JACKSONVILLE, Fla. --
Three Jacksonville police officers did not meet work standards by failing to collect evidence at the scene where a slain 20-year-old woman was abducted in January, according to a Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Internal Affairs report released Friday.
Michelle McCoy was seen being dragged into a minivan in Northwest Jacksonville. Police did not go public with her kidnapping for nearly three weeks.
McCoy was found killed days after police asked for help finding her.
According to the internal affairs report, Officers M.L. Albert and C.J. Lightfoot did not collect a shoe and rope, or do a canvass of businesses and homes to see if anyone else had seen what witness Edmund Haye told police he saw.
Haye, who said he saw McCoy screaming while being forced into the minivan, told internal affairs that the two officers basically blew him off as not credible because he was so worked up.
"There is no body. No crime has been committed," one officer told Haye, according to the report.
"This is not CSI. Stuff doesn't happen overnight magically," one officer said, according to the report.
Sgt. G.L. Mattson was also found to not have met work standards for failing to make sure the report of the officers was complete and accurate. Lt. C.A. Tyree, a fourth officer investigated, was cleared of any wrongdoing.
The three officers were given formal counseling, which JSO points out is not a form of discipline. They were written up, which will follow them on their employment record.
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