Personally, I could justify some reasonable, relatively brief delay in order to investigate in-house at least in a preliminary way.
However, when it became clear that it was probable that a crime had been committed, then officials ought to have been called in, imho.
I think this is the mistake people make, assuming they can figure out if there's something to it or not. At the slightest indication that somethings wrong call the cops, get people investigating who have seen it all and know what to look for. Wideawake is right a lot of these people have no sense of right or wrong and can conceal just about anything.