Pennsylvania Game News - May 2009 - 11

mised was that the deer died immediately after one well-placed shot, and that a single individual gutted and dragged the deer out of the woods. What seemed odd was that the single set of boot tracks appeared to be from a smaller woman, a child or a very small man. One wouldn’t think that a child or small woman would be able to easily gut and drag the animal alone, and whoever it was didn’t appear to slow down or take any breaks; he or she was in a hurry to get that deer out of there. I asked Mark if he was comfortable playing a hunch and he said, “Hey, it’s your district and you know these people better than I do. What do you have in mind?” I explained that there was a fellow who lived nearby that I was well acquainted with, as I had previously cited him a few times for killing deer unlawfully. Because of the time of year, the nature of the killing and the rural nature of the road where this animal was taken, I felt sure that a local resident that was looking to fill his freezer had probably killed it. What didn’t quite match up with the evidence was that my suspect was normal in size, and the boot tracks in the snow were those of a much smaller person. It was worth a try, anyway. In my recollection, my suspect, Jasper Holtz, was usually confrontational and less than honest for only a short time before caving in and confessing to whatever his game violations were. I also had the benefit of being generally friendly with his whole family and thought that I might get a confession or some valuable information if I played my cards right. Mark and I pulled into Jasper’s driveway just before dark. As we exited the vehicle, I pointed out what appeared to be fresh blood smeared on the garage door, and Mark noticed a small plastic shopping bag covered in blood hanging from the back steps. We smiled at each other, knowing that even if Jasper wasn’t responsible for the deer in question, something of interest was going on at the house. I knocked hard on the door of the farmMAY 2009 house and thought I heard someone moving about inside. No answer came and I knocked again, harder. Anyone within the home would have easily heard my pounding. Still, nobody came and Mark and I decided to back off, think things over, and regroup. At this point, I called Tom Sabolcik, a neighboring officer in McKean County. Tom’s always willing to help and readily agreed to suit up and meet us as quickly as he could get there. We figured that we might be forced to get a search warrant that evening and we wanted plenty of manpower to conduct the search and, more importantly, to watch the Holtzs’ place to prevent anyone or anything from escaping the premises. At my suggestion, Tom contacted Deputy Gordon Liezert and picked him up on the way. In situations like this, it’s hard to have too much manpower, and Mark and I were pleased to have the extra help. Mark and I drove away from the house to a nearby hill overlooking the spread, from where we could see anyone coming or going or any other activity around the house. After 15 or 20 minutes we got a call from Tom that he and Gordie were on the way and would be there within 10 or 15 minutes. At the same time a light went on in the kitchen of the Holtz household. We found it odd that nobody was there to answer the door but someone was turning lights on in the house. We immediately drove back to the house and rapped on the door again with the same response — none. Shortly, a car pulled into the drive and a pleasant, petite woman asked what we needed. I introduced myself and asked her who she was. She explained that she was Jasper’s sister-in-law and that she lived next door. I gave her a quick rundown of the circumstances, without filling in too many details, and asked if she could go inside and speak 11

Pennsylvania Game News - May 2009

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