Lead detective Sgt. Volle admits investigators did not collect hair, DNA or fingerprints from other known suspects

Preliminary Hearing, Dec. 2011

Q. You guys didn’t look at anybody else, did you?
1 You guys being the police department.
2 A. I would not characterize that as true.
3 Q. Well, okay. Who did you look at other than the
4 defendant?
5 A. We looked at every family member.
6 Q. Who else?
7 A. Hailey, Chris Seel.
8 Q. I understand those were — go ahead. Chris Seel
9 is not —
10 A. Chris Seel, Jeff Sutton, Erin Sutton, DeWitt
11 Harkness, Chad Harkness, every one of them was
12 considered a suspect at the initial part of this
13 investigation.
14 Q. You looked at all of them, you talked to all of
15 them, right?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. And you let them all go, right?
18 A. That’s correct.
19 Q. Did you take any hair, DNA or fingerprints from
20 any of them and compare that to the unknown
21 hairs, DNA and fibers that you found in the room
22 where this homicide occurred?
23 A. No.
24 Q. Was that a mistake?
25 A. No.
1 Q. Because you made up your mind that Dana Chandler
2 was the person that had done it?
3 A. No.
Reported by: April C. Shepard, RPR, CCR, CSR

End of excerpt from preliminary hearing, Dec. 2011

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Sgt. Rich Volle’s testimony during trial, March 2012
Q. Did you look, you or the other investigators look (7) at anyone else as possible suspects other than (8) Dana Chandler?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. Who did you look at?
11 A. We looked at anybody — again, anybody who was
12 close to Mike or Karen that we thought might be
13 viable suspects, somebody that we needed to look
14 at.
15 Q. Did you look at — oh, well, tell me, you say we
16 looked at anyone we thought was viable suspects.
17 Let’s take it a step further. Who did you look
18 at?
19 A. DeWitt Harkness as the ex-husband of Karen
20 Harkness.
21 Q. All right. And why did you look at DeWitt
22 Harkness?
23 A. Again, same, similar situation of what we’re
24 talking about now, he’s an ex-husband to one of
25 the victims. So you look at people close to the
1 victims to try to figure out what their
2 relationship was like.
3 Q. Did you compare any of the hairs that were
4 recovered from DeWitt Harkness?
5 A. No.
6 Q. Did you compare any of the fingerprints that were
7 found from DeWitt Harkness?
8 A. No.
9 Q. Did you compare any of the DNA that was found
10 from DeWitt Harkness?
11 A. No, we did not.
12 Q. Who else did you look at as possible suspects?
13 A. Chris Seel.
14 Q. Chris Seel is Hailey Sisco’s boyfriend, or was
15 he?
16 A. Yes, is currently.
17 Q. When you say you looked at him, did you take any
18 DNA from him and compare it with the DNA that was
19 found at the scene?
20 A. No, we did not.
21 Q. Did you take any hairs or fibers from him and
22 compare them to the hairs and fibers that were
23 found at the scene?
24 A. No, we did not.
25 Q. Did you compare any of the fingerprints or palm
1 prints found at the scene to his?
2 A. No, we did not.
3 Q. So with regards to Mr. Harkness and Mr. Seel, you
4 did not eliminate them on the basis of any
5 negative comparison of fingerprints, DNA or
6 hairs, right?
7 *A. We did not use any physical evidence to eliminate
8 them as suspects.*
9 Q. Okay. All right. Who else did you look at?
10 A. Hailey Sisco.
11 Q. All right. And in looking at Hailey Sisco, did
12 you obtain any DNA from her and compare it with
13 the DNA that was recovered?
14 A. No, we did not.
15 Q. Did you obtain any known hairs from Hailey Sisco
16 and compare them to the unknown hairs found at
17 the scene both on the floor and on the shell (18) casing?
19 A. No, we did not.

Reported by: April C. Shepard, RPR, CCR, CSR