The fired Salt Lake police officer who claims detectives did not adequately investigate a series of homicides has filed a $6 million "whistle-blower" lawsuit against the the city and its police chief.
Frank Hatton-Ward III - a 14-year veteran who was fired Oct. 30 for "insubordination and other grounds" - claims the department's actions have been "malicious, willful, in bad faith, in gross disregard of the rights of (Hatton-Ward) and of the victims of the homicides and their families and should not be condoned," according to a lawsuit filed this week in 3rd District Court.The suit also alleges his termination was "wrongful, retaliatory and in violation of his rights as a state employee and an individual."
Hatton-Ward, a patrolman, became involved in the serial murder investigations in early 1987, when he and two members of the now defunct crime analysis unit received information that local youth gangs might be responsible for the deaths of several young women slain in 1985 and 1986. Three of those women were killed with bullets fired from the same gun.
The detectives assigned to a task force investigating the killings ignored leads that Hatton-Ward and the two crime analysts provided, according to the lawsuit. Specifically, the task force refused to follow up on information provided about a weapon that may have been used in the killings and other crimes.
Hatton-Ward "was informed the weapon was irrelevant to the serial murders," the suit states. "For the next several months, (crime analysts) continued to express the opinion that the murders were gang-related. Detectives disagreed and refused to act."
Disturbed by this "lack of interest," Hatton-Ward contacted the Salt Lake County attorney's office, which at first expressed interest and later declined to investigate. The officer and the crime analysts also contacted the sheriff's office and the attorney general's office and were met with the same reply.
Hatton-Ward continued to gather information, including near confessions and numerous tips on suspects and physical evidence.
"At no time . . . had detectives issued search warrants or sought to obtain the physical evidence nor were other suspects interviewed," the complaint states.
Police administrators, who called Hatton-Ward a "junior-varsity detective," said all of Hatton-Ward's information was investigated and deemed unfounded.
Though the murders remain unsolved, at least one detective - who no longer works for the department - believes the women's killer was Paul Ezra Rhoades, who sits on Idaho's death row for killing three people in the Idaho Falls area.