By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
Testimony resumed in the David Dooley murder retrial Monday and the medical examiner who conducted Michelle Mockbee’s autopsy provided some key insights into the manner of her death.
David Dooley waits for trial to resume Monday. He is charged with murder in the killing of Michelle Mockbee at Thermo Fisher Scientific in Florence (photos by Mark Hansel, click to enlarge).
Dr. Gregory Wanger, a witness called by the Commonwealth, said Mockbee sustained at least four blows to her head, which is what killed her, but death was not instantaneous.
“If the brain stem is damaged you’re dead. You’re dead now – not later,” Wanger said. “She didn’t die instantly, because the brain stem is intact.”
Wanger was able to identify four separate areas where Mockbee’s head was impacted, but said if there were repeated blows to the same area, it would be hard to distinguish one from another.
Mockbee was killed early on the morning of May 29, 2012 shortly after she reported to work at Thermo Fisher Scientific in Boone County.
Mockbee, a Fort Mitchell mother of two was beaten to death, and Dooley was one of about nine employees at the facility at the time of the killing.
Dooley was employed as an outside contractor at the Thermo Fisher Scientific performing custodial duties.
He was convicted of murder in 2014, but was granted a new trial when Judge James R. Schrand ruled evidence that would have aided in his defense was withheld from is attorneys.
Wanger said he initially suspected the killer might have used more than one weapon in the attack because of the different types of wounds to Mockbee’s head.
Mockbee had both linear and curved wounds on her head, suggesting the injuries were caused by two different weapons.
Defense attorney Jeff Lawson (standing) holds a tape gun of the type former medical examiner Dr. Gregory Wanger (seated) said he believes killed Michelle Mockbee.
Initially, investigators called Wanger asking if the metal legs of a chair found at the scene could possibly be the murder weapon. He dismissed that theory because the wounds were inconsistent with those that could have been delivered by the chair.
They later asked if an industrial tape gun could have been used to beat Mockbee.
Wanger testified in court Monday that he had never seen an industrial tape gun, but after examining it determined that it could create wounds consistent with those found on Mockbee.
“For me, I think it’s the tape gun,” Wanger said.
Wanger explained that it appeared at first glance that the tape gun would have to have been held upside-down to deliver the wounds sustained by Mockbee. He said, however, that perspective changes if she were bent over or lying down when she was struck.
Under cross-examination by defense attorney Jeff Lawson, Wanger placed the tape gun against an image of one of Mockbee’s wounds on a television monitor to show how it might have caused the injuries.
The images of Mocbee’s wounds, which included portions of her head that were shaved to reveal the full damage done by the impact, were very graphic but some of her family members remained in the courtroom during the testimony.
The defense is expected to call a witness later in the trial that will dispute the assertion that the wounds were caused by a tape gun of the type introduced as evidence.
Lawson asked if something else might have caused the wounds and Wanger asked, “Like what?”
Michelle Mockbee, a Fort Mitchell mother of two, was killed at the Thermo Fisher Scientific plant where she worked in May, 2012. David Dooley, who worked as an outside contractor at the facility, is on trial for murder in the killing (provided photo).
Lawson did not have an answer.
The tape gun shown in court was a replica, of the same make and model, as the one prosecutors theorized is the murder weapon.
No tape gun with DNA, blood or other evidence indicating it was used in the killing was ever found at the facility.
Assistant Attorney General Jon Heck said in his opening statement that Dooley, who left the facility for a time on the morning of the killing, disposed of evidence while he was gone.
In addition to the wounds to Mockbee’s head, she also suffered a broken arm, a bruised liver, and multiple cuts and/or scrapes to her head, ear, wrists and feet.
Wanger said that it is possible the injuries could have occurred independent of one another during the attack, but that is unlikely.
The most likely scenario, he said, is that Mockbee was struck, then dragged about 40 feet from her office to the mezzanine area where she was found. She sustained the broken arm, at the shoulder area, and the injuries to her feet while being dragged, and the bruised liver as she was dropped to the ground.
He said the cuts to her wrists probably happened as she was bound.
The jury also heard from Britton Morin, who, at the time, worked for an NMS Forensic Laboratory in Pennsylvania. She sad the Kentucky State Police lab sometimes sent evidence to that facility if it required more advanced testing.
Britton Morin tested DNA evidence in this case while working at NMS Forensic Laboratory in Pennsylvania. She said DNA found on a piece of a plastic bag on Michelle Mockbee’s head likely came from David Dooley and one other male. Dooley emptied trash cans at the facility as part of his custodial duties.
Morin said she tested Mockbee’s shirt and pants, the handles to a plastic food bag and part of a plastic bag identified by prosecutors as the one wrapped around the victim’s head.
She testified that she compared the male DNA to three men, Dan Mockbee, Michelle’s hubsand, David Dooley, and Joseph Siegert, who also worked at Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Siegert and Dooley were at the facility when Mockbee was killed.
She said Dan Mockbee could not be excluded as the major DNA contributor on the shirt and David Dooley could not be excluded as a minor contributor.
She added that one in seven caucasian American males could not be excluded because of a similar DNA profile.
She also added that it would not be unusual for Dan Mockbee’s DNA to be on the shirt, since Michelle was his wife.
Morin said the DNA from the bag around Michelle Mockbee’s head most likely came from David Dooley and one other contributor.
Dooley changed the trash bags at the facility as part of his custodial duties and the bag on Mockbee’s head was believed to have come from the trash can in a ladies restroom.
On cross-examination, Lawson asked Morin if she had been sent any other trash bags to test for Dooley’s DNA.
Morin said she had not.
When court resumed after the lunch break, Judge Schrand order all electronic devices in the courtroom to be turned off, including the pool camera used by local television stations, audio devices used by print reporters, and laptops.
Judge James R. Schrand (standing) ordered all electronic devices removed from the courtroom Monday following the lunch break. Schrand said attorneys complained witnesses were watching a live feed before they entered the courtroom. From left are Jeff Prather and Jon Heck, representing the Commonwealth and defense attorneys Deanna Dennison and Jeff Lawson.
Schrand indicated that during the break, attorneys expressed concerns that there was a live stream of the trial and that witnesses might be viewing previous testimony before they entered the courtroom.
None of the local stations were streaming live and despite assurances that the stream would be killed, the ban remained in effect for the rest of the afternoon.
Schrand is expected to rule today on whether electronic devices may be used in the courtroom again without a live feed.
Monday afternoon, the defense recalled one of the investigators from the Boone County Sheriff’s office to go over some of his previous testimony.
Also Monday afternoon, Tom Siemen, Regional Operations Manager at Thermo Fisher Scientific, described the work David Dooley and his wife Janet performed at the facility.
He explained that Janet Dooley was paid a monthly salary and that if she or David Dooley performed duties beyond that monthly contract, they were paid $11 an hour.
He was asked to review several months worth of time cards and admitted he didn’t see much of Janet Dooley in the weeks leading up to Mockbee’s killing.
He said the couple often exchanged roles and added that as long as the work was getting done, he didn’t care who did it.
He acknowledged later that if David Dooley was clocking in for Janet Dooley when she wasn’t there, he would have had a problem with that.
“That would be inappropriate,” he said.
The trial is scheduled to resume today at 10:30 a.m. in Courtroom 4B of the Boone County Courthouse.
For links to the NKyTribune’s extensive coverage of the Dooley case, go to www.nkytribune.com and, using the search tool, enter the word “Dooley.”
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com
What a bunch of conjecture presented by the prosecution so far and that includes that presented by the so-called expert! When the defense lawyer Lawson, asked the state’s witness if something else might have caused the wounds and State expert responded, “like what?” Sounds like a real “smart “A”! Also, with nine people in the building, who would drag a body 40 feet? Are they sure about the time of death or did they pick a time when they figured they could hang it on someone? When this murder happened Boone County had 2 unsolved murders, a couple in a motel and another one and things were not looking good!