Lucas said, “Tonight, I have Senior Detective Brian Hernandez on the phone. He has agreed to grant a rare interview. Thank you for joining me tonight, Detective. Can you please tell my audience how you came to be in charge of this case?”
“Of course, Lucas. I’m happy to. On Saturday morning, it became clear that there was a potential conflict of interest in the Candace Swain murder investigation. The detective who had been in charge cooperated and provided all documentation to me, and Ms. Merritt provided me with a copy of Candace Swain’s journal, which has since been authenticated by a handwriting expert. The journal provided some verifiable evidence that Candace had been involved in the cover-up of an accidental death at Associate Professor Rachel Wagner’s apartment. The journal also documented other parties and Candace’s efforts to come forward to authorities with the information.
“Ms. Merritt also had compelling evidence that Nicole Bergamo, who was at that time in a coma, might have eyewitness evidence to Ms. Wagner’s guilt in her poisoning as well as witness intimidation. When I interviewed Ms. Bergamo on Sunday afternoon, I was able to confirm that, as well as gather other evidence from the sorority, witness statements, and at Ms. Wagner’s residence.”
“But it was when Ms. Wagner kidnapped me that you had what you really needed for a warrant.”
“Correct,” Brian said. “She made statements to both you and Ms. Merritt that implicated her in multiple felonies. Unfortunately, she was shot and killed while attempting to kill you and Ms. Merritt.”
“I’m a forensics student,” Lucas said, “and I am more comfortable with the science than with other investigative techniques. Would you have been able to get a warrant to search Wagner’s house without her decision to kidnap me?”
“Yes, based on Ms. Bergamo’s statement, I would have been able to get a warrant. Even before then, the DA was looking at precedents to admit Candace’s journal into evidence for the purpose of a warrant. That was in the works when Ms. Wagner decided to set the chemical bomb and kidnap you.”
“There is some question that the initial police investigation was compromised because Ms. Wagner was dating the detective in charge. A media report—which I didn’t comment on—wrote about it this morning.”
“The official statement of Flagstaff Police Department is that the Candace Swain investigation is being reviewed for compliance with departmental policy, but to date, all procedures were followed. But my own unofficial analysis is that the detective who was in charge had done everything he could with the evidence he had available to him. An investigation is only as good as the evidence we can find, and in this case the delay in the state lab coupled with false statements by Ms. Wagner and Ms. James contributed to the faulty investigation. We are currently reviewing our process of working with NAUPD and the state lab on any future investigations, including how we retain and use security footage.”
“One more question, Detective Hernandez. You have been looking into the past of Rachel Wagner and the death of another Sigma Rho college student, some years ago, at the University of Arizona. Can you share what you know?”
“We’re working with the Tucson Police Department in a joint investigation, but a sorority sister went missing near the end of her sophomore year of college. Her name was Brittney Posner. Her body was found off campus over a year later, at the bottom of a cliff near a trail on Mount Lemmon. The Tucson police investigated the disappearance and interviewed several people in the sorority, including Rachel Wagner—the victim’s roommate. Ms. Wagner gave conflicting statements, but the police found no physical evidence tying her to the victim’s disappearance. When her body was found, they again questioned Ms. Wagner and again found no probable cause—but she remained a person of interest. The main issue was that two autopsies conflicted. The first said cause of death was indeterminate, that they couldn’t confirm whether she’d died from the fall or was already dead when she fell. A second autopsy suggested that she died from the fall itself. Tox screens were done, but many drugs don’t last in the body over time, and when found the body was in such an advanced state of decomposition, many of the tests were inconclusive.
“We’re now helping to revisit the case, and based on some documents we found in Ms. Wagner’s residence, we believe she may have been involved. I can’t say more right now but hope to have a full report shortly.”
“Maybe you’ll be able to share that report with my listeners on my final podcast episode in two weeks.”