Embracing My Journey ~ Living with passion & purpose!

I arrived at the hotel late on Friday afternoon and after checking in I wandered down to the meeting room where the Criminal Pursuits event was to be held.  Upon entering I had a wonderful surprise as I walked straight into a gentleman I have not seen in several years… Mike Witzgall.  Mike is a former Dallas SWAT member who due to an injury had to leave the life he loved.  Now contrary to popular belief, I met Mike and his wife Shelly on a personal level, not as a result of his police work….as he’s one of those men that take his job very seriously and I definitely would not want to be the bad guy coming face to face with him after committing a crime.  Last time I visited with Mike he was recuperating from an injury that would ultimately remove him from active duty.

Here we were a few years later and Mike has taken his love for law enforcement channeled it into something amazing by providing hands-on training for officers through Charlie-Mike Enterprises.  On this particular weekend Mike, an avid reader, has partnered with PJ Nunn of Break Through Promotions to present “Criminal Pursuits” which, according to their missions statement is “To provide our clientele, both published and unpublished writers, with profession-specific information that will enhance their skill, knowledge and abilities as modern day story tellers.”  In layman’s terms, this was a weekend of “who dun it” accompanied by specific training on following the evidence, recreating the crime scene, what is and is not possible in real life crime situations and of course it was all wrapped up with a pretty bow at the end when we learned which group had followed the evidence correctly and solved the crime.

We ate like real cops do…at least in Cedar Hill…from the Dog Pound (the restaurant, not the animal shelter) and I have to say those dogs were delicious. A word to the wise, don’t visit the Dog Pound if you are not of the decision making mindset as they have 18 different varieties of hot dog creations and they all will tickle your tummy.  Hats off to the chef!

Once we learned about the cast of characters and saw the “murder” take place, we were off and running with interviews of witnesses, a few who would turn into person’s of interest or suspects if you prefer, and we began building our theories.  Two of my crime-solving partners included author Alan Cook and his wonderful wife Bonny.  A couple of the most amazing people I have ever met and a shining example of how well computer-matched couples can work as after 45 years it was obvious they were still very much in love.  Alan is one of the Mystery Men and author of several books including my favorite “Hotline to Murder.”  Plus he’s the only man I know personally who has walked the coast of California…definitely a go-getter and I was excited to work with and learn from him.

The first night of the event ended and we all headed back to our rooms, possibilities of who-dun-it running through our minds.  It was not until the next morning that we realized that someone should have informed the night staff about our class….

At 5:30am as Chefita, the friendly hostess went about her morning duties setting up the breakfast bar for the hotel visitors; she noticed she was missing an ice bowl for the main table setting.  Thinking quickly she realized that someone had probably moved the ice bowl into the meeting room and she proceeded to walk into the dimly lit room.  Much to her surprise, she was greeted by a ‘dead’ body lying in the corner surrounded by crime scene tape.  Of course, to Chefita the area, dimly lit and cornered off looked pretty real and she proceeded to call for Jerry the night clerk on duty… “Jerry, Jerry, there’s a dead body in here” is what she thinks she remembers saying as I interviewed her on Saturday afternoon, hours after she walked in on poor dead reporter “Jacqueline Montague” laying in the meeting room, covered with blood, a gun just inches from her hands and a cement vase with very real looking pieces of brain matter and blood spatter (“because there is no such thing as blood splatter” according to Mike Witzgall) attached to it.

I can only imagine what Chefita experienced walking in on this scene with no hint of what she was about to see.  Even for me, someone who spent two days knowingly involved in this adventure, there were still moments when I walked past the taped off area surrounding the mock dead body and had to do a double-take to refresh my mind that it was only a re-creation and not a real scene.  Mike, PJ and the Criminal Pursuits team really do know what they are doing when it comes to crime scene re-creation, that’s for sure!

In the end, Chefita got over her initial shock and was able to laugh about the experience as she joined us in questioning witnesses such as Rocky, the Governors campaign manager, “so did you kill her?” Chefita asked him, to which he smiled and simply replied “I think I need a lawyer over here.”

I won’t spoil the fun by telling you who did it, but I will share that this was a creative, hands-on learning experience for which I am very grateful to have attended.  I encourage anyone who is writing mystery or true crime to connect with the Criminal Pursuits team and if you make it to one event a year…make it Criminal Pursuits.  I also encourage writers who are seeking to expand their reach to connect with book promoter/publicist/editor and novelist PJ Nunn of Break Through Promotions.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 1:06 pm and is filed under Caryn's writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.