Needle in haystack, running on fumes

For the first time in my life, I knew more than the FBI. They invited me to spend several hours with highly trained agents from the Evidence Response Team.

Yesterday, a select few buried a fake skeleton. Today everyone else had to locate and exhume it. I was one of only a few people who knew its actual location.


Lucky me.

I learned a lot. First of all, agents don’t JUST drive around in dark SUV’s. They are funny, personable people. The camera scares them just as much as the rest of us.

After about 30-minutes of searching, agents found the fake skeleton which was buried wearing a Spiderman mask. Humor is important when you spend much of your time digging up real people.

I got to watch them carefully dig around the bones to make sure no evidence got lost.

They work meticulously. Once they’ve removed the bones, they still dig down about a foot in case any evidence ended up buried under the body.

Excavating a real body would take about six hours, this one took just more than an hour. Good training for them and a good look at how it’s done for the rest of us.

What I didn’t tell the agents is that I arrived there nearly out of gas. I stood a good chance of not making it out of the “search site” on my own. (Blame Anna Hewson who ALWAYS leaves her car without gas.) I think I would have rather pushed our 9NEWS SUV up a mountain than have to call the FBI and ask for gasoline. Luckily no call was necessary.

After safely making it back to Denver, I stopped by Posh Salon for a haircut. We have a promo shoot next Tuesday and I was instructed to cut my hair.

Now it’s 10 minutes until the 4:00 show – which I’m appearing on to report this story.

Have a good weekend.

Tales from the tipline

“I will have to talk to my son”

You might want to read today’s “Tales from the Tipline” to any teenager who drives!

Wednesday we received a tipline call from a mom complaining about how her son received a ticket from a Sheridan Police officer for driving a car with a broken tail light.

The car was hers.

The tail light was broken during the big Monday night storm from a couple of weeks ago. So you can imagine this mom’s outrage when her son came home with a ticket!

So 9Wants to Know made a call to the officer who issued the ticket.

It turns out the boy was actually speeding. The officer tells 9News he issued the teen a ticket for the broken tail light to preserve the points on the boy’s license.

All mom had to say when we called to let her know what happened, “I will have to talk to my son”.

I’ll bet they had quite a talk.

By Nicole Vap, 9Wants to Know Executive Producer
Thanks to 9News Intern Matt Sewick for contributing to this blog.
Anyone can call the tipline with tips at 303-871-1799.

Meeting Nurse Jillian Fischer

It’s an unseasonable cool day in Denver yet when the rain broke this morning, I had the opportunity to meet the woman fired from two hospitals for allegedly stealing drugs.

When she first walked out of court and saw our cameras, she quickly turned around and walked right back in. Who wouldn’t?

After speaking with her attorney quietly in the back of courtroom 12T in Denver, she walked out, in front of our cameras, holding her attorney’s arm.

She stared straight ahead. She was dressed in a suit.

Even though former St. Anthony Central & Swedish nurse Jillian Fischer didn’t have to appear before a judge, she was there to sign paperwork for drug court.

If she gets treatment successfully, drug court could help her avoid jail or prison time.

Fischer walked out of the building before I asked if she’d like to talk.

Approaching someone after court should be done carefully and compassionately.

I always think, how would I like to be treated? I rarely feel comfortable sticking a mic in someone’s face without first asking if it’s okay. Everyone, no matter who you are, deserves respect.

Fischer shook my hand but let her attorney, Leonard Chesler, do the talking.

“She’s remorseful,” he told me. “She’s getting appropriate treatment.”

What I found interesting is the look on Fischer’s face. When you see the video tonight on the news, I’d be interested to hear what you think.

A message from nurses

So I spent time with several nurses today. One thing noticeable as you pass the front door of the hospital and onto the patient floors... most nurses love their jobs and they love patients.

Some I spoke with today were unhappy, others downright angry that one of their peers would steal drugs from patients.

They work hard at their jobs and they have a message: most nurses are great, caring people

Of course, they were responding to details we uncovered about nurse Jillian Fischer who allegedly stole drugs from Swedish Medical Center, was fired and then hired by St. Anthony Central Hospital where she allegedly did the same thing.

Vote in the poll on the right.



On tap for tomorrow... if the stars align, we're going to be bringing back some video you won't see any where else. That's all I can say... and when we show it to you, you'll understand why.