Phil Flores' Gunshot Residue Test: 'I Was Wrong,' Bolingbrook Cop Says

JOLIET, IL — A Bolingbrook police officer who determined the gunshot residue tests on the hands of Crest Hill Police Officer Phil Flores were negative, testified last year that his conclusion was not correct in the shooting death of Flores' girlfriend, Samantha Harer, of Channahon.

In 2021, Bolingbrook officer Dane Stepien gave a sworn deposition in connection with attorney Jennifer Bonjean's civil lawsuit in the death of Harer. The 23-year-old 911 emergency dispatcher at WESCOM suffered a single gunshot to her head on Feb. 13, 2018. Flores, who was in her apartment, called 911, saying she just shot herself after locking herself inside her bedroom while he was in her living room after an argument.

Stepien, as a member of the Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force, drove to Channahon that morning to perform the gunshot residue tests on Flores. Stepien teamed up with Bolingbrook police evidence technician Steven Furtek, who took the photographs of Flores.

'It Is My Opinion That Was A Negative Test'

Now that Bonjean has re-filed her wrongful death lawsuit in Will County, Joliet Patch continues to reexamine key aspects of the 2018 police investigation that treated Harer's death as a self-inflicted gunshot wound. No criminal charges resulted for her estranged boyfriend, Flores, who is the defendant in the Will County civil lawsuit.

"Sir, isn't it true that you knew it was a positive gunshot residue test; right?" Bonjean asked.

"In my opinion, it was negative, ma'am," Stepien answered.

"Okay. You saw evidence of gunshot residue, but you chose to characterize it as negative; can we agree on that?" Bonjean inquired.

"No," Stepien told her. "You're making me out to be a liar, and I'm not lying. It is my opinion that that was a negative test."

"Why do other experts call that easily a positive test? Is that just because you're incompetent, or are you a liar or both?" Bonjean asked the Bolingbrook cop.

"If an expert tells me that I was wrong, I can take my lumps," Stepien responded. "You're not going to hurt my feelings. You don't need to apologize for calling me incompetent. That's fine. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong, ma'am. You know, you're trying to make me out like I'm maliciously trying to, I don't know what you're accusing me of besides being incompetent. I'm not that. I can assure you of that. I am also not lying to you."

State Crime Lab Finds GSR On Flores' Hand, Clothes

Bonjean asked how Stepien decided Flores' gunshot residue test was negative?

"I used the guide on the kit that shows, you know, what a positive test should look like, and to me this didn't meet the criteria," Stepien testified. "I analyzed it, and in my opinion, this was a negative."

"In your opinion, despite the fact that there's this speckling over here, this was a negative gunshot residue test; is that right?" Bonjean followed up.

"Correct," Stepien agreed.

Then, five months after Stepien concluded Flores' preliminary GSR tests were negative, forensic scientists with the Illinois State Police Crime Lab in Chicago reached a different conclusion.

Forensic scientist Mary Wong found that Flores' right hand contained GSR. She also analyzed Flores' hooded sweatshirt and found several particles of GSR on Flores' clothing.

"I don't get those reports," Stepien testified last year. "I'll take your word for it. I don't know if it came back positive or not."

"Would you like to see the lab report?" Bonjean suggested.

"Sure," Stepien agreed.

"Okay. We'll take a look at it in a second, but before we do that, I just want to be clear, though. As you sit here right now, you still stand by your expert opinion as a evidence technician for, what, close to 10 years, that this is a negative gunshot residue test?" Bonjean asked.

"Yes," Stepien answered.

"And did Officer Furtek share your point of view on this when you looked at this together?"

"Yes."

"So putting it in that context, is it still your opinion that the GSR test that you took from Phil Flores was a negative test?"

'I Was Wrong On The Presumtive Test, Yes'

"In my opinion, I'm not going to come off of that. I believe it was a negative test," Stepien testified. "If there are experts out there who disagree with me, then I was wrong."

As the deposition continued, Bonjean furnished the Bolingbrook officer, who is now a sergeant, with crime lab reports from the Illinois State Police Forensic Science Center. The Chicago lab received the sealed GSR evidence kit administered to Flores in late February 2018.

"Do you see that?" Bonjean inquired.

"Yes," Stepien testified.

"Do you know who administered that GSR evidence test to him?"

"Me."

"And it says, 'Exhibit 2A contains a minimum of three tri-component and additional consistent primer gunshot residue particles," Bonjean explained. "Do you see that?"

"Yes."

"It means he had GSR on his right hand; correct?"

"Right," Stepien agreed.

"The very first sentence, can you read that to me?" Bonjean asked. "The results of the Exhibit 2A indicate that Flores discharged a firearm, contacted a PGSR related item, or had his right hand in the environment of a discharged firearm. You've read that? You understand what that is?"

"Yes," Stepien told her.

"Is it your testimony that today is the very first day that you were aware that his right hand tested positive for GSR?"

"Yes."

"And with that information, in hindsight, now do you think your opinion about the presumptive test is different?" Bonjean questioned.

"I was wrong on the presumptive test, yes," Stepien testified.

"Okay. So let's keep going. Go to the next page, Exhibit 7 relates to the clothing. Do you see that? It says, 'Sealed bag of his clothing.' And can you tell from this that there was GSR testing done on the clothing as well?"

"Yes."

"That's not something you did; that was just done at the lab? Right?" Bonjean asked.

"Yes."

"Okay. And are you able to see that not only was his right hand positive for GSR, but also his right cuff and his left cuff were positive or GSR?"

"I can see that. I can see it. Yes," the Bolingbrook officer testified.

"And, again, is it your understanding as you sit here today, this is the first time you've been apprised of the fact that his right hand and the cuffs of his sweatshirt, both of them, were positive for GSR?"

"Yes, this is new to me now," Stepien testified.

Even though leaders of the Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force plus the Will County State's Attorney's Office were notified that the July 2018 crime lab test results involving Flores contradicted the presumptive GSR testing, the Bolingbrook officer was not asked any follow up questions about his work on the Harer case.

"I don't recall any other contact," Stepien testified.

"Did you ever speak to anybody who was either a detective or investigator, or someone from Will County Prosecutor's Office or the state's attorney's office or anybody, about the work you had done on the case?" Bonjean inquired.

"No, I never spoke to any state's attorneys," Stepien replied.

Bolingbrook Cop Submits Incomplete GSR Report On Flores

"Did you know Phil Flores prior to this incident?" the plaintiff's lawyer asked.

"No, ma'am, I did not," Stepien answered.

"Did you ever receive any information about Phil Flores', I guess, for lack of a better word, troubles with Samantha Harer either on that day or thereafter? Was there any talk about that?"

"You know, you'd hear things that they were dating, not dating, broken up. You know, you hear people talk. I didn't know Sam Harer," Stepien recalled. "I didn't know Mr. Flores. So, no, I didn't have very much information at all about either. Really nothing about Flores. Sam, I knew she worked at WESCOM.

"WESCOM is ... a multi-town dispatch center, and they actually do dispatch for Bolingbrook, so I knew the name. I did not know her personally,though."

"Okay. Did at some point you learn that the case had been ruled a suicide?" Bonjean asked.

"Yeah, I don't recall when that came out, but, yeah, I did hear through the grapevine that it was ruled a suicide."

As the deposition continued, Bonjean asked why the Bolingbrook officer chose to leave so many parts of his GSR report blank.

Bonjean asked whether Stepien left several portions of his police report blank on purpose, because Flores was a fellow police officer, in nearby Crest Hill.

"Subject is suspect/victim/witness/other describe. Do you see that?" Bonjean asked.

"Yes."

"Why did you leave that blank?"

"I'm not sure. I'm not sure that we labeled him as anything at that point, so I left it blank."

"Well, that's why there's an 'other'?" Bonjean asked.

"Yep, you're right."

"Why did you not pick 'other' if you didn't know what to label him?"

"I don't have an answer for you. I don't know why."

'It's Not My Assigment To Interview Mr. Flores'

"Could it be because he was a police officer?"

"No, I wouldn't say that. I would say it's an oversight on my part."

"You could have put, for instance, 'Unknown at this point.' Right?"

"I could have, yes, you are right."

"And instead, you left it blank; right?"

"Yes. As I said, oversight on my part."

"Oversight or choosing not to fill it out?"

"Oversight on my part."

"And when you say oversight, what do you mean by oversight?"

"I made a mistake in not filling it out."

"Because you didn't read it; you forgot about it; or you chose not to fill it out? Which one is it? Or something different?"

"I'm not sure."

"All right. The next line is, "Subject's Statement of Activity from Incident to GSR Test. You left that blank, too?"

"Yes."

"Is that an oversight?"

"I didn't ask him any questions."

"Why not?"

"I'm not a detective. It's not my assignment to interview Mr. Flores at that point. That was, you know, assigned to another member of the task force ... I did not ask any statements from him ... I can't put in information that I don't have answers to."

Bonjean remained focused on discovering why the Bolingbrook officer chose not to ask Flores or the other detectives investigating Harer's death any questions about the shooting.

"Maybe I'm not understanding you, but if part of your responsibility in completing a GSR test is to actually complete the report that goes with the GSR test that asks the question, it seems to me that you have an obligation to fill it out, but you're telling me you don't?" Bonjean asked.

"That's not what I'm saying," Stepien responded. "I'm telling you that I filled it out to completion with the information that I had."

"Did you bother asking anybody like a detective whether or not he had made any statements about his activity as it relates to the GSR test?"

"No, I did not."

"Why not?"

"Ma'am, that's not my role in this incident."

"It's not your role to talk to other detectives to find out what his activity was from the incident?"

"My role as a evidence technician, I collected evidence. I filled out this paperwork with the information that I had. I don't know what else I can tell you."

"You can tell me that you didn't actually complete the paperwork thoroughly," Bonjean told Stepien.

"Well, I disagree with you."

"You left things blank. That's comprehensively?"

"I left information out that I did not have."

"You could have asked; couldn't you have?"

"I could have. I'm not a detective. My assignment was not to interview this gentleman."

"I understand. And thank God you're not a detective. But my question is, did you ask anybody?"

"I already told you no, I did not."

"And I'm wondering why on earth you wouldn't ask so that there would be a comprehensive bit of information here?"

"I believe I already answered that question."

"And the answer is you don't know why you didn't ask?"

"I'm assigned as an evidence technician. My job was to collect evidence, not to interview this gentleman."

"I didn't ask you whether you interviewed him. I am asking did you ask any other detectives about what his statements were so that you could do your job as an evidence technician and thoroughly prepare this report?"

"In fact, I don't even know if anyone had spoken to him at that point. So the answer is no, I did not, okay."

Next, Bonjean asked why Stepien left another important section of his CSI report empty.

"Incident data. You also left the type of crime blank; right?" Bonjean inquired.

"Yes, I did."

"Also left the location and any details; right?"

"That's correct."

"You didn't indicate any type of weapon that was purportedly involved; right?"

"Right."

"You left a lot of this blank; right?"

"I did, as I did not have that information."

Related Samantha Harer Coverage By Patch:

Samantha Harer: Joliet Detective Not Asked To Re-Interview Flores

Harer Family Lawyer: 'This Lawsuit Was Never About Money For Them'

Phil Flores Shot, Killed Samantha Harer In Jealous Rage: New Lawsuit

Samantha Harer: Here's Why Flores Wasn't Re-Interviewed

Samantha Harer's Gun Also Contains Phil Flores' DNA: Lawyer

Listen: 911 Call From Samantha Harer Gunshot Death