Samantha Harer Gunshot Residue Results Weren't Priority

CHANNAHON, IL —Off-duty Crest Hill police officer Phil Flores insisted he called 911 immediately following the gunshot death of his girlfriend, Samantha Harer, but the Channahon Police Department and the Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force was in no hurry to learn the results of the gunshot residue tests, according to Jennifer Bonjean, lawyer for the Harers.

Last year, Channahon Police Detective Andrew McClellan appeared for his deposition as part of the federal lawsuit surrounding the 23-year-old 911 dispatcher's death inside her Channahon apartment. McClellan was put in charge of the evidence collection.

Under McClellan's supervision, the original DNA buccal swab collected from Flores at the Channahon police station was never logged into the evidence and disappeared.

Also, McClellan did not take the initiative to have the gunshot residue test kits — collected from Harer's body at the hospital and from Flores' hands at the Channahon police station — tested in quick fashion by the Illinois State Police crime lab in Chicago, according to his deposition.

The gunshot residue kits were collected Feb. 13, 2018, the date Harer died from a gunshot to her head while she was nude in her bedroom. Flores claimed he was in her living room getting ready to leave when she shot herself behind her bedroom door.

"Can you tell me why it took so long for the GSR kit to be processed for Phil Flores?" Bonjean asked.

"You mean sent to the lab?" McClellan testified. "I don't know how to tell you."

"You were responsible for giving the GSR kit to the State Police. I think I can show you that," Bonjean told him.

"I was the one that brought it to the lab. Why it took that long, like I said before, I didn't take things under my own accord without Detective Chief (Adam) Bogart."

"Do you know why the Illinois State Police wasn't directed to examine or analyze the GSR immediately?"

"I do not."

"Well, perhaps they are backlogged, but they turn reports around pretty quickly when they were asked to," Bonjean informed the Channanon detective. "I guess my question is, to the best of your knowledge, did anyone from the Channahon Police Department or from, I guess, the Will County Major Crimes Task Force ask the Illinois State Police to test the gunshot residue promptly?"

"Not to my knowledge," McClellan testified.

"Who would have been responsible for saying, 'Hey, ISP, test this kit as soon as possible, this gunshot residue?"

"State's attorney's office, Deputy Chief Bogart," McClellan answered.

"It is your testimony that's sort above your pay grade to be directing testing of any collected evidence, is that right?"

"I know I probably asked for it in other cases, but, you know, somebody else asked for it, don't require me to ask for it."

"So you collected the GSR kit but didn't actually ask for it to be tested, is that your testimony?"

"I got it from (Bolingbrook Police) Officer (Dane) Stepien and then I did not send it to the lab until was told to."

"I'm sorry, you trailed off. You were told what?"

"I did not take it to the lab until I was advised to take it to the lab," McClellan replied.

On Feb. 27, 2018, Detective McClellan delivered two sealed GSR evidence collection kits to the Illinois State Police Forensic Science Center in Chicago. One kit had been administered on Harer's hands, and the other upon her boyfriend.

Almost five months passed before the Illinois State Police conducted the tests.

On July 14, 2018, Illinois State Police Forensic Scientist Mary Wong, who is nationally accredited in her profession, submitted her analysis.

"Do you see this lab report, Detective?" Bonjean asked McClellan.

"Yes."

"Do you see that it is addressed to you?"

"Yes."

"It has a date of July 14, 2018?"

"Yes."

"And it indicates that certain evidence was received by the Forensic Science Center in Chicago on February 27, 2018?"

"Yes."

"And that included the GSR samples?"

"Yes."

"And as you sit here today, you are not certain why it took that many months to get a lab report on the GSR kit, correct?"

"I'm not aware."

"But you can bring evidence there and advise, you know, for them to wait until you have further direction, right?"

"Yes. Our crime labs are very nit picky and hold on to things until they are being tested. We can request them to hold it until further on, and we bring it there to be tested."

"So you are saying the Illinois State Police doesn't like to serve as a long term type storage facility for evidence?"

"Usually, no."

"But you would agree, and again I'm asking you, you don't just drop evidence off with the State Police, you tell them, you know, you tell them what you want done with it typically, right?"

"Yes."

"Evidence can be dusted for prints. It could be run for DNA particles. It could be examined for whether it had blood, human blood, any number of things that could be done to evidence, right?"

"Yes."

"And the State Police isn't going to make the determination of what type of test it is going to do without input from the investigator, right?"

"Right, yes."

As the deposition continued, Bonjean produced a memo between Assistant Will County State's Attorney Chris Koch and the Illinois State Police. It was dated June 5, 2018, which was four months after Harer's death.

"It says, 'On June 5th, 2018, there was a voice message left at the ASA when the analysis is completed to provide verbal results. Do you see that?" Bonjean inquired.

"Yes."

"Is it your understanding that it was the Will County Prosecutor's office requested that the GSR testing be done?"

"I see that was done," McClellan answered.

"Do you know why the Will County Task Force and or the Channahon Police Department didn't ask for that testing to be done immediately?"

"I do not."

"Do you know whether anyone asked Flores why he had gunshot residue on his hands and clothing?"

"I do not, no, I do not know."

"Did you ever ask or inquire of anyone why he had gunshot residue both on his hands and on his clothing?"

"I did not, no," McClellan said.

"As you sit here today, are you curious why he had gunshot residue on his hand and his clothing?"

"Yes."

"Do you find it unusual that Samantha was negative for GSR?" Bonjean inquired.

"No. I mean, yes and no," McClellan testified. "It's hard not to have it because she was the person that was shot, but at the same time she was kind of taken to the hospital and most likely cleaned up."

"It wasn't entirely a fair question, but it sounds like your answer, it is curious."

"Yes."

"And she was essentially pronounced dead promptly upon arrival and the photos that were taken of her by the same team that actually collected the GSR, which, you know, you got that kit pretty early, right?"

"Yes."

"It wasn't like days later that they did the GSR. It was within, you know, a few hours. So, but, again, you don't have any explanation as you sit here today for why she had no GSR on her despite the fact that she's the one that allegedly pulled the trigger?"

"I do not."

In 2019, Joliet Patch reported that on July 10, 2018, McClellan submitted the black sweatshirt worn by Flores at the time of the shooting. That meant McClellan had the physical evidence for five months before he decided to submit it to Illinois State Police Forensic Scientist Mary Wong, who is nationally accredited in her profession, at the Illinois State Police's Forensic Science Center in Chicago. On Aug. 29, 2018, Wong, was finished with her analysis of the boyfriend's sweatshirt.

Related Patch coverage: 911 Dispatcher's Death: Gunshot Residue Tests Revealed

During the deposition, Bonjean showed McClelllan several police photos from inside Harer's apartment, including her living room. Flores had told police he slept in Harer's living room while she slept in her bedroom on her last night alive, Feb. 12, 2018.

By 8:20 a.m. on Feb. 13, 2018, Flores called 911 claiming Harer had just shot herself.

"Go to the next page. Looking at this photograph that you thought was important to either inventory or make note of in your report?" Bonjean asked.

"There you see the blood-like stains on the doorway to the bedroom," McClellan replied.

"Right. What about the blood stains on the door that had been removed?"

"Oh yes, yes."

"Did you find it unusual that there was a Swiffer or some type of cleaning thing plugged in right there on the floor?"

"No."

"Why is that?"

"From my personal own house, my Swiffer duster is usually put up against the wall instead of falling down during the winter months, coming and going on a hardwood floor, but did not really put any thought to it."

"You didn't put any thought to the fact that there was a cleaning mechanism plugged in on the floor of the living room, right?"

"I'm not sure it was plugged in."

"Not only is there a vacuum cleaner and what appear to be some other type of cleaning device, both of them are plugged in right in the wall there, do you see that?"

"I see that."

"That wasn't curious to you in any way, right?"

"Not at the time."

"Is it now?"

"Could be."

"Do people who commit crimes sometimes clean up after they commit crimes?"

"They do."

"But it didn't register with you at the time as being of any significance at the time, right?"

"At the time, no."

Next, Bonjean showed McClellan a photo of Harer's living room coffee table.

"There are some flowers, some milk there or something, do you remember those things?"

"Yes."

"Did you find some letters out here in the living room anywhere?"

"Letters, I know in the bed I found Valentine's Day cards."

"Not out in the living room, right?"

"No."

"Did you find it unusual that there was dish soap on the coffee table?"

"Oh, no."

"That isn't something you inventoried, right?"

"I did not inventory that, no."

"It's not something that you made a note of as being unusual, that kitchen soap was on the coffee table in the living room, right?"

"I did not," McClellan testified.

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