📓 Ned’s Notes #21 – Sole Searching

🐒 Sole Searching Chaos Under the Jellyfish

Ned here. If you’ve ever wondered what chaos looks like, picture the Florida Aquarium during suspect interviews. We’ve got squawking parrots. There’s a screaming monkey. Seven wild-eyed suspects are present, and a dead woman lies just below the floating jellyfish display. It’s less crime scene, more disaster movie—minus the popcorn.

👟 Modern Art in Shoe Prints

But that’s not even the biggest mess. The real mess is on the floor—shoe prints everywhere. It looks like a modern art masterpiece. It is painted in dirt and water drips. Whatever Perry the monkey tracked in from downtown Sarasota adds to it.

Footprints can be gold in an investigation—but only if you know who made them. Otherwise, you’re left wondering if that smudge came from the jewelry thief or some nice dad’s size 12 Crocs.

📸 Bob, the Shoe Paparazzi

Enter Bob, our ever-prepared crime scene tech. First thing he does when a scene gets crowded? He photographs every single shoe that steps foot inside. First responders, aquarium staff, curious suspects, Bob himself, and yours truly—nobody’s soles escape his lens.

As for my loafers, Bob caught them while I was watching a guy try to hide his face with a potted plant. Thankfully, he didn’t capture my expression. The police are supposed to be impartial, but with these suspects? Let’s just say they test a detective’s patience.

🕵️‍♂️ Why It Matters

Why does Bob snap shoe pics like a tourist in front of the Eiffel Tower? Because once we know what everyone’s footwear looks like, we can separate their prints from the real suspects’. Without that, we’d be blaming the janitor’s sneakers for murder.

So while Perry might be a pilfering primate, and stickers from Sticker Man are stuck to half the shoes in the building, we won’t know the truth until Bob matches those tiny monkey prints against all the human ones stomping around.

Until then, step lightly—Bob’s lens is watching.

See you next week.

—Ned

🔍 Crime Scene Tech Tip:

Always photograph the shoes of everyone at a busy crime scene. From officers to onlookers—to avoid mixing innocent footprints with those that might lead you to the real culprit.