Medical vials found on Wharton trail
By BENJAMIN SHARP news@leader-news.com

Two vials appearing to contain human blood and tissue samples were discovered at the Santa Fe Trail fountain in Wharton last weekend.

Though police later discovered the vials only held solutions used for testing - and not any actual samples - they took no chances when retrieving the package Saturday morning.

After a passerby reported finding the vials, firefighter Domingo Montalvo Jr. - trained to handle hazardous materials - was called to the scene and sealed the vials in a protective plastic bag.

Initial concerns were that nearby walkers and runners, or even responding officers, might be exposed to a biological hazard.

"Contamination to the general public" was our primary concern, said Randy Whitlock, Wharton Police Department's Identification Officer.

Whitlock took the sealed package to Gulf Coast Medical Center's laboratory, which determined the vials did not contain any biological specimens.

"The stuff we found in there was just preservatives. They (the vials) had not been used," Whitlock said.

Police further learned the vials were part of a testing kit used by kidney dialysis patients and found the home they had been delivered to. But the kits usually contain four vials. Only two had been found.

Whitlock and other investigators went back out to the site on Monday to search for the missing vials. They didn't find them.

Police believe children or possibly an animal dragged the box containing the vials from the residence to the fountain, where it was found by a passerby. The passerby then called police.

It was the right thing to do, Whitlock said.

"Call the police. Let us go out there and get it packaged up," he said. "Don't even touch it."