The police are called to a prep school one morning when a student is found dead in his room. He appears to have fallen and hit his head, though there's no sign of a struggle. His roommate says he slept through it -- he's slurring his words and appears to be drunk even at this early hour.
I'm hoping to get a feel for how the police investigation will proceed. The story is set in the US, probably New England.
1 :: Would the roommate automatically be considered a suspect and treated as such? (Handcuffs, etc?) Or would they treat him as a witness until they have more details?
2 :: The roommate is slurring because he drank a small amount of a spiked drink. (The victim drank most of it.) How would the police realise this? Would they give him a breath test, see his blood alcohol is nonexistent, and then draw blood to check for drugs?
3 :: How would the police realise the victim was drugged? Is it routine for them to do a tox screen after finding somebody dead, or would they only start looking after they realise that the roommate has ingested something?
4 :: Is there anything else you think I should know or resources you'd recommend I read?
Thank you for any help you can provide. This is a pivotal part of the novel and though I won't be going into a blow-by-blow of the investigation, I'd like to get the feel of it right.
I'm hoping to get a feel for how the police investigation will proceed. The story is set in the US, probably New England.
1 :: Would the roommate automatically be considered a suspect and treated as such? (Handcuffs, etc?) Or would they treat him as a witness until they have more details?
2 :: The roommate is slurring because he drank a small amount of a spiked drink. (The victim drank most of it.) How would the police realise this? Would they give him a breath test, see his blood alcohol is nonexistent, and then draw blood to check for drugs?
3 :: How would the police realise the victim was drugged? Is it routine for them to do a tox screen after finding somebody dead, or would they only start looking after they realise that the roommate has ingested something?
4 :: Is there anything else you think I should know or resources you'd recommend I read?
Thank you for any help you can provide. This is a pivotal part of the novel and though I won't be going into a blow-by-blow of the investigation, I'd like to get the feel of it right.