Retired Det.- Why Senior High Stabbing Investigation Takes Time

It's been over a month since a stabbing incident involving a teacher and a student took place at Billings Senior High School. So why haven't we heard about any charges filed or the results of the investigation? That's what many of you have been asking.

There's a couple big reasons why an investigation like this can take some time. So I reached out to retired Billings Police Lt. and detective Mark Cady to explain why an investigation like this can take so much time. (Later that day Q2 also posted a news story featuring Yellowstone Co Atty Scott Twito essentially backing up everything Cady and I had talked about on air that am too)

What are some of the reasons an investigation like this can take so long?

Cady: "There's so many moving parts. But first, let's start out with the Billings Police Department as a whole. You have about a dozen detectives working cases. Billings averages about 1600 calls for service a week. Out of those, there's a lot of cases that are generated. Each detective carries probably 20, 25 cases they're working on and then they get more added each day, and then they get rid of some every day."

The biggest one with this case is the evidence, blood spatter from stab wounds etc, that needs to be examined at the state crime lab. As Cady tells us, it can take weeks before the Billings Police Department gets this evidence back.

Cady: "Blood evidence, any physical evidence that was taken and sent to the Montana State Crime Lab for analysis. You know, when I left, 90 days was a good return on getting information about DNA, you know, blood samples, what the toxicology reports were...So, you know, we're a month into it. It may still be a couple months before all that information gets back."

The other challenge- there were only two people in the room when the incident occurred, so you may have to figure out who is telling the truth.

And, of course, in this day and age there is technology and social media. And there could be a pile of that type of info for authorities to scour through.