In May 2012, Michelle Mockbee’s violent death was discovered at her place of employment. Although it was a busy place of business, no one saw the incident, thus the police had to rely on circumstantial evidence. The focus of “The Object of Murder: The Darkest Hour” on Investigation Discovery is on how the authorities managed to secure a conviction while lacking substantial proof. So, if you’re interested in learning what occurred in this instance, look no further.
How Did Michelle Mockbee Die?
Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, was the place of Michelle Ann Whalen’s birth in August 1969. She was employed by Thermo Fisher Scientific in Florence, Kentucky, as a Logistics Support Representative. Dan Mockbee, the man she would later marry, and Michelle had been coworkers at the business for about 16 years. Carli and Madelyn, the couple’s two kids, were 7 and 10 years old, respectively, at the time of the occurrence. The pair wed in 2001. On May 29, 2012, the 42-year-old left for work early and never arrived.
Around 5:53 am, a surveillance camera recorded Michelle entering the facility. She was found face down in a pool of blood on a mezzanine on the second level about an hour later. With a plastic bag covering her head, Michelle’s hands and ankles were bound. She had been fatally beaten. The mother of two had slashes on her wrists and ear, and she had at least four significant head wounds. Her arms were fractured as well.
Who Killed Michelle Mockbee?
The husband, Dan Mockbee, was swiftly ruled out by the detectives. He passed the polygraph test and was dozing off at home when the murder occurred. The focus of the investigation then shifted to the company’s employees who were present in the warehouse at the time Michelle was fatally beaten. The police focused on the caretaker David Dooley out of all of them. He and his wife both had jobs at the company, but on May 29, just David showed up.
Additionally, surveillance footage revealed David leaving the office at roughly 6:30 a.m. and coming back 30 minutes later. At that time, nobody else was outside the building. He insisted that he returned home to check on his ailing wife. David denied changing his trousers when he got home, despite his wife reporting to the police that he had. The investigation revealed that David and his wife had been clocking in for one another even when they weren’t at work by fabricating their time cards.
David had previous theft and burglary convictions as well, but they were from a long time ago. The office door at Michelle’s workplace soon had markings on it that the police believed might have been the result of an attempted break-in. The marks made on a screwdriver that was discovered in David’s locker were accurate. The police assumed that when Michelle surprised David, he tried to break into her office. She was also in charge of payroll, and the authorities hypothesised that’s how she would have learned about the time cards.
The murder weapon was never located by the police. David’s home was searched, but nothing significant was found. His work boots, however, were never discovered either. His office’s closet tested positive for bleach as well. When the plastic bag found over Michelle’s head was submitted for DNA analysis, it was discovered that David and another unidentified person’s DNA had been present. The authorities believed they had a good chance of obtaining a conviction because there was a lot of circumstantial evidence in the case.
Where is David Dooley Now?
David Dooley was found guilty of killing Michelle Mockbee in 2014. Three years later, a judge reversed his conviction, finding that the defence had not been given access to certain evidence. The prosecution reaffirmed its case that David killed Michelle as a result of her learning about the time cards in a 2019 retrial. Dan was blamed by the defence as well, claiming he stood to gain significantly from a life insurance policy. Nevertheless, after more than six hours of deliberation in March 2019, a jury found David guilty of murder and tampering with evidence.
After the decision, Dan expressed his relief by adding, “Hopefully, we can go on. You never really get over it, you know? There is no way to overcome something of this magnitude. Michelle was the love of my life, and you’ll never be able to go past that. It’s the girls’ mother; it’s also my. And how wonderful that it is over. David was given a sentence in April 2019 of 38 years for the murder and 5 years for the charge of tampering, to be served consecutively.
He also received two five-year sentences in November 2020 after pleading guilty to two counts of second-degree unlawful transaction with a minor. They were supposed to be served along with his earlier sentences. According to prison records, David is still detained at the Morgan County, Kentucky, facility known as the Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex. In 2032, he will be eligible for parole.
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