Bloody Lies: A CSI Scandal in the Heartland

23. Underdog

170 bloody lies 23 underdog Special Prosecutor clarence Mock went for broke. He built his entire case against Kofoed on the premise that the legendary cSi chief not only planted blood in the Murdock murders but also planted blood to frame a notorious, confessed child killer from cass county back in 2003. That summer, Kofoed had saved the day for the local Plattsmouth Police Department in a big way. He produced a pristine DNa blood sample of young murdervictimBrendanGonzalezfromanoutdoortrashbin.Kofoed’sfeatbordered on the miraculous because he claimed to recover Brendan’s bloodstains five full months after the four-year-old boy was supposedly dumped in there. Back in 2003, nobody questioned Kofoed’s discovery because killer ivan Henk bragged to authorities in numerous confessions how he killed his son and later pleadedguilty,receivingalifesentence.However,inlightofthebloodevidence used to keep Nick Sampson and Matt livers in jail for the Murdock killings, the special prosecutor found a number of peculiar and disturbing patterns. in both cass county murder cases: • An outside law enforcement agency summoned Kofoed’s help. • Kofoed personally showed up at the crime scene, and blood was present . • Kofoed’s Omaha-based CSI unit collected many samples of victim blood. • Kofoed was later notified after the prime suspect had confessed. • Kofoed had unfettered 24/7 access to his crime lab, and he was the only supervisor in the unit. • Kofoed produced blood under odd and suspicious circumstances 170 underdog 171 to corroborate the suspect’s confession and thus rescue the day for frustrated local investigators. • Kofoed did not submit any actual debris or objects to an independent outside laboratory used to administer the DNa tests. rather, he submittedthefilterpapersheallegedlyusedtoobtainthebloodspecimen . • Kofoed’sfilterpapersamplescontainedperfect,completeDNAprofiles of the murder victims, even though there should have been degradation . • Kofoed worked alongside forensic scientist CL Retelsdorf. Mock reasoned that if Kofoed had planted blood evidence against Nick Sampson and livers when he believed in their guilt, why would the cSi chief in June 2003, this trash bin was seized by Plattsmouth police from an apartment complex in a neighboring city after confessed killer ivan Henk claimed he put his four-year-old son Brendan Gonzalez’s body into the garbage bin some five months earlier. Douglas County CSI David Kofoed then claimed to find bloodstains that produced a perfect DNA profile of Brendan Gonzalez in the trash bin. Seven years later, cass county Special Prosecutor clarence Mock resurrected the Gonzalez case to prove how Kofoed engaged in a long-standing pattern of forensic fraud. (Author ’s collection) 172 bloody lies not plant blood against confessed child killer ivan Henk when everyone was convinced of Henk’s guilt? By early 2010, Mock asked the court to schedule a weeklong pretrial motion . He intended to show evidence suggesting that Kofoed had engaged in a pattern of forensic misconduct and that his misdeeds preceded the 2006 farmhouse slayings in Murdock. cass county District Judge randall rehmeier agreed that the prosecutor’s allegations warranted further scrutiny by his court. The judge scheduled a weeklong pretrial motion on the matter. Mock lined up two DNa experts from the Serological research institute in California to fly to Omaha to testify at Cass County’s expense. Mock determined the exorbitant costs were necessary if he were to have any chance at all in securing a felony conviction and bringing Kofoed’s cSi career to a halt.· · · in 2010, assistant Plattsmouth Police chief Brad Kreifel served as a key witness for the prosecutor at the pretrial hearing against Kofoed. Seven years earlier, Kreifel had spotted fresh bloodstains on the garage floor of Brendan Gonzalez’s residence in the city of Plattsmouth. The largest blood smear was the size of a softball and had soaked into a broken recliner. at that time, ivan Henk was immediately arrested on a pair of unrelated crimes to buy detectives more time to investigate Brendan’s abduction and apparent homicide since the boy’s body hadn’t been located. Three months later, a dramatic and sensational outburst occurred inside the cass county District courtroom of Judge randall rehmeier. ivan Henk raised his arms into the air, shouting repeatedly, “The reason i killed Brendan Gonzalez was because he had 6-6-6 on his forehead. Brendan was the anti-christ!”1 Henk, who was a cunning manipulator and pure psychopath, later told the police that he really cut off his boy’s head with a serrated knife, wrapped Brendan’s...