FRANKLINTON, La. — For the first time in 12 years, Donna Wittner feels Washington Parish authorities are listening to her concerns about how they handled the investigation into her 14-year-old son’s shooting death.
The Washington Parish Coroner’s Office says it will exhume Brett Wittner’s remains next week, and the new sheriff says he’ll be there to support the process and make sure the evidence is thoroughly recorded and preserved.
The decision to re-examine Brett comes after ballistics and medical experts around the world reviewed Brett’s autopsy and medical records for WWL Louisiana and concluded that he was shot twice in the head – not once, as the original 2012 autopsy and police investigation determined.
The original autopsy was performed for Washington Parish Coroner Roger Casama by Dr. Christopher Tape, then a private forensic pathologist near Lafayette and now the embattled elected coroner of the Wittners’ home parish, St. Tammany. He has repeatedly refused to comment on his work examining Brett Wittner three days after his death.
Tape will not be involved when Brett Wittner is exhumed and re-examined next week. Washington Parish Chief Deputy Coroner Paul Thibodeaux said local forensic pathologists were not willing to handle the case because of the publicity of the WWL investigation, but a Texas pathologist with no ties to Tape or Washington Parish has agreed to re-examine him.
That was welcome news for Donna Wittner.
“I kind of look at actions and not words, and I haven't seen any action in 12 years except that of me and (WWL),” she said. “So I'm willing to give everybody a clean slate and we'll just see where their integrity lies.”
Donna and her husband, David, visited their son’s grave Monday and eagerly awaited returning for the exhumation, now scheduled for July 10.
“The only time I get to visit my son Brett is here. And you know, I really miss him. I miss all three of my children being together with me,” he said, kneeling next to Brett’s headstone.
“And I keep thinking of the memory of when my wife told me that David Hammer with WWL was going to do some investigating in a report. I was out of state taking care of family. And I'm just so excited that we're doing something.”
New Washington Parish Sheriff Jason Smith also looks forward to having independent experts re-examine Brett. On his first day as sheriff, immediately after swearing in and addressing his deputies, he sat down with WWL to talk about the Wittner investigation.
“I think the coroner's plan currently is to remove Brett's body to Texas because they wanted an objective person to do an initial autopsy and take a look at it. And then the FACES lab at LSU is going to do an examination to kind of look at bullet trajectories and things like that, where they've got a lot more resources and a lot more expertise, so that we can clear up some of these questions,” he said.
Smith said he’s not drawing any conclusions until he sees Brett’s remains and hears from pathologists in Beaumont, Texas, and from the forensic anthropologists at the LSU FACES lab. Still, he said conclusive evidence of two bullets would be a game-changer.
“Two bullets (would mean) it's a murder, without question,” he said.
Smith says he’s ready to follow the evidence wherever it goes, even if it exposes mistakes by law enforcement.
“Ultimately, it's Mrs. Wittner that's had to deal with the consequences of this case for the last 12 years,” he said. “And if I have the power to help resolve some of that, we're going to do what we can to do it.”
Donna Wittner said she’s excited about the new sheriff and new District Attorney Collin Sims putting “fresh eyes” on her son’s case.
“The main thing is I just want to get to the bottom of it and have absolute closure. I'll always grieve for my son, but I need the closure,” Donna Wittner said. “I believe (WWL’s) experts, but if I have to keep proving to people that my son was shot twice, then I'll do that.”