Christian Peterson
Reporter@riverbendnews.org
On Thursday, March 24, the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) took evidence from closed cases out to the Hamilton County Landfill to be destroyed.
The HCSO deputies met at 10 a.m. near the back of the landfill, in front of a hole previously dug specifically for the evidence. They began by placing old wooden pallets and tires into the hole before pouring diesel onto the pile of kindling to begin the fire. Once the fire had started, the crew returned to the trailer they had brought full of evidence from closed cases. Once a case is closed, the sheriff's office will take evidence from the case to be destroyed. The items burned are usually items illegal to have in the first place. The only items not burned are currency, guns and ammo.
There were a total of 22 sealed boxes of evidence. The oldest evidence involved was from 2017. The boxes contained marijuana, cocaine, pills, synthetic cannabis, drug paraphernalia, baggies, scales, rolling papers, clothes, sheets and DNA. Before the burning, the HCSO had gone through the boxes, documenting what was in each and removing items dangerous to burn, such as ammo. They then threw the boxes into the fire and waited until it was destroyed. Once all the evidence was destroyed, everyone packed up to leave and the pit was buried, covering up anything not destroyed in the fire.