By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
In a Boone County courtroom Tuesday, the employee at Thermo Fisher Scientific who discovered Michelle Mockbee’s body described a different crime scene than the one portrayed in police photos.
Edward “Ed” Yuska, an operations manager at the facility at the time, said Mockbee’s legs were bound with tape when he came upon her in a mezzanine area at the facility.
“I walked up to her, got close enough to see her legs were bound, her hands were bound behind her back, there was a bag over her head and blood all over,” Yuska said.
Mockbee, a Fort Mitchell mother of two, was beaten to death early on the morning of May 29, 2012 shortly after she reported to work at Thermo Fisher Scientific in Boone County.
David Dooley was employed as an outside contractor performing custodial duties at the facility.
Dooley was arrested later in 2012 and charged with murder in the killing.
In 2014, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
Boone Circuit Judge James R. Schrand, however, granted a new trial in May, 2017, after he determined evidence that might have aided in Dooley’s defense was withheld from his trial attorneys.
Defense attorney Deanna Dennison Tuesday showed Yuska a photo taken by investigators a short time after the body was discovered that shows Mockbee’s arms bound behind her back with tape. Her legs are unbound in the photos.
Investigators say the crime scene was not disturbed from the time the body was discovered until after the photos were taken.
Dennison asked Yuska if he could explain the discrepancy.
“You didn’t cut the tape off of her legs did you?” Dennison asked. “Dave Dooley was with you, and he didn’t cut the tape off of her legs, did he?”
Yuska replied “no” to both questions and said he told the first officers to arrive on the scene that Mockbee’s legs were bound with tape.
Yuska said another employee first asked him early that morning about a significant amount of blood in the hallway, outside of the space where his office, and Mockbee’s, were located.
Yuska said he didn’t notice the blood when he came in because the lights were out. He called downstairs to asked if anyone was injured that morning and when he found out they were not, he went back to work.
A short time later, Yuska said Dooley appeared in his office and said the blood was not there when he cleaned that morning.
At that time, Yuska testified that he and Dooley began to search the facility. He said he located Mockbee’s body soon after coming into the mezzanine level, saw Dooley nearby and told him that they needed to leave the area.
Yuska called 911 and said neither he, nor Dooley returned to the mezzanine that morning.
When Yuska was questioned by investigators that day, he says he told the officers on scene that there was a University of Kentucky poster covering Mockbee’s body when he discovered it. The poster was not in the crime scene photo taken by investigators that morning.
Yuska said he noticed a pair of shoes, later identified as Mockbee’s, on the floor outside of a door that led from the mezzanine to an office area.
In a crime scene photo, the shoes are shown inside a restaurant takeout bag.
Yuska said that in a later interview with then-Commonwealth’s Attorney Linda Tally Smith and Bruce McVay, the lead investigator in the case, he was shown the photo of Mockbee’s body without the UK poster on it.
He said Tally Smith and McVay did not try to convince him that he was mistaken about seeing the poster on the body, but admitted it called into question his recollection of that element of the crime scene.
Tally Smith was defeated in the May, 2018 primary election and McVay has since retired from the Boone County Sheriff’s office. Both are expected to testify later in the trial.
Yuska said there was a UK poster on a wall near the body prior to the day Mockbee was killed. He doesn’t recall if it was there afterward.
He remained adamant Tuesday, however, that he recalls Mockbee’s legs being bound with tape and that her shoes were not in the takeout bag when he was on the mezzanine that morning.
Dennison wondered aloud if the discrepancies could be explained by someone “lurking around” the crime scene but prosecutors objected to that statement as speculation. The objection was sustained.
In questioning from Dennison, Yuska said that from the time Mockbee’s body was discovered until the crime scene photos were taken, Dooley was elsewhere in the building.
Forensic biologist changes opinion about DNA evidence
The day’s first witness was John Clemens, a forensic biologist with the Kentucky State Police Central Forensic Lab in Frankfort.
Clemens testified about items that were sent to the lab for processing.
The items included DNA swabs from Michelle Mockbee, Dan Mockbee (Michelle’s husband), Dooley and Joseph Siegert, a receiving dock worker.
It also included clothing, some screwdrivers, a piece of plastic that was around Mockbee’s head when she was found, and other items.
In his report, Clemens indicated that David Dooley could not be included or excluded as a DNA match for a section of the plastic found around Mockbee’s head.
On cross-examination defense attorney Jeff Lawson asked Clemens to explain DNA testing for the jury.
The explanation was complex, but allowed Lawson to show an example where one of the locations on a chromosome, called a locus, could not be a match for Dooley.
Clemens acknowledged that, because of advances in DNA testing, if he were to perform the same test today, he would likely reach a different conclusion.
“What I would probably say on this one is that the DNA is too limited for a determination,” Clemens said.
The statement is significant because it is the only piece of evidence found at the crime scene with test results from the KSP lab that suggested a possible DNA link to Dooley.
Clemens said he has never been asked to submit an updated report.
Electronic devices allowed back in courtroom
Monday, at the request of attorneys, Schrand ruled that all electronic devices, including cameras, cell phones, audio recorders and laptops, must be removed from the courtroom.
The proceedings were being live-streamed in some outlets and attorneys expressed concerns that witnesses may be viewing previous testimony before they entered the courtroom.
There were also concerns that audio devices might be picking up conversations between attorneys.
Tuesday, Schrand ruled that cameras would be allowed back in the courtroom as long as there was no live streaming.
He also allowed audio recording to resume and will permit the use of laptops, provided there are no social media transmissions, such as Twitter, except at lunchtime and when court has adjourned for the day.
There is no activity scheduled in the trial today.
Testimony is scheduled to resume Thursday at 8:30 a.m. in Courtroom 4B.
For links to the NKyTribune’s extensive coverage of the Dooley case, go to www.nkytribune.com and, using the search tool, enter the word “Dooley.”
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com
i truley dont belive that david dooley killed michelle. that police and procuters were just looking for a scape goat,assumed that he would be it without going after the husband or the unknown man in the video which isnt right ,someone needs to stand up and fight for the real truth.!!