons.

But he would have to remove all physical evidence that he was there, including the bullets from his gun which I assume would be his police issue weapon.  He would also have to eliminate his prints and DNA from anything he touched, especially the dead cop he accidentally killed.

So I wrote it that he burns the dead cop to get rid of his DNA and prints, but what would he do for the rest of the scene, including the fired bullets?  This seems kind of complicated, but is it possible for him to remove any evidence that he was there?  I want him to get away with it in the end, which means the police cannot find anything, even if the villains accuse him of framing them.


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## Bloggsworth (Jun 12, 2019)

To be frank ironpony, you seem to be fuzzy on how to write most of your story as you ask for help on almost every one of your plot points. 

The puzzle is, if he wants to make it look as if the villains shot him, making the body disappear is less likely to point investigators in the direction of the criminals. It is difficult to destroy all the DNA in a body by means of a bonfire as, in even one started with gasoline, the temperature is unlikely to be high enough to destroy the genetic material inside the teeth. Mind you, your main character sounds so incompetent that I expect he'd be unable to cover a bed with a duvet without accidentally killing his wife.


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## ironpony (Jun 12, 2019)

Oh okay.  Well he doesn't have to destroy all the DNA in the dead body.  He just has to remove is own DNA from on top of the body. The gasoline would be enough to remove his own, wouldn't it?  He wouldn't make the body disappear, he would leave it, and just remove his own DNA from the scene, but would gasoline work for just his own?

What makes the main character seem that incompetent exactly?  I mean there have been stories where main characters have accidentally killed someone before and covered it up, so is mine more incompetent than other characters in other stories that have done it?


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## Bloggsworth (Jun 12, 2019)

If he shot his colleague his DNA shouldnt be on the body, unless he put it there when trying to remove the incriminating bullet. If he was doing an "off the books" investigation it is unlikely that he would be carrying his service weapon.


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## ironpony (Jun 12, 2019)

Oh okay thanks, he was trying to help revive the dead cop and come to his aid, but the cop dies, so that is how his DNA got on him.  However, since this was during a shootout, his DNA could be anywhere he ran during the shootout, could it possibly?  Would he be able to get rid of all that, in an open field, if were to take place in a place like that for example?


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## Ralph Rotten (Jun 12, 2019)

If he was using a department issue weapon, then they may have the ballistics on file. 
Burning would not do it, you'd have to find somewhere deep and dark to hide that body. Drop it in a foundation that's due to be poured in the morning.
It sounds sketchy tho.
Hiding a body is a big, dirty thing. Not something a hero would do.
What if he just got in a ton of trouble, got suspended, and his captain yelled at him real loud.
Then IAD starts bugging him too.
There's your conflict.


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## ironpony (Jun 12, 2019)

Ralph Rotten said:


> If he was using a department issue weapon, then they may have the ballistics on file.
> Burning would not do it, you'd have to find somewhere deep and dark to hide that body. Drop it in a foundation that's due to be poured in the morning.
> It sounds sketchy tho.
> Hiding a body is a big, dirty thing. Not something a hero would do.
> ...



Oh okay thanks, but he doesn't want to hide the body, he just wants to burn his own DNA away from the crime scene.  Leaving the dead body there is fine, as long as his own DNA is gone from it.

I could write it so that he knows he cannot use his department issue weapon so he manages to hide and take the gun off of one of them by surprise, but that is risky to wait for someone to come that close to you, when they have a gun, even if you are hiding though.  But maybe it's a risk he has to take to not fire his own weapon, and leave evidence that way.


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