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Forensic expert joins inquiry of cop
BY ALIA BEARD RAU AND GARY GRADO
TRIBUNE

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday it has brought in a nationally renowned forensic investigator and ordered another autopsy be conducted in the case of Dawn Rae Nelson, who was shot and killed by a Chandler officer earlier this month.


“This investigation shall be full, it shall be thorough and it shall be objective,” said County Attorney Richard Romley. Nelson, 35, of Ahwatukee Foothills was shot and killed by officer Dan Lovelace in a Walgreens drive-through on Oct. 11 while attempting to fill a fraudulent prescription, police said.

After the news conference, Romley confirmed that the outside investigator is Scottsdale forensic expert Lucien Haag.

Haag helped Chandler police solve the 1999 murder of Natalie Kiehle, whose husband, David Wayne Kiehle, is serving a lifetime prison term with no parole for her death.

Haag reconstructed the shooting scene and found it would have been physically impossible for Natalie to commit suicide as Kiehle had said she did. He also investigated the 1998 Mesa case in which five officers fired up to 36 bullets at Tasia Patton and Michael Federici, who were in a stolen vehicle, killing both.

“My role involves using physical evidence to rule in or rule out possibilities and test witness accounts and the shooter’s accounts,” Haag said, adding that evidence he looks at includes the proximity and orientation of the gun, distance of the gun from the target and gunpowder residue. Haag has worked in crime labs, taught and written dozens of scientific papers on ballistics over a 39-year career, and is hired by both police agencies and defense attorneys regularly for his expertise on shooting reconstruction.

Chandler police are conducting the investigation of the shooting under the direction of the county attorney, who will decide if any charges will be filed against Lovelace. The Arizona Department of Public Safety also is helping with the forensics investigation, Romley said.

“I have been working hand in hand with the Chandler Police Department,” he said. “They have followed every request that I have made of them and they have been fully cooperative.”

Romley said the criminal investigation could be completed by Nov. 8, adding that preliminary toxicology reports already are in.

“This is the top priority because we know this is of interest in the community,” he said. “Although it’s very fast, it’s going to be very, very thorough. And I know I have not allowed out much information on this, but it is to ensure the integrity of the investigation.”

Stacy Kray, a cousin to Nelson’s husband, John, declined to comment on the county attorney’s decision to conduct a second autopsy and what it may mean for the overall investigation.

The Nelson family is waiting for the outcome of the criminal investigation before it decides on any possible legal action, Kray said.

City Councilman Phill Westbrooks said the autopsy request “just made me wonder what they are looking for.”

He has been the loudest proponent of discussing the possibility of bringing in an outside police agency to investigate the shooting. He also has repeatedly asked that the process be explained as thoroughly as possible.

“I feel more comfortable knowing that we have a team of outside agencies working on the investigation because it helps with the integrity and the purity of the investigation,” he said. “I also hope this helps the family and the community have a better understanding of how the process is working.”

— Tribune reporter Bryon Wells contributed to this story.

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