Evidence Mounts ‘The Dungeon’ Holds Data Collected A Decade Ago

Surrounded by drugs, guns and blood, evidence technician Liz Yarbrough calls her office “the dungeon.”

Concrete blocks, steel bars and two sturdy metal doors hold the tales of sorrow and malice inside sealed envelopes, boxes and bags. Some pieces of evidence collected by North Idaho’s state police officers date back more than a decade.

The ISP hired Yarbrough, a former Army police officer, in December to clean out the agency’s stuffed evidence locker. She is the state’s only dedicated evidence technician.

For years the job had been assigned to a designated patrol officer’s regular duties. However, responding to the increasing volume of calls took priority.

The result has been a backlog of outdated evidence.

“It got to the point where we couldn’t do anything else,” said Cpl. Rick Yeend, who until recently ran the Idaho State Police evidence vault. “We had to get it cleaned out.”

Monday morning, the vault’s door swung only about halfway open. Nearly three dozen wooden bins holding drugs and paraphernalia stopped it just wide enough to allow a person to slip past.

Inside, a half-dozen rifles leaned in a corner. Dozens of boxes containing pistols, knives and other weapons were stacked on shelves above them.

Boxes of debris collected from accident scenes and bags of clothing rested on a top shelf that borders the room. Another series of shelves held dozens of blood samples taken to test alcohol levels.

Most are pieces of evidence needed to recreate drunken driving arrests, weapons offenses and fatal accidents ISP troopers have investigated since 1987.

Drugs are the most common type of evidence troopers store in the dimly lit basement vault. The rifles and a tire taken from the scene of a fatal accident two years ago are the biggest.

Eventually, logging new evidence onto file cards, inputting it into a computer data base and overseeing its destruction should fit into Yarbrough’s 19-hour work week, said Lt. Doug Camster.

“The problem is trying to catch up,” Yarbrough said.

Items gathered for criminal trials are supposed to be cleaned out of the evidence vault once the case has been prosecuted and its six-week appeal period passes. Car parts and other objects collected from accident scenes are held for seven years, the deadline for filing a civil lawsuit.

Ideally, Yarbrough said she should be preparing evidence collected two years ago for destruction over the next several months. Instead, Yarbrough estimated she will need at least eight months to plow through the existing mass of evidence troopers have collected during the past decade.

The investigating officer or a supervisor must OK the disposal of any evidence.

Owners of weapons, wallets and other salvageable possessions are notified before the items are cleaned out of the vault. Items that go unclaimed after six months are sold at yearly General Services Bureau auctions in Boise.

Blood samples and drugs are burned when the criminal appeal period ends. Seized alcohol is poured out by officers at the scene and no longer is stored in the vault.

“For drugs and blood and urine it’s an easy process,” Yarbrough said. “You don’t have to notify people or return it.”

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