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Investigators Searching the Recovery Area

Daytime photo of three investigators in a brushy clearing, one crouching and pointing at the ground holding a clear evidence bag while two others lean in to look

What This Image Shows​

A daylight press photograph of three investigators working a dirt clearing in brushy, semi-wooded ground. One crouches and points at a specific spot while holding a clear plastic evidence bag; the other two lean in to look. Agency lettering is partly legible on two of their shirts, and a piece of orange flagging ribbon is tied to a branch in the background.

The flagging ribbon is the detail worth noticing: it marks a point already identified, which means this frame shows documentation of a located item rather than an open search. The terrain — dry grass, brush, a clearing — matches the description of the wooded area north of the campus where the government's own summary states the Mauser .30-06 was located wrapped in a towel.

The photograph is press coverage and does not itself establish what was found or when. The recovery sequence is exactly what researchers have questioned: when the area was searched, who found the rifle, and how the timeline of the find sits against the movements attributed to the suspect. See Gun Discovery Sequence, Rifle Found After Feds, and Gun Dropped Location.

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