BOSTON MARATHON HUNT: NO SHORTCUTS ALLOWED

The authorities tonight finally captured suspect #2 in the Boston Marathon Bombings. They credited a tip from the Franklin Street resident and owner of the boat on the property where the suspect had holed-up nursing his wounds. This man had seen the blood at the boat site and reportedly saw the stowaway suspect there, too. It isn’t clear whether the suspect saw him back, and if so, why he didn’t flee at once. Perhaps he was too weak from blood loss.



The cops already were pretty sure they had drawn blood at the scene of a shootout the night before less than a mile away. There was a spattering of blood at the location where the suspect had abandoned his stolen car after driving it away from that shootout. So it’s pretty likely there was a trail of blood that could have been used to track the suspect overnight. A trained bloodhound could have easily followed that blood to wherever the suspect had gone.



But rather than employ a dog to do what they do so well, the authorities went about the time-consuming chore of going door-to-door within a specific radius which, as it turned out, wasn’t quite long enough to ensnare the suspect. The dog would have trailed the suspect afoot even until the last drop of blood fell from his body, if necessary.



If the suspect had been able to stanch the outpouring of blood sufficiently to create a gap in the path, by afternoon the authorities should have been able to present the dog with an overall scent profile--like a dirty sock or undershirt--of the suspect since by then they’d accessed his apartment.  Or the dog could have just gone on body scent that accompanied the blood--and/or from the car.