Death of the Watermelon

I came upon a crime scene earlier this summer. It was a clear sign of summer. I had just bought a watermelon at the grocery store. Very proudly, I brought it home and was planning to surprise my son, TJ, with it because it's his favorite fruit.

I placed it on the kitchen counter and proceeded to put the rest of the groceries away. I went out of the kitchen for some reason, I can't quite remember the reason anymore. The fact remains, I exited the room.

Within seconds, I heard a loud BANG! and I checked my clothes all over to see if I had, indeed, been shot as my mind had immediately led me to believe. I called to TJ to see if he had been injured, and he quickly responded. But WHERE did the loud thud come from?!?

I came back into the kitchen only to find the watermelon lying on the floor. Out of fear and absolute horror, my first reaction was to piece back together the shattered melon and I put a towel over it to cover the mess (See exhibit A below, also marked as "0" in the crime scene photos). I could only imagine the long term psychological effects the sight may have had on my son.

After piecing it back together, I quickly put my Crime Scene Investigation techniques to work. I photographed each step. The physical evidence that a crime had been committed was very obvious. Though no actual DNA evidence was recovered on the murder weapon at the scene, it was obvious that the cause of the watermelon's death was caused by blunt force trauma to the melon. My fear was that, after investigation, I may actually be suspect to the charge, so I wanted to make sure I didn't tamper with any evidence so that, IF I was suspect, I would quickly be exonerated. I took photos of each step of the clean up activity, to depict the scene exactly as it had been observed before anything was handled, moved or initiated into the scene.

The below pictures are the photographs taken at the crime scene. I caution any viewers under the age of 13 to exercise extreme caution to the graphic nature of the content. The name of the victim has been changed to protect the lives of the other melon family members, as this crime remains unsolved.



Exhibit A


Exhibit B


Exhibit C



Exhibit D