No probe of contamination

PLATTSMOUTH, Neb. — No internal investigation followed a suggestion by Douglas County's CSI director that crime lab equipment had been contaminated with a murder victim's blood.

That testimony was offered Wednesday morning by a Douglas County forensic scientist during the trial of director David Kofoed in Cass County District Court on a charge of tampering with physical evidence.

Christine Gabig testified that Kofoed's claim of accidental contamination was not followed up to determine whether other equipment also was contaminated.

Kofoed said he used a blood-testing kit at the Murdock, Neb., home of murder victims Wayne and Sharmon Stock. He said he later used filter paper from the same kit when he searched a car for the second time. That search produced a positive test for Wayne Stock's blood.

Special prosecutor Clarence Mock is trying to prove that the Kofoed planted the blood to shore up the 2006 murder investigation. Mock asked Gabig whether Kofoed's suggestion of contamination set off a search for other contaminated equipment.

"Did anyone suggest we need to look at these kits to determine whether Wayne Stock's blood was present inside?" he asked Gabig.

"No one suggested that," Gabig said.

Mock asked if Gabig knew of any steps taken to delve into the possible breach of procedures.

"Not to my knowledge," she said.

He asked more questions.

Could Douglas County CSI employees have been interviewed about whether the blood-testing kit was used at the crime scene?

Could interviews have been done about whether any parts of the kit other than one piece of filter paper were contaminated with Wayne Stock's blood?

Gabig answered, "Sure."

On Tuesday, the car's owner testified that there was no explanation for Kofoed saying he found Stock's blood inside.

William Sampson said his 1998 Ford Contour was never at the crime scene, some 30 miles away, near Murdock, Neb.

That blood was the only physical evidence linking the killings of Stock and his wife, Sharmon, to a pair of Nebraska cousins jailed wrongly for months. Two Wisconsin teenagers later pleaded guilty in connection with the slayings and are serving life sentences.

Will Sampson testified that he and his future wife were at home in their Lincoln apartment on the evening of April 16 and had no visitors or phone calls.

They never lent the car to anyone, Sampson said. That included his brother, Nicholas Sampson, and his cousin, Matthew Livers, who were suspects at the time. Neither Livers nor Nicholas Sampson had ever driven in his car, he testified. The victims had never been inside his car, either.

Almost from the beginning, Cass County Sheriff's Investigator Earl Schenck Jr. theorized that Sampson's Ford served as the getaway vehicle. Sampson had dropped his car off at Lincoln Auto Detail hours after the killings.

Another prosecution witness, Matt Hale, testified Tuesday that the cleaning had been in the works for at least a month. Hale's brother offered it as a favor to Sampson, who gave him daily rides to work. Hale testified that he found no evidence that the car had been used in the murder. He later gave the vacuum bag he used during the cleaning to police investigators, who also found nothing.

Sampson and his wife signed a form to let authorities seize his car for forensics testing. Soon after, Nebraska State Patrol Investigator Bill Lambert called.

Sampson learned that Kofoed's unit reported that a chemical test indicated the presence of blood in the car.Contact the writer:

444-1056, john.ferak@owh.com

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