Students enrolled in a criminal justice class under the leadership of Sandy Yerk, director of the Criminal Justice Academy at East Lee County High School on Thomas Sherwin Ave. in Lehigh Acres, came as close to reality as a group can when students were assigned to solve a “death investigation” on the campus of the school.

The “death” was that of a pig from an area farm. A name was assigned to the “victim” which was “found dead” in a field just outside the school gates. In addition to Yerk’s students, a science class led by teacher Jennifer Albritton also participated in the assignment. Albritton’s class was at the scene to sketch illustrations of the anatomy of the “victim.”

Yerk said her students were working on their crime scene response skills by “responding” to a death on campus, apparently a “classmate” by the name of “L’il Pork.”

The deceased pig was discovered early last Tuesday morning at school by one of the school’s coaches.

As part of the exercise for the class, L’il Pork was last seen in front of the school waiting for a game the previous Friday night.

Yerk said the students would have to discover where the body is, how he died and if it was a homicide and if so, who are the suspects.

Yerk’s senior students discovered the body early in the morning, Yerk said, and they roped off the area as if it was a crime scene.

They used skills they had been taught in looking for evidence of how the victim died.

“These students were covering a wide range of abilities from introductory to criminal justice through seniors who are interning at various criminal justice organizations throughout the 20th Judicial District,” Yerk said.

She said that for the most part, students were responsible for such things as securing and preserving a crime scene, collecting and analyzing evidence, following a chain of custody, knowing their responsibilities at a scene and being able to follow crime scene procedures to include appropriate documentation.

Yerk said students would complete their “investigation” and then switch hats to figure out the cause of death and scientifically analyze the evidence within the science classroom.

Written reports were to be done in English classes, sketches and casts in art, and to make out reports in the computer lab so that the students are literally incorporating as many of their courses as possible, Yerk said.

“This is a phenomenal exercise that includes drama and education for an experience unlike no other. This is a true vocational and academic preparation for future lawyers, police officers, SCSs and the like,” she said.

The “victim” was moved to the far side of the parking lot near the sports stadium for students to analyze.

Not all students were able to get near the victim. Some pulled their sweatshirts up over their noses because of the bad odor of the decomposition of the pig.

But most students participated by getting down on their knees, wearing plastic gloves, using “tools” of the profession to take specimens and to search for evidence such as lacerations, broken bones and more.

Yerk said the body had broken ribs and was bleeding rom a head injury. Students had to determine what caused the injury.

One student took photographs that would be used as evidence.

Rebecca Cala, a junior, sketched the forms of the organs that had been removed. This information would be used later in a science class working as a medical examiner.

Another student, Tracy Campos, a junior, said she enjoyed the course because she wants to be a forensic anthropologist. Another student, Anthony Botello, who is also a junior, said he wanted to enter the criminal justice field as an air marshal. He also wants to get his pilot’s licenses and has already begun taking lessons.

The field, full of weeds, at the far end of the parking lot, on the other side of the fence, is considered the “outdoors classroom” for the criminal justice course.

“All things considered, I think the students did a good job,” Yerk said as she directed some of them to different parts of the body of the “victim” to look for signs of trauma.

“The students came up with a conclusion that the “victim” had been battered or beaten to death.

Yerk noted that the farmer who slaughtered the pig did it in ways that are used when pigs are slaughtered for food. A brunt instrument or a bullet is used to the head to bring instant death. In this case, a brunt instrument had been used and that was the conclusion of the class.

While the students were outside, they were asked to raise their hands if they planned to continue after high school and/or college in the criminal justice profession and about a quarter of the students said they were headed in that direction.