COVINGTON, La. — Donna Wittner wants authorities to exhume her son’s remains 12 years after the 14-year-old was mysteriously shot to death in Washington Parish.
Her calls to dig up Brett Wittner’s body are based on new information uncovered by WWL Louisiana that strongly contradicts the autopsy findings of current St. Tammany Parish Coroner Christopher Tape.
WWL collected hospital and autopsy records for Donna’s son Brett and shared them with medical and ballistics experts worldwide. Using ballistics data gathered at the shooting scene, they concluded that Brett was almost certainly shot twice in the head, not once, as witnesses, Washington Parish Sheriff’s deputies and Tape’s autopsy claimed.
Brett Wittner’s death was classified as accidental. Tape concluded it could have been self-inflicted, even though Brett was shot behind his right ear and at a slightly upward and forward angle with a rifle nearly as long as his arm. The experts consulted by WWL say that was already unlikely, but the apparent existence of a second bullet in Brett’s head would make it nearly impossible.
The new district attorney for St. Tammany and Washington parishes, Collin Sims, issued a statement Friday in response to the WWL Louisiana investigation.
“Our office’s ability to publicly comment on this matter is limited,” Sims said. “All we can state is that our office continues to review and analyze any and all new information relating to the death of Brett Wittner. When helpful, our office consults with outside experts. If, at any stage, it becomes appropriate for our office to take judicial action, it will do so.”
“We'll test his integrity, won't we?” Donna Wittner said of Sims.
Sims worked for the late Warren Montgomery, who took over for Walter Reed in 2015. Montgomery wrote Donna a letter in 2019 saying he had two retired FBI agents review the case, prior to anyone raising the potential of a second gunshot, and they didn’t find any reason to re-impanel a grand jury.
Montgomery did say, however, that a grand jury could be empaneled to investigate the case again if new information came to light.
Donna said she wants the FBI to officially take over the case. She said she has trouble trusting any of the local authorities because of how she feels they failed her over the last 12 years.
Experts consulted by WWL say Tape’s autopsy report contains several incorrect statements. Most significantly, it says he recovered a nearly whole bullet from within an exit wound in the front half of the left side of Brett’s skull and claims that was “consistent with the radiographic evidence” in Brett’s hospital scans.
But the hospital radiographs, taken three hours after the shooting, show that bullet in the far back of Brett’s head, not in the exit wound.
Tape’s autopsy also states that Brett’s skull was opened and his brain dissected. But the autopsy photos filed with the Washington Parish Coroner’s Office do not include any images of Brett’s brain, even though that’s standard practice for such cases.
What’s more, Tape’s report states that the brain was sliced into coronal sections and describes several areas that are filled with lead bullet fragments as “normal” with no lesions, contrary to the radiographic evidence. Documents show that only the mostly intact bullet – and none of the many bullet fragments visible in the scans of Brett’s head – was turned over to police as evidence.
Donna hopes that by exhuming Brett’s remains, independent investigators will be able to determine if Tape really did open up his skull and if there’s a defect in the back of his skull that was never documented.
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