![]() ![]() A more thorough search uncovered a pocketknife belonging to one of the victims and, outside the manicured area, large pools of blood. There, the search party found spots of blood and what would later be identified as brain tissue. ![]() They noticed that the area around the gate had been manicured, or cleaned so much that it looked unusual. As the party began to search the Helican Road, they arrived at the "gate,"in actuality an area where a gate used to be. On Monday, July 11, 1988, the search party began searching the "Helican Road," which was more of a trail that crossed the Casteel's property and led to the blue hole. Griffith thought that the water in the jeep was unusual because it had not rained recently. Griffith noticed that the jeep was wet in the back. He stopped a jeep, coincidentally driven by Casteel, and asked for a ride. Police began referring to this area as "Crime Scene I." After finding out that the ATVs had been found, Lee Griffith, one of the victims' brother, was driving home to tell his mother about the news when his vehicle began having trouble. These were later found to be pieces of a skull that had been hit by a bullet. Bone chips were recovered from one of the ATVs. Officer Larry Sneed of the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department responded to a call and found three ATVs dumped in an illegal dumpsite. Sunday morning, Ja search party was organized to find the victims. The number matched that of the license plate he saw at the car wash. Lines saw Casteel driving a jeep, and Mr. Lines found the woman's answer suspicious so he wrote down the license plate number. Because slaughterhouses are normally closed on Sundays, Mr. Lines asked the woman whether it was blood, and the woman replied that she had just taken a pig to the slaughterhouse. The next day, John Lines observed a woman washing blood out of the back of a jeep at a local car wash. He remembered Casteel's headlights were off, and daylight was just breaking. ![]() James Walling, who lived on Sawyer Road, saw Casteel's jeep driving in the area at about 6:15 a.m. Hershell Green, a neighbor of Casteel's, heard what he believed to be Casteel's jeep on Sawyer Road at around 5 a.m. Later that morning at around 6 a.m., she saw a female driving the Casteel's jeep with a dog in the back. Janice Hall lived near Sawyer Road, and heard a large-tired vehicle passing her home several times between 3 and 4 a.m. Several others also thought a jeep was in the area that night. on July 9, 1988, and that he went to his grandfather's house after that to go to bed. However, at trial, Donnie Casteel testified that he worked until 11 p.m. They identified the jeep to the police and identified Casteel's son, Donnie Casteel, as the driver. Anderson explained that by "tarp" they meant the canvas top of the jeep. They also said there was a tarp in the jeep, but when pressed, both Mr. July 10, 1988, Jerry and Donna Anderson saw a jeep that was "loaded down" with weight in the back. They were looking for their son, who was supposedly camping in that area. Jerry and Donna Anderson were in the area where the bodies were ultimately discovered on the night of Jand the early morning of July 10, 1988. As she and her husband were leaving, they saw someone driving a Jeep near Sawyer Road, the area where the ATVs were ultimately found. That evening she heard ATVs cross her property. Also on July 9, 1988, Pam O'Neal was camping on property that was near the Casteel's. Sometime later that night, Mildred Hines saw a jeep near Sawyer Road with one or two ATVs in the back. Wiggins heard between five and eight shots, all of which were fired within about ten seconds of each other. William Wiggins, one of Casteel's neighbors, also heard a series of gunshots coming from the direction of Casteel's property on July 9, 1988. Brown heard a rapid succession of gunshots coming from near Casteel's land. Later that evening, between 6 and 8 p.m., Mr. Brown that he and his wife were going camping that weekend. ![]() Brown and the defendant got into a conversation, and Casteel told Mr. He stopped the Casteel driving a muddy Jeep Scrambler Casteel's wife was also in the jeep. On the afternoon of the disappearance, Vince Brown was helping a friend back a moving van out onto a narrow mountain road and had to stop traffic in order to back the truck out of a driveway. Frank Casteel had recently bought property near the blue hole. ![]()
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