Negligence, Prejudice Plague Beach Town Death Investigation
After overlooking an alleged crime scene and despite damning evidence, authorities refuse to issue a warrant in woman’s suspicious death case. Opinion.
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Blood evidence and witness statements obtained by private investigators point to foul play, a potential crime scene, and possible person of interest in the suspicious death of a Kitty Hawk, NC woman. Conflicting incident reports and subsequent meetings between private investigators and law enforcement revealed evidence and possible motive for police and perhaps even prosecutorial misconduct.
On Wednesday, July 22nd, officers from the Kitty Hawk Police Department responded to an EMS Assist call. Amanda LeeAnn Fletcher Hartelben was found unclothed and unresponsive in her dry bathtub with bruises on her chest, shoulders, arms, breasts, and abdomen. She was immediately medevacked to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.
KHPD officers never entered the residence. Events leading up to that 911 call, and the reluctance from KHPD to rectify investigative missteps which followed, piece together a picture of what one private investigator called: “The gravest miscarriage of justice I have ever seen in my entire career.”
On Friday, July 24th, after insistence from family members, KHPD sent three officers to meet with them at LeeAnn’s home. Officers retrieved a blood-soaked comforter, pillow, and fitted sheet from LeeAnn’s bed. Despite the evidence and the amount of blood found in the bedroom, KHPD did not seal off the home. The question of why remains unanswered.
Regardless of reasons why, the officers who entered the home on Friday had an obligation to the victim and the victim’s family upon discovery of the evidence. At the very least, KHPD should have sealed the home to preserve what may have been a crime scene.
Suggestions from a National Institute of Justice handbook, Medicolegal Death Investigation Guidelines, section C: Documenting and Evaluating the Scene call for the following protocol to be followed upon discovery of a death scene:
1. Photograph Scene
2. Develop Descriptive Documentation of the Scene
3. Establish Probable Location of Injury or Illness
4. Collect, Inventory, and Safeguard Property and Evidence
5. Interview Witness(es) at the Scene
As of Friday, July 24th LeeAnn was still alive, though in a coma and facing life-threatening injuries. That does not, however, excuse the alleged inaction from KHPD once they found the bloody bedroom. This assertion is backed by the supposition that had officers conducted a routine walkthrough of the scene two days prior they may have discovered the blood evidence and could have, in theory, interviewed, and/or taken the lone witness and potential suspect into custody.
None of that happened. An investigator familiar with crime scene protocol told me that at the very least, the State Bureau of Investigation should have been notified immediately and allowed to process the scene and decide in which direction to proceed.
Amanda LeeAnn Fletcher Hartleben succumbed to her injuries on Saturday, July 25th.
Monday, July 27th. According to a family member, she took LeeAnn’s cell phone (allegedly missed at the scene on Friday) to KHPD, and Chief Joel Johnson refused it. The family then contacted a private investigative firm to conduct an independent investigation into LeeAnn’s death.
Tuesday, July 28th. Private investigators contacted Chief Joel Johnson to request a meeting to discuss the case. Chief Johnson reportedly refused. He said: “I don’t need to meet with you. It would be a waste of time.” Undaunted, the investigators contacted Assistant District Attorney Jeff Cruden, who agreed to a meeting, scheduled for Friday, July 31st.
Wednesday, July 29th. Family and investigators returned to LeeAnn’s home to take video evidence of the scene. They find more bloody items in the bedroom that were missed by KHPD and droplets of blood on the floor. There was no blood in the bathtub where LeeAnn was found. They photographed the evidence and bagged the items.
Friday, July 31st. Representatives from the P.I. firm met with Kitty Hawk Police Chief, Joel Johnson, Sgt. Brian Strickland, and Assistant District Attorney, Jeff Cruden. Investigators for the family turned over the evidence and chain of custody for the evidence collected on July 29th to KHPD.
“If y’all knew, and I’m not gonna tell you, but do y’all know any history about the deceased?” -Kitty Hawk Police Chief, Joel Johnson.
An audio recording of that meeting reveals possible bias against the victim and her family. As investigators attempted to establish a dialogue with law enforcement, ADA Cruden was more focused on asking investigators to squelch the family’s pleas for justice on social media. Cruden even makes the case for the family being responsible if no murder investigation goes forward:
“You know, some of (the family) we know. We’ve dealt with them before… a lot of the members of the family are some of the goodest people you’ll ever meet. But they’re killing us! And it’s gonna- if I could ever make the case it would make it certainly impossible for me to prosecute in Dare County… unfortunately, KHPD have dealt with multiple members of the family, in, not good situations. Several have gone to prison after those interactions…”
Chief Joel Johnson, lamenting the family’s protest of the lack of investigation, said: “…we’ll have to listen to this for four months (referring to the reluctance to issue a murder warrant until a full autopsy report is complete), with the family berating us for no reason. If y’all knew, and I’m not gonna tell you, but do y’all know any history about the deceased?”
It is clear from listening to the full interview that neither the Kitty Hawk Police Department nor Assistant District Attorney Cruden is in any hurry to treat this victim’s death as a homicide. Toward the end of the meeting, ADA Cruden illustrates this fact, plainly.
He said: “…of course, we all know from the autopsy, there’s no blunt force trauma on her body. The only bleeding source was from her anus, from the health issue she had.”
Family members who spoke with doctors who treated LeeAnn say that there is no truth to that, and that LeeAnn didn’t have any underlying medical conditions. At this point, all anyone can do is wait on the all-important medical examiner’s report and hope that this mysterious and needless death will be explained.
After the family went public with results from forensic testing conducted by their private investigator that illustrated blood throughout the home, the SBI become involved to do a full assist in the investigation, meaning they took over and immediately processed the home.
Despite overwhelming evidence of what appears to be blood, an attempted cleanup of the scene, and witness interviews to support premeditated violence toward the victim, District Attorney Andrew Womble remains defiantly opposed to treating the matter as a homicide, for now.
When family recently pressed Womble to issue a warrant for the arrest of the only suspect in the alleged assault of LeeAnn Fletcher, according to one family member DA Womble said:
“I don’t care if the Pope himself came to me today and told me to issue a warrant for homicide. I’m not issuing a warrant until I have an autopsy.”
This echoes a public statement District Attorney Womble made on August 10th, when he said:
“ In light of the recent public scrutiny surrounding the death of Amanda LeeAnn Fletcher in Dare County on July 25, 2020, I have decided to release a statement regarding the continued investigation of this matter.
At this time, our office is awaiting the official autopsy report from the medical examiner’s office in Virginia. No decisions regarding potential criminal charges will be made by the District Attorney’s Office until we receive this report.”
Just imagine for a moment if every district attorney with enough probable cause to take a potentially dangerous individual off the streets decided to wait until a months-long autopsy was conducted. How many hours, days, or months may pass? How many people could lose lives, or loved ones because of a district attorney’s failure to protect every citizen they were elected to serve?
Chief Joel Johnson’s department completely missed an apparent crime scene and instead of remedying that unfortunate error once discovered, he and his department did nothing to secure or process the scene.
Couple what may be police misconduct in the handling of this case, with a DA’s office that seems more interested in maligning the victim than explaining her death, and the calls for #JusticeForLeeAnn take on a much weightier significance.
District Attorney Womble’s office has demonstrated a lack of confidence in its ability to prosecute this as a homicide even when presented with evidence of that alleged crime. Ask yourselves now: What if it was your daughter, or mother? What would you want done about it? For how long could you remain silent?
PGR- for Tracker.
I have sent a request for comment to Chief Joel Johnson and District Attorney Andrew Womble. At the time of this posting they have not responded. I will post an update as needed once they have had sufficient time to respond to my query.-PGR 10/03/2020
*UPDATE: Representatives from the Kitty Hawk Police Department as well as District Attorney Womble declined to comment due to the ongoing nature of this investigation. PGR 10/05/2020. 3 p.m., Kitty Hawk time.
