Opinion ID: 811594
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Investigation Continues

Text: The Stock homicide investigation continued for months after Sampson’s arrest and led investigators to evidence in several different states. The DCCSI, headed by Commander David Kofoed, did the forensic work for the investigation. Sheriff Dunning left “hands-on” supervision of the DCCSI to Commander Kofoed. “The purpose of the [DCCSI] is to identify, document, collect, and preserve evidence from crime scenes,” as well as “examin[e] and process[] evidence utilizing scientifically accepted methods and procedures.” The Cass appellants, Investigators Lambert and O’Callaghan (NSP appellants), and Commander Kofoed met several times to coordinate the investigation, both before and after Livers confessed. During the investigation, Investigators Schenck and Lambert frequently visited the DCCSI, asking DCCSI employees to reprocess 5 Investigator Lambert stated in an undated report that Investigator O’Callaghan claimed Livers’ recantation was not recorded because of an equipment malfunction. -11- items whose initial testing had not linked Livers or Sampson to the crimes. One DCCSI employee reported feeling “pressured” to “find something.” Some of the physical evidence failed to support Livers’ confession. For example, Livers confessed to using one of Sampson’s guns to shoot the Stocks, but a search of Sampson’s guns did not produce any incriminating evidence. Livers described using green or black shotgun shells, but the investigators discovered a red shotgun shell at the Stocks’ home. Livers also claimed he entered through an unlocked door, but investigators found signs of a forced window entry. Finally, Livers said Sampson had used a red or yellow flashlight, rather than a gray flashlight like investigators found in the driveway of the Stocks’ house. Although the April 19 search of Will’s car did not reveal any incriminating evidence, Commander Kofoed and Investigator C.L. Retelsdorf examined the car again on April 27, 2006. Commander Kofoed claimed that, during this search, he took a swab from under the dashboard that tested presumptively positive for human blood. Investigator Retelsdorf did not find any blood when he retested the area. Investigator Retelsdorf reported the results of examining the car, without mentioning Commander Kofoed’s purported positive finding. On May 8, 2006, Commander Kofoed reported his April 27 swab of Will’s car, falsely claiming he took the swab on May 8, and failing to mention Investigator Retelsdorf’s negative swab. Lab analysis revealed the blood was Wayne Stock’s. Commander Kofoed later claimed the incorrect date on his report was a mistake. When Commander Kofoed told Captain Dean Olson about the incorrect date, they agreed Commander Kofoed should not correct the report, but should tell the prosecutor when the case was tried. Sheriff Dunning did not learn of this conversation until March 2008, more than one year after the charges against Livers and Sampson were dismissed. -12- In May 2006, Investigator Lambert and a DCCSI investigator traced an inscribed ring found in the Stocks’ home to a truck stolen by Jessica Reid and Gregory Fester, two Wisconsin teenagers. Investigators found Reid’s and Fester’s DNA on the ring. Other physical evidence also connected Reid and Fester to the Stock murders. After being confronted with the evidence against them, Reid and Fester admitted to involvement in the murders, each naming the other as the shooter and at first claiming only the two of them were involved. Investigators Schenck and Lambert promised Reid and Fester leniency if they admitted others were involved in the crime and threatened them with more severe punishment, including suggesting Reid might receive the death penalty, if they did not. Reid was shown pictures of Livers and Sampson. Eventually, both Reid and Fester changed their stories to implicate two other men, though Reid recanted this version within forty-eight hours. There was no other evidence linking Reid and Fester to Livers or Sampson. Sergeant Weyers and Investigator O’Callaghan traveled to Texas and interviewed Ryan Paulding, a friend of Livers. During a July 6, 2006 interview, Paulding denied knowing of any plan to murder the Stocks. Paulding changed his story after failing a polygraph examination given by the Mansfield, Texas, Police Department. Paulding told officers that Livers had told Paulding he planned to kill the Stocks. The next day, July 7, 2006, another polygraph examination indicated Paulding was being deceptive when he denied “know[ing] anyone from Wisconsin as being involved in killing the Stocks.” Paulding again met with law enforcement, possibly Sergeant Weyers and Investigator O’Callaghan. At first, Paulding repeatedly denied knowing anyone from Wisconsin. An officer told Paulding she did not believe Paulding (1) told the investigators all he knew about the murders, and (2) did not know anyone from Wisconsin. One of the officers threatened to charge Paulding as -13- an accessory to murder or a co-conspirator because he was not cooperating. After about twenty minutes, Paulding said some people from Wisconsin might have come to the airport where Paulding worked. After Paulding’s interview, Paulding’s father told the Texas Ranger with whom the Nebraska investigators had been working that Paulding had an IQ of 706 and the maturity level of a fifteen-year-old.