July 18, 2010
By RACHEL REVEHL
rrevehl@news-press.com
The family of a slain Fort Myers woman has filed complaints against Lee County's probation department and the Fort Myers Police Department, alleging a criminal investigation of the death was mishandled and the person of interest should have been in jail on probation violations when the woman was killed.
Danielle Blackburn, a 21-year-old single mother with multiple sclerosis, was killed Feb. 10, 2009. She was found strangled in the bathtub of her apartment.
Her family, in complaints to the U.S. Department of Justice and the circuit's chief judge, contends probation officers missed opportunities to lock up her former boyfriend and the person of interest, Connell Carroll, 31, and possibly prevent her death; the family also says police missed key evidence that could have resulted in an arrest.
Additionally, the family has filed a lawsuit against Maple Crest Apartments, alleging security was negligent.
"I'm so angry because it seems like the perfect crime was committed, and the man who killed Danielle is going to get away with it and possibly do it again," said Don Blackburn, Danielle's father. "I have lost total faith in the system."
The Fort Myers Police Department and the county's probation department stand by their cases, although police say there were minor oversights and the probation department is conducting an internal review.
Carroll, of Fort Myers, did not respond to request for comment. At time of Blackburn's death, Carroll had been on county probation for four months for violating the second of two restraining orders against him for beating Blackburn. In her 2006 complaint, Blackburn wrote she feared Carroll because "he put me in the hospital and he's psycho. He said if he can't have me, he'd rather be dead or put in jail."
Carroll has not been charged in Blackburn's death. Police have not labeled him a suspect, but do say he is a person of interest. The case was referred once to the state attorney's office for an arrest warrant, but the state declined to file charges, citing insufficient evidence.
Few attempts
Records show Carroll wasn't meeting all terms of his probation early on by skipping hearings. But he wasn't immediately arrested on a violation, and a warrant wasn't served until July 2009 - five months after Blackburn was killed. Carroll was jailed on violations from July through August last year, and from September to February this year.
In an August hearing, probation officer David Nemec, who took over the case from another probation officer after Blackburn's death, testified Carroll made few attempts to successfully finish probation.
"He didn't complete any," Nemec told the court. "He was even supposed to see me once a month. He didn't do that. I had to go to his house, wake him up, bring him to my office and remind him to do that again. After that effort on my part, he didn't show up again, completely ignoring the rules of the court."
Don Blackburn said that shows Carroll should have been arrested on a violation sooner, and fears more deaths if the department makes no changes.
Scott Wilsker, criminal division director for the 20th Judicial Circuit, said Nemec's work is solid, and he couldn't have filed a violation on Carroll simply for being a person of interest. Still, Wilsker is launching a departmentwide review to determine why it took two months to obtain the warrant once Nemec, who averages a caseload of about 200, decided to request one in May.
No class
While terms of Carroll's probation required him to "immediately" begin a batterer's intervention course, Wilsker said Nemec didn't have him arrested on a violation right away because Carroll couldn't afford the class. Also, despite the wording of the terms, he said Carroll had until the end of his one-year probation to complete the 26-week course. Additionally, if Nemec had Carroll arrested for not showing up at hearings, Carroll likely would have been jailed a short time and referred right back to probation.
"The standard we use is whether the violations were willful, deliberate and substantial," Wilsker said. "In this case, the violations were not substantial, and if we arrested every person on probation for technical violations, our jail would be jam-packed. If he had been arrested for another crime, that would have been different."
Fort Myers Police Capt. Dennis Eads said there were aspects of his department's investigation he was "not happy about," but said it was nothing that would make or break the case. For example, detectives left behind one of Blackburn's earrings in the bathtub.
There also was fecal matter on the floor, which Blackburn's mother cleaned prior to police arriving, but no carpet sample was taken. Eads said resources used for President Barack Obama's visit the day Blackburn was killed was not a factor, as the family alleges.
"This case is not locked in a closet somewhere," Eads said. "This is not something we're going to give up on."
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