MO - Off-duty officer (Katlyn Alix) shot dead by on-duty officer (Nathaniel Hendren), Jan 2019

[AgeofAquaruis]

The only other people investigating it are other law enforcement officers, so... They need an impartial panel for this one. Maybe a judge, a physician, local citizen, etc.

FBI. This case really needs a thorough sniffing.

 

[Falcon500]

I guess that for their story to work, her fingerprints would have to be on the gun, since I believe he said she had attempted to fire it prior to his final shot.

Rarely are latent fingerprints found on handguns.

 

[mickey2942]

There's NO reported evidence KA and defendant had a romantic relationship. In fact, just the opposite. KA's mother gave a television interview (posted up thread) complete with the wedding pictures -- citing that her daughter married the love of her life. It appears she was engaged prior to the rookie shooter joining the force (2017).

We don't have verification of any relationship between the shooter and victim, aside from work.

That being said, I know that my Mother doesn't know every single activity I am involved in...

 

[GordianKnot]

There are a lot of explanations for her prints on the gun. They could have been showing it to her, as a gun for sale.

Yeah, they probably really regret not thinking of that scenario before they came up with their ridiculous RRR story.

Hindsight 20:20!

 

[GordianKnot]

Rarely are latent fingerprints found on handguns.

Thanks for that info, Falcon! Just reading between the lines of what you're saying, it sounds like you don't think there's much reason to feel confident that the truth will out in this case.

How can the investigators factually determine what happened in that apartment?
Or is that an impossible (t)ask at this point?

 

[nightowl1975]

I think whatever happened, it had to be spur of the moment. These are police officers, the shooter has military experience. They have experience with all of the idiotic stories people come up with to explain their criminal behavior. If this is the best they could come up with, I figure it HAD to be last minute, under pressure, the best they could think of sort of thing.

I do believe there’s something far more sinister going on here than a “game” gone wrong. Just my opinion.

I also believe whoever told the DA that the hospital wouldn’t honor a search warrant for blood from these two officers should be fired and never allowed to work in law enforcement again. There is ZERO reasonable explanation for doing this other than obstructing justice.

 

[mickey2942]

Thanks for that info, Falcon! Just reading between the lines of what you're saying, it sounds like you don't think there's much reason to feel confident that the truth will out in this case.

How can the investigators factually determine what happened in that apartment?
Or is that an impossible ask at this point?

The real question I have, is that there are integrity issues everywhere here. Starting with believing anything said by 2 officers who left their duty station.

Next, moving onto officers who responded to the "scene", not following protocol. Sure, they brought in Missouri State police, after the "scene" had already been contaminated. And the communication/coverup snafu at the hospital in regards to blood collection for testing.

The errors here, the ones we know, make the Boulder City police in charge of the Jon Benet Ramsey case look like mental giants. And that is hard to do.

 

[GordianKnot]

The real question I have, is that there are integrity issues everywhere here. Starting with believing anything said by 2 officers who left their duty station.

Next, moving onto officers who responded to the "scene", not following protocol. Sure, they brought in Missouri State police, after the "scene" had already been contaminated. And the communication/coverup snafu at the hospital in regards to blood collection for testing.

The errors here, the ones we know, make the Boulder City police in charge of the Jon Benet Ramsey case look like mental giants. And that is hard to do.

BBM:

Nothing will ever come close to rivaling the Keystone Kops routine the BPD performed in the JBR case. Never, Ever, Ever. JMO.

 

[mickey2942]

BBM:

Nothing will ever come close to rivaling the Keystone Kops routine the BPD put on in the JBR case. Never, Ever, Ever. JMO.

These guys are coming in a close second, especially when they actually said, "This was a tragic accident", "Officers mishandling guns". Like this type of Reverse Russian Roulette is the norm in St. Louis? And this time it went wrong?!

 

[GordianKnot]

These guys are coming in a close second, especially when they actually said, "This was a tragic accident", "Officers mishandling guns". Like this type of Reverse Russian Roulette is the norm in St. Louis? And this time it went wrong?!

My favorite quote:

Partner explaining “that they shouldn’t be playing with guns and that they were police officers.”

 

[2Hope4]

Reverse means another person points the pistol at you and pulls the trigger, as opposed to you putting the pistol to your temple and pulling the trigger. I had never heard of this before, but that's the story.

I have been reading but not responding. I still just can't imagine a POLICE OFFICER with MILITARY TRAINING, EVER thinking it was OK to point a gun at anyone withOUT the intent to kill?!?!?!

I was just talking to my husband about this case, he feels either there was either severe depression, lack of caring whether they live or not, OR there was no RRR. Without another witness to say that's what was happening,this could be first degree murder. There could have been something within the dept or a relationship ending, or she knew something/was a witness to something that the other officer didn't want known, and the two officers went to her apartment that night with the intent to threaten or kill her. She's not alive to say they were doing the RRR. The only two that can say that have a huge stake in the case to say it. Though IMO, it's still murder, because you should always assume a gun is loaded, and should never point that gun at anything you don't intend to kill!

 

[2Hope4]

Rarely are latent fingerprints found on handguns.

Why is that? I would think the bullets should have finger prints, as someone had to load the gun! And in a revolver, that cylinder itself should have finger prints. I can see the barrel not having prints, and the handle if it was a textured surface. Even the spent casing should have fingerprint of whoever loaded the gun. JMO

 

[Seattle1]

On Jan 27, 2014, the then nine (9) St Louis police districts, were consolidated into six (6) districts. The goal, the city said, was to better distribute the workload for its officers and reduce crime--through beefed-up “hot spot” policing.

It's been reported that all three Officers were assigned to the Second district:

KA had previously served in the city’s Sixth District and, like NH and his partner, was assigned to the Second District at the time of her death. She and the two male officers were described as close friends who were often partnered while on duty. bbm

Alix, a U.S. Army veteran, spent six years in the military before joining the police force in June 2016. Chadwick told KMOV4 that her daughter enlisted at age 17.

“I signed for her because that’s what she wanted to do,” Chadwick said.

Following her military service, Alix shifted that dedication to her job as a police officer, her mother said.

“Even on her days off, she would go visit her friends down there because, like, I guess when you’re a police officer, (you have) that close bond with everyone,” Chadwick said. bbm

It was KA's former partner in the 6th district, and classmate at the academy (CH and wife), that reportedly paid for KA's funeral, and set up GFme for reimbursement.

St. Louis police officer killed by fellow cop died during game of Russian roulette, officials say

St. Louis police launching major reorganization of districts

ETA: Provided the districts to illustrate high crime areas. LE is 24/7 occupation, and I believe going home (outside of a bad patrol district) possibly for dinner break happens more often than reported. Family reports KA seeing her colleagues on her time off was the norm, and I don't believe three month newlywed KA would leave District 6 (recent) to join her colleagues in District 2 if she was trying to put distance between herself and NH. The answer to this totally preventable death is going to come from a through investigation/background of NH both before and after he joined the force. IMO, he was the reckless, odd man out that terrible night.

 

[Seattle1]

I have been reading but not responding. I still just can't imagine a POLICE OFFICER with MILITARY TRAINING, EVER thinking it was OK to point a gun at anyone withOUT the intent to kill?!?!?!

I was just talking to my husband about this case, he feels either there was either severe depression, lack of caring whether they live or not, OR there was no RRR. Without another witness to say that's what was happening,this could be first degree murder. There could have been something within the dept or a relationship ending, or she knew something/was a witness to something that the other officer didn't want known, and the two officers went to her apartment that night with the intent to threaten or kill her. She's not alive to say they were doing the RRR. The only two that can say that have a huge stake in the case to say it. Though IMO, it's still murder, because you should always assume a gun is loaded, and should never point that gun at anything you don't intend to kill!

The incident did not occur at KA's apartment. KA reportedly joined the 2 officers at NH's residence. Agree, pointing a loaded weapon at an individual is always an intentional act. MOO

 

[Falcon500]

post: 14782141, member: 30134"]Why is that? I would think the bullets should have finger prints, as someone had to load the gun! And in a revolver, that cylinder itself should have finger prints. I can see the barrel not having prints, and the handle if it was a textured surface. Even the spent casing should have fingerprint of whoever loaded the gun. JMO[/QUOTE]

In the Public Eye: Finding Fingerprints on Firearms is Actually Very Rare

In the Public Eye: Finding Fingerprints on Firearms is Actually Very Rare
Wed, 09/02/2015 - 11:03am2 Comments
by Forensic Magazine
In this one-minute video series, Forensic Magazine is highlighting topics that have recently been in the media, either in the national headlines or fictionalized on procedural crime shows, and getting to the bottom of what these topics mean to the forensic community.

DEEPER INSIGHTS
and HRMS

The trigger of a handgun seems like a really logical place to find a fingerprint, right? Actually, experts say that the chances of finding a latent print on a gun can be as low as five percent. That’s because guns are purposely designed with rough edges and surfaces around the trigger to provide extra grip, and often guns are wiped clean or disposed of after the crime making it really hard for investigators to find a good print. But researchers in Italy recently pulled fingerprints off of firearms using vaporized glue and wrote about their findings in the journal Forensic Science International.

 

[Joe Wilson]

I think we will learn through the investigation the marriage was already having difficulties.

 

[Vivyinsect]

Today an update from St. Louis local news KSDK 5

St. Louis police logs offer insight into final days, hours before Officer Alix's death

Within this story,
"The newly released documents show on Jan. 22, Officers Alix and Hendren were on patrol together during the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. overnight shift.

They handled six routine calls between 12:30 a.m. and 4:36 a.m. All but two were in their assigned area of the city's second patrol district.

None of the calls resulted in a police report.

According to what was released to 5 On Your Side, this marked Officer Alix's final on-duty shift before her death."

 

[HerculeHolmes]

Negative. I suspect he may have either : a) had a past relationship w/her and resented or was jealous of her recent marriage; b) had a current relationship w/ her and see above; c) was friends w/ her but had unreciprocated [latent] romantic feelings for her and made an unwanted advance that night toward her that she rebuffed.

I lean toward the bolded scenario.

JMO.

BBM: Wouldn't it be interesting if it was learned that there were other police officers both on-duty and off-duty who were also at the house before Alix arrived? That is, there were more than 3 persons, possibly police-officers at the house at the time of the incident.

Questions surround killing of off-duty St. Louis police officer by on-duty colleague
Another neighbor said on Twitter that she heard loud yelling that got her out of bed during the night.

Given the speculation that there may have been a Schedule 1 narcotic present (as provided by the Gardner letter), lets see how this maybe plays out. NH invites KA over for a 'few beers' late at night. NH is her "friend" she graduated the academy with so she goes (late hour but ok). Upon arrival she notices a 'white powdery substance'. Other officers are present. She verbalizes a complaint. A disagreement follows. It escalates. Black eye. .38 Special.

If there were other ranking officers present, unlikely they will ever be named in this case. This might also explain how/why the crime scene was wrapped so fast as well as a possible explanation as to why the tox draw was blocked at SLUH.

OR a version of this that includes @GordianKnot speculation of events.

 

[McFluffy]

i keep going back to... the easiest to believe is he was just an emotional kid who shot without thinking. but then we have this RRR story. why do we have this RRR story? bc its true? I just cant see that. or bc why?

it would have made the most sense to say he was an emotional kid who shot on accident or lost his cool or felt angst or tried to kill himself and slipped. something besides RRR! bc the RRR doesn't wash. esp with the partner there.

 

[SoCalDavidS]

it would have made the most sense to say he was an emotional kid who shot on accident or lost his cool or felt angst or tried to kill himself and slipped. something besides RRR! bc the RRR doesn't wash. esp with the partner there.

It washes because the partner is there to vouch for it. Without the partner's eyewitness account of the whole RRR thing, it looks even more ridiculous, if that's possible.