A Mother’s Death, a Botched Inquiry and a Sheriff at War
After a law enforcement officer reinvestigates the death of a 24-year-old mother, who was found shot on the night she broke up with her deputy sheriff boyfriend, one of Florida’s most powerful sheriffs becomes antagonized and launches a personal years-long attack against the investigator.
Two Gunshots on a Summer Night
A Florida sheriff’s deputy’s girlfriend is found dead, and the investigation—led by his colleagues—is botched. The case sets off a battle between investigators over whether Michelle O’Connell committed suicide or was murdered:
In fact, though investigators collected the gun, clothing and other evidence, they never tested it for fingerprints, DNA or gunshot residue. Officers also failed to canvass neighbors; failed to file required reports on what officers had seen that night; failed to download Mr. Banks’s cellphone data or collect and test one of the shirts he wore that night and failed to isolate and photograph Mr. Banks before he was interviewed.