WASHINGTON COUNTY : Father gets wish for son’s autopsy after death in ’05
Posted on Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Dallas Hale has long harbored suspicions about his son’s fatal motorcycle crash.
Denver “Barry” Hale rumbled off at 6 a.m. Sept. 8, 2005, on his way from Goshen to Springdale, where he was a machinist at Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies Inc.
Hale, 40, died after driving off a curve in Habberton Road. It was an accident, Washington County sheriff’s office investigators decided.
His father didn’t believe it then and still doesn’t.
“If they want to say I’m paranoid, they might have a point,” said the Fayetteville school bus driver who lives in the house next to where his son lived. “Obsession ? It depends on how you define it.
“ I was closer to Barry than anybody in the world.” Hale’s quest to learn more about his son’s death gained ground last week in Washington County Circuit Court.
Judge William Storey signed an order allowing the exhumation and autopsy of Barry Hale, a Washington County sheriff’s office investigator said Monday.
Maj. Rick Hoyt said he was notified by Washington County chief deputy prosecuting attorney Matt Durret that the exhumation will occur. Hoyt said he’s never been involved in an exhumation in his 34-year police career.
“Our investigators will be there when it occurs,” Hoyt said. “We’re going to observe.” Storey’s order was sealed. The parties involved wouldn’t talk about the matter Monday.
“I can’t comment on what the order is,” said John Herring, a licensed private investigator hired by Hale to review the circumstances of his son’s death. “We were pleased with the attention of the judge. I wish we could say more than that.” Hale’s body will be exhumed from Round Mountain Cemetery near Goshen, and an autopsy will be conducted by the state medical examiner’s office. Dallas Hale must pay for both, the father said in an interview conducted before the judge’s ruling.
The sheriff ’s office and county coroner never properly investigated the crash, Hale claims.
“I’m just not the kind of guy to sit back and not do something,” he said.
After reviewing the records of the sheriff’s office and county coroner, then investigating on his own, Herring decided officials couldn’t be sure why Barry Hale died.
“The only definitive way to separate speculation from fact in the matter is to conduct an autopsy,” Herring said before the case was sealed.
Dallas Hale and Herring, whom he hired in April 2007 to review the sheriff’s office investigation, think it’s possible that Barry Hale was poisoned with strychnine before he crashed or that a motorist traveling in the opposite direction ran his son off the road.
It’s also possible that the crash was accidental, Herring said.
“Everyone has an opinion that’s dealt with this case, but opinions aren’t facts,” Herring said. “Whether it’s plausible is not something I can bother myself with. The only way to know and to move this beyond opinions and beyond speculation is to have the autopsy.” The first clue that something wasn’t right about Barry Hale’s death came at a funeral home in the hours after he died, his father said. Family members noted parallel cuts in Hale’s head that didn’t appear indicative of a motorcycle crash, he said.
“We don’t have the same suspicions as Mr. Hale, who’s a grieving father,” Hoyt said. “We haven’t lived his life. We haven’t had his point of view.” Hale’s skepticism grew after he found a note in his mailbox months later. The note said Barry Hale was poisoned. Hale pestered the sheriff’s office to keep investigating, Hoyt said.
Sheriff’s office investigators interviewed the man who left the note.
Hoyt said the man could provide no evidence that Hale had been poisoned.
“Mr. Hale wants to find the conspiracy somewhere, and if that fails, he goes elsewhere,” Hoyt said.
Herring said he found enough “holes and mistakes” in accident and investigative reports written by the county coroner and sheriff’s office to believe Hale’s death didn’t receive a proper investigation.
Hoyt said the investigation was thorough.
Gary Hull, an assistant county coroner, listed the cause of death as “blunt force trauma” on a report.
“I feel like our guys did a good job,” said Roger Morris, the county coroner for six years. “I feel like he died of blunt force trauma.” Based on Herring’s review, Hale asked the prosecutor’s office in early August to request the exhumation and autopsy. The prosecutor’s office made no decision for months, and a frustrated Hale contacted the media.
Durret, the chief deputy prosecutor, earlier this month asked Storey to allow the exhumation and autopsy.
Dr. Charles Kokes, the state’s chief medical examiner, said a blood sample was taken from Hale’s body after the accident. There were no unusual substances, including strychnine, in his body, Kokes said.
Only one or two bodies are exhumed each year for autopsies in Arkansas, Kokes said. The medical examiner’s office has cases each year in which family members believe a victim was poisoned, he said.
“I can’t remember a case in the time I’ve been here where that’s panned out,” said Kokes, who started with the medical examiner’s office 14 years ago. “There are very few things that a person can ingest that will drop you like a rock.”
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