By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
Tonight NBC’s Dateline will air a feature on the seven-year effort to find justice for Michelle Mockbee.
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, was convicted of murder in the killing for a second time earlier this year and sentence to up to 43 years in prison (provided photo).
Mockbee was killed at the Thermo Fisher Scientific plant in Boone County where she worked, in the early-morning hours of May 29, 2012.
David Dooley, a contractor who performed janitorial services at Thermo Fisher Scientific, was convicted of murder in the killing in 2014 and sentenced to life in prison.
It seemed that would be the final chapter in one of the most brutal killings in Boone County history and bring justice for Mockbee’s family, but the story was far from over.
Judge James R. Schrand, who presided over the trial, ruled that evidence that might have aided in Dooley’s defense was withheld from his attorneys and ordered a new trial in May, 2017.
Following a series of delays, that trial finally began on February 20 of this year.
The prosecution team, led by Kentucky Assistant Attorney General Jon Heck, admitted from the beginning that the case was based on circumstantial evidence.
The team presented hundreds of pieces of evidence in an attempt to prove Dooley was the only person who could have committed the crime.
Dooley’s new defense team, attorneys Deanna Dennison and Jeff Lawson presented alternate theories of the crime. They suggested others, including Mockbee’s husband, Dan Mockbee, and some of her coworkers had motive, and/or opportunity to commit the brutal killing.
Michelle Mockbee’s sisters, Jennifer Schneider, left and Cindy Parker, spoke with Dateline for tonight’s feature. Schneider talked with the Tribune this week about the family’s seven-year journey for justice (archive photo).
On March 12, the case went to the jury and in less than seven hours, spanning two days, a verdict was reached. David Dooley was once again found guilty.
He was sentenced to a total of 43 years in prison.
In the Dateline feature entitled “Return to the Early Shift,” Josh Mankiewicz speaks with members of Mockbee’s family members about the long and agonizing path to justice for them.
Jennifer Schneider, Mockbee’s sister, spoke to the NKy Tribune this week about the toll the ordeal has taken on the family.
She said one of the hardest things to cope with was the belief among many in the community that Dooley was innocent.
“Our hope is always, when we agree to do these interviews, that it’s portrayed to show the facts and hopefully the naysayers out there after viewing it will realize the guy really is guilty,” Schneider said. “There are so many people who doubt that and it’s really frustrating. Twenty-four different people and two juries, that should say something.”
Other members of Michelle Mockbee’s family, including her Mother Pat Whalen, her sister Cindy Parker, brother Chris Whalen, Dan Mockbee and the two daughters he had with Michelle, Madelyn and Carli, were also in or near the courtroom throughout the trial.
Schneider said the family breathed a collective sigh of relief when the verdict was read.
Kentucky Assistant Attorney General Jon Heck led the prosecution team that secured a murder conviction against David Dooley in the 2012 killing of Michelle Mockbee.
“They had a good defense team, but when you look at what happened, they were pointing a finger at Dan,” Schneider said.
Dan Mockbee collected several insurance policies following his wife’s death and admitted under oath he spent quite a bit that he could not readily account for.
“Dan is horrible with money,” Schneider said. “He’s just not good at it and he knows he’s not good at it. They tried to show reasonable doubt and thank God the jury saw right through that and that Dooley is guilty.”
The jurors were not the only ones who dismissed Dan Mockbee as a suspect.
Often when someone is killed in such brutal fashion, suspicion immediately turns to the spouse, but investigators eliminated Mockbee as a suspect and Michelle’s family never considered him one.
“Michelle was the love of his life and this has taken a tremendous toll on him,” Schneider said. “He has more good days now, where we see more glimpses of the old Dan where he was just a happy-go-lucky guy. But he can still tell you on any given day how many years, months, weeks and days it’s been, because he has that in his head.”
Defense attorneys attempted to portray Dan Mockbee, Michelle’s husband as an alternate suspect in her killing, but the family’s support of him never wavered (archive photo).
Dennison delivered an impassioned plea to jurors in her closing argument in defense of Dooley, but Heck had the last word and many believe his close removed any reasonable doubt jurors may have had.
Schneider also believe’s the case Heck’s team presented, culminating with that closing statement, carried the day.
“He touched on every single point,” Schneider said. “I was thinking in the back of my mind, well, he’s going to fail to say something and it’s going to create questions in the jury’s mind, but no, he touched on every single topic and put to rest any doubt. I was really impressed with his closing.”
Dooley has already gotten an extra bite at the apple, but Mockbee’s family is optimistic that this verdict will stand.
“I’m not concerned about an appeal, there is nothing in our mind that would overturn (the verdict),” Schneider said. “To my knowledge anything the defense wanted the judge granted. We think it’s going to stick and we don’t see any reason it would be overturned.”
The seven-year ordeal to seek justice for Mockbee has been almost overwhelming for the family. Perhaps one of the hardest things to deal with is that many believe media attention shifted from Mockbee to the now-convicted killer.
“We’re still missing Michelle just like the day it happened,” Schneider said. “It’s very frustrating that the focus turned to the man that was accused and not the victim.”
David Dooley was convicted of murder in the death of Michelle Mockbee for the second time in May of this year.He was sentenced to 43 years in prison (archive photo).
Mockbee was killed returning to work at the end of a Memorial Day Holiday weekend. For years the family dreaded the holiday because it was a grim reminder of the events that followed.
Schneider said a recent conversation with her sister Cindy has helped change that.
“Of course, we dreaded thinking about the horrible, horrible memories of that day,” Schneider said. “Cindy brought up a good point, that Memorial Day was her last holiday with us and we should kind of embrace that and celebrate her life. So she kind of made me look at it differently.”
Schneider will gather with family members to watch tonight’s airing, which she has not seen.
“Dan doesn’t like to watch these, it’s too painful for him, but he might feel differently this time because they interview Carli and Madelyn,” Schneider said.
What Schneider hopes will come through in tonight’s show is just how special her sister was.
“She was just the kindest soul you could ever imagine,” Schneider said. “She went out of her way to make people feel comfortable, to befriend people.”
Michelle Mockbee’s siblings, left to right, Cindy Parker, Jennifer Schneider and Chris Whalen at the conclusion earlier this month of the taping of tonight’s Dateline episode (provided photo).
Schneider recalls a story about a mother who was new to the district where Michelle’s daughters went to school that was feeling out of place.
“Michelle went out of her way to befriend this woman, to be kind, that’s just the way she was,” Schneider said. “She had such a big impact, this woman did a video about how Michelle affected her life. It was so heartwarming to watch that.”
While losing such an integral person in so many lives can splinter some families, Schneider says it has, in many ways done just the opposite.
“We’re a strong family, we’ve gotten even closer because of this,” Schneider said. “I think that Michelle would really be happy with the way we’ve all come together and are supporting each other throughout all of this.”
“Return to the Early Shift” is scheduled to air tonight at 10 p.m. EST on local NBC affiliates.
For the NKyTribune’s complete coverage of the trial and the events that preceded it, click here.
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com
Dear Staff of NBC,
I usually consider that police and NBC and HLN and other companies do the best they can to search out the facts of stories on which they report. I have often wondered why you and others do not ask a Very Obvious Question. QQ UNLESS it is being kept out on purpose so that perhaps police can actually have something that they can check to see if a person has been amongst a blood mess??Please let me know that, if it is true!
Let me give an example first. The young couple in Italy who were at the youth’s apt doing what they were doing there. The next picture we see is a sleepy-eyed couple with absolutely no blood on them!
With the man who did the crime found and put in prison and he is said to have said he did it.
THE MAIN POINT OF IT AND THE MAN IN THIS STORY. HAS NOT ANYONE, ANYONE EVER HAD TO TRY TO GET ALL THE BLOOD OUT OF THEIR CHILDREN’S HAIR WHEN THEY GET EVEN A LITTLE BUMP ON THEIR HEAD, OR BIGGER BUMP?
OK, in this story, I think I heard that the man found to be guilty by jury and victim’s children was somehow double dipping on his time card. and could have gone into a killing of the lady. But, instead of just killing her, he apparently does all kinds of dragging her around and making a mess of her office. That is, taking the time and energy to do it, by taking chances to be caught. So, then, apparently he left one pair of shoes in his home or in the building with no blood on them. He supposedly did all that gruesome action without a drop of blood anywhere else, in his pickup truck, not on any shoes, not on his skin, not in his hair. If she had surprised him while he was trying to get into the office, he would likely not have gone into the building with a Hazmat outfit on!. And if he did have it, where did he take it off so that he did not get a drop on anything else, including his pickup truck?. And nothing on his fingernails and Again, nothing on his hair or eyes. OK, he must have had a hazmat like suite on. Where is it? Where did he take it off? in the few minutes it took to get to the pickup truck. Where is the blood on the street where the truck was parked? If he went home to change something, where is the evidence of it.
Again, regarding the pickup, he would have had to have taken off the hazmat like outfit somewhere. Did he stand on a piece of canvas he had brought with him? so he would not have blood when he got to his pickup? Or would he have had a canvas or plastic to stand on in the building to take off his hazmat and tie up the outfit, and have had in mind where he was going to drop it off so it would not be found. Why would he then go home? If he were so organized, he would have had an outfit to put on.
EITHER THE MAN HAD A HAZMAT TYPE OUTFIT AND A PLACE TO STAND ON A CANVAS AND TAKE IT OFF, AND HAVE A WHOLE REGULAR CLOTHES OUTFIT TO PUT ON. REALLY/ I Or under the outfit!
THERE WAS NO PLACE SHOWN ON THE PROGRAM TONIGHT WHERE THE MAN WOULD HAVE BEEN THAT ORGANIZED, ESPECIALLY IF HE WERE SURPRISED BY THE LADY COMING IN, BUT ALSO BY BEING SO VERY ORGANIZED AND COVERED AS IN PLANS AHEAD OF TIME TO DO A PERFECT MURDER.
The man walking outside: We can see where he came into camera range and apparently put something into the trash. Were his fingerprints on the item? From where did he actually come? The camera only showed a spot where he came along the building. If security were such a great perfection, where were the views from the rest of the building sides? Where was the camera view of the hallway of the crime?
I am not saying he did not do the crime.
I am saying, I saw no proof in the hour that showed what was presented to NBC to show on TV for us dummies to wonder about!
Currently, there have been a lot of researching going on that show where the court, the prosecutor or defendant’s lawyers are doing things such as being overworked, or not being given all the info, or not interviewing people and on and on, such as the police officer and the prosecutor in this story!
As I said, I can’t prove the man guilty or not, although the family of the children of the victim are sure the right guy is in prison. But I don’t see how they can be sure from what was presented And where is the blood in the pickup truck foot peddles? Or why would he go home, if he did, if he had any blood on him, as he would have tracked it in there. Actually, that was one of the inconsistencies, as it could not be proven that he did or did not go home.
I think they call this trial a sieve or colander .!!
PS. There were apparently crowbar damage to the door to the office. Since the Janitor came and went at odad times, why didn’t he attack the door on the days that he would have known that she was not scheduled to come in to the office, as she also was know to come in early to work? As said above, it may be intentional, but it still looks like it has so many holes, so it is just circumstancial, and so he must have done it as all the known evidence seems to point to him. for the side who thinks he is guilty. Thanks for real space for me to put comments.
Ir might have been someone who had no connection to the people shown in the trial! But, have they discovered who the walker was? He was casual. On purpose, or just a walker?
I don’t think David Dooley did it. Something doesn’t feel right about the case, and one day all of that random dna is going to point to the real killer. David Dooley might have been stealing from the company, and he might have even left that morning to hide something related to the stealing, but it’s a big leap to murder. It’s the husband cash withdrawals that don’t make sense, and the fact the prosecution didn’t investigate them because they didn’t want to uncover another stronger motive. The “random guy” just proves the building wasn’t as secure as claimed, nothing more, but that’s a very significant point. Especially if someone could walk from another point and enter the building without crossing in view of the security cameras. David Dooley worked there, he would never have broken into an office with a screwdriver and left such a mess — he would have known that was traceable — that’s a sign of a breakin from someone who isn’t planning to return to the site of the crime again — a random stranger. David Dooley might be guilty of theft but not of murder.
As the janitor, wouldn’t David have a key to the office?Why waste all that energy prying the door open? Nothing of value in there…I would expect him to have the key. If he didn’t, why not?
This case stinks. There was more than sufficient doubt. In fact, there was nothing. Eventually, DNA will reveal the real killer… if the police don’t cover it up.
With hundreds of pieces papers, new evidence submitted in the second trial….which one or all is going to convince the public without a doubt that David Dooley is guilty? I’m appalled that the evidence or lack of was enough for a 43 year sentence. I’m embarrassed Assistant Attorney General Heck couldn’t do no better the second time around except to acknowledge the flimsy evidence at first trial. Yet, he continues to build his case upon this flawed foundation and then muddles it up with hundreds of new documents. Did Dateline leave out the new documents that convinces the public he’s guilty? Heck appears lazy or incompetent or Dateline left out something.
This whole deal smells so fishy! It doesn’t even make sense. I do not believe for one minute that David Dooley committed that crime..for all the reasons that people who have already posted have explained. I can’t believe a jury couldn’t see all the inconsistencies and crazy excuses for things that happened. I really hope he is exonerated with a new trial. This episode of Dateline was very disturbing. I believe an innocent man is in prison for a crime he did not commit.
I’m convinced there is something missing in this story. Not enough motive, or evidence either. I agree with all of the comments made above. The investigation had to be pretty shoddy if they couldn’t show fingerprints or DNA at the very least. And he would have a key to the door in the first place.