During the search for murder suspect Edward Hale Oct. 20, police employed K9 units and air support from two agencies; however, it was an agent from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) who located Hale's body at the edge of the baseball field at T. Clay Wood Elementary School.
The discovery of the suspect's car at 8:18 a.m. Monday set off a massive search in the area. Hale was thought to be in the vicinity of the school in Nokesville before he was discovered dead from a self-inflected wound.
Both the Fairfax County Police Helicopter Division and CBP participated in the search.
"Fairfax was first but needed to refuel, so Customs took over," Prince William Police spokesperson Officer Jonathan Perok said.
According to Customs and Border Protection spokesman Carlos Lazo, a CBP Office of Air and Marine AS-350 helicopter crew based out of Manassas launched to aid Prince William County Police.
"The crew included an aircrew rifle operator in order to provide an additional measure of officer safety," Lazo said. "That crewman identified what appeared to be a body in the brush near T. Clay Elementary School and Patriot High School."
Lazo explained that the aircrew made another pass to determine that there was no threat to officer safety and then directed Prince William County SWAT members to the location of the body.
The AS-350 remained overhead until the scene was secured.
"Although OAM’s primary mission is to protect the American people and nation’s critical infrastructure, OAM’s unique air and marine capabilities enable it to provide support to federal, state and local enforcement partners in response operations," he said.
For their safety, the administration evacuated T. Clay Wood students from the area to Brentsville District High School and students at Patriot High School were sequestered in their building throughout the operation.
Although the agency did not want Bristow Beat to disclose the name of the agent who located Hale, a source revealed that his step daughter is a Patriot High School student and was present at school during the search.
Olivia Rinaldi contributed to this article.
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