Bloody Lies: A CSI Scandal in the Heartland

20. Smell Test

sMell test 153 20 smell test The recovery of Wayne Stock’s blood did not pass the smell test with the FBi. The FBi found it suspicious that Kofoed, as head of the crime lab, would go ahead and perform a second search of Will Sampson’s car several days after he had supervised a tedious and exhaustive search of the very same car that found nothing. and that Kofoed “recovered” blood underneath the dashboard—the only area of the car he supposedly checked—aroused even more suspicion. Moreover, the Cass County Sheriff’s Office, the Nebraska State Patrol, and the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office CSI were not making any attempt to get to the bottom of the matter. The complete lack of curiosity greatly alarmed the FBi. its special agents knew like everybody else that Will Sampson’s tan car had absolutely no involvement in the vicious murders committed by Fester and reid of Wisconsin. in 2008, Omaha’s FBi Special agent in charge John Kavanagh enlisted some of his best special agents to find him some answers. The FBI started with an obscure forensic services report filed by Clelland “cl” retelsdorf, who processed the backseat of Will’s car a full week after the first search of the car came up empty. When confronted by the FBI, however, retelsdorf made a startling revelation. He was not alone at the time of his assignment, even though his official report indicated so. Retelsdorf confided that his supervisor, Kofoed, had also accompanied him to the Douglas county Sheriff’s impound lot that afternoon on april 27, 2006. retelsdorf assured the FBi that Kofoed found the blood in the car on that date while in retelsdorf’s presence and not on the night of May 8, 2006, as Kofoed’s documented cSi report plainly showed.1 153 154 bloody lies retelsdorf’s statement to the FBi was pivotal. at the time, it effectively removed the Cass County Sheriff’s Office and the Nebraska State Patrol from any cloud of suspicion surrounding the alleged blood plant. it became obvious to the FBi that the lead homicide investigators did not tamper with the car prior to Kofoed’s phony cSi report, dated May 8, 2006. When confronted by the FBi, Kofoed openly admitted his original forensic report was false. Kofoed had not in fact collected Wayne Stock’s blood from the car on the evening of May 8 as he wrote in his official CSI report. Rather, he collected the blood some twelve days earlier in the company of cSi cl retelsdorf. But Kofoed adamantlydeniedanywrongdoing.Hetriedtoclaimthatthebloodgotintothe car through accidental transfer, or cross-contamination. after the FBi agents repeatedly told him his story didn’t pass the smell test, Kofoed demanded an attorney and cut off the interview. and that was the last time Kofoed ever sat down and discussed the Murdock case with the FBi.· · · Several days later, Kavanagh and two special agents summoned Douglas county Sheriff Tim Dunning to their FBi headquarters for a private meeting. according to the sheriff, Kavanagh bluntly asserted he had “a dirty crime lab manager who was planting fingerprints at crime scenes.” Kavanagh then displayed one of the questionable fingerprints and told Dunning, “And this is one of the prints, and i know that’s his. i can see it with my naked eye.”2 Dunningwasflabbergasted.“Ithoughttomyself,‘Whatamoron!’I’vetaken a class. You can’t do that,” Dunning would later testify. Dunning refused to believe the implication that he had a crook directing his crime lab. The sheriff also believed the FBi might be launching a witch hunt to discredit his popular cSi director and all of the great work accomplished by the Douglas county crime lab throughout the region. Dunning knew he needed to do something to put to rest any lingering controversy, so he decided to launch an internal affairs investigation of Kofoed. On June 10, 2008, Kofoed surrendered his office keys and work cell phone. He was ordered to stay away from the crime lab and Sheriff’s Office while the internal affairs process took place. Dunning tapped two longtime loyalists, capt. russ Torres and lt. ed leahy, to spearhead the investigation. No outside national forensics experts were utilized for the internal affairs probe. Nobody did any independent research or analysis to verify Kofoed’s sMell test 155 claims about accidental contamination. instead, Torres and leahy went ahead and interviewed all of...