Father seeks new probe into son's death

RUIDOSO, N.M. (KRQE) - A grieving father insists Ruidoso police botched the initial investigation they were forced to reopen into how his son died from a gunshot to the head while riding in a car with friends.

Davis Warner, 21, died in December 2006 while riding with his friends on the streets of Ruidoso.

Soon after police investigators with the Ruidoso Police Department determined Warner died of an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound.

“I am very certain that’s what happened that night,” Ruidoso Police Chief Wolfgang Born told KRQE News 13.

The two witnesses found at the scene initially told police they were the only other people inside the red 2000 Ford Mustang when the gun went off.

Erik, 23, and Chanel, 19, each told police Warner was alone in the back seat playing with a gun when he accidentally shot himself in the head.

(News 13 is not revealing the witnesses’ last names because they are not charged with a crime.)

Police were called to the scene after Erik made a frantic call to 911.

“He shot himself; it looks like in the side of the head and he’s bleeding everywhere, man,” Erik told the dispatcher.

The group was heading home after visiting the casino at the Inn of the Mountain Gods and stopping by a Taco Bell.

Erik and Chanel told police Warner was a risk-taker who often played with guns. Police closed the case based largely on what the witnesses reported.

But that wasn’t enough for Warner’s father.

“I could have done a better investigation than they did,” David Warner told News 13. “I could have done a more thorough investigation than the police did.”

David Warner has a long list of complaints about how the investigation was handled. Among the concerns was a major revelation that forced police to reopen the case.

Months after the investigation stopped, police learned there was a fourth person in the car.

Both Erik and Chanel had kept that a secret, but the truth came to light in a May 2008 interview between Erik and RPD Detective Robert Layher.

At first Erik denied another person was in the car but then confessed the fourth person was a teenage runaway who got scared and ran from the scene shortly after the shooting.

“He (Erik) didn’t want to get in trouble for hiding out a runaway,” said Layher, who has since retired from the department.

Despite the new information the story stayed the same. The witnesses insisted Davis Warner shot himself accidentally.

Police later gave Erik and the runaway--a 15-year-old named Savanah--voice-stress-analysis tests to determine if the two were lying about what happened. Chanel was away on military duty, but police eventually gave her the same test.

Investigators said all three passed the test, and a short time later the case was closed again.

“There’s nothing that indicated to us that it was a homicide,” Born said. “We honestly believe it was an accident.”

But it still wasn’t enough for David Warner.

“If my son did it, I don’t have a problem with that," he said. "I could live with that if he did it, but prove it to me.

“Don’t just come over here and tell me that he did it.”

Warner is now on a controversial campaign to push for a new investigation complaining police have mishandled the case. He’s hired a former law enforcement officer to help him out.

“This case just cries to be reopened,” Steven Sederwall, a veteran lawman now working as a private detective, told News 13.

Statements from the questionable witnesses are among the many concerns listed in Sederwall’s own investigative report along with concerns about the gun found at the scene of the shooting.

Police said they did not test the gun to link it with the bullet that hit Davis Warner because there was no reason to believe the bullet came from a different weapon.

And the gun was not tested for fingerprints because Eric admitted to moving it to a safer place after the shooting on the advice of the 911 dispatcher.

The gun also did not undergo gunshot residue testing because that type of analysis is now considered inconclusive.

“We went over the car to look for anything else, any extra bullets or anything," Layher said. "We didn’t find anything."

Still Warner and Sederwall contend investigators could have done a lot more.

“This case has a number of questions that need to be answered, but I don’t believe that department can do it,” Sederwall said. “There are good officers in that department, great officers, but this case has been botched.

"There’s no other way of saying it.”

The case is just as frustrating for the police department.

Born insisted the case was thoroughly investigated and that his investigators have done all they can do.

Warner is pushing forward with his campaign for another investigation.

“I tried for a while to try and get different law enforcement agencies to help: the FBI, state police,” Warner said.

Two different district attorneys have reviewed the case. Both decided there was nothing to suggest someone else shot Davis Warner.

“I think the only person I haven’t spoke to is the president of