Sarah Fennell’s uncle shared this timeline of events leading up to Sarah’s death … and after Sarah’s death. We ask that everyone who is outraged by this injustice to share this information.
JUSTICE FOR SARAH FENNELL!
ALL of the information in the timeline below came from OFFICIAL police reports and medical facts. After reading this, you will now have the FACTS:
Ms. Sarah M. Fennell
May 16, 1983 – February 13, 2009
Timeline of Events
Documented in the Fort Smith Police Department Incident Report #090004428-00.
10 – 11 p.m. January 24, 2009: Sarah went on a dinner date with her boyfriend after she got off work. They met at Cheddar’s in Fort Smith.
2 - 3 a.m.: In the early morning hours of January 25, 2009, Sarah and her boyfriend were involved in a violent domestic fight her friend’s apartment … her friend’s name was Amy; Amy was a co-worker and friend of Sarah’s.
3 - 9 a.m.: The boyfriend left the apartment after the domestic assault and returned in different attire six hours later. There is no documentation of the boyfriend’s actions after he claimed he left the crime scene, but the police incident report supports that he had changed attire after the fight.
9 a.m.: The next morning, the boyfriend said, he returned to “check” on Sarah and found her lying on the floor, unconscious and unresponsive. He refused to call 911 for the next 4.5 hours or tell anyone where she could be located.
9:15 – 9:30 a.m.: According to the boyfriend’s statement to investigators, he stripped Sarah naked and got into the bathtub with her unconscious body.
9:30 a.m. – Noon: The boyfriend continued to commit disgusting acts upon Sarah’s unconscious and unresponsive body. He called Sarah’s siblings in Tennessee and told them something was wrong with Sarah. He held the phone to Sarah’s ear after telling them to talk to her. He refused their repeated pleas to call 911 immediately. He also refused to tell anyone where she was.
Noon – 1:20 p.m.: A family member in Arkansas was searching for Sarah’s location.
1:25 p.m.: The family member finally located Sarah, who was lying naked on the floor of the apartment where she had been assaulted. The boyfriend had to be forced out of the way so Sarah could be taken to the ER, less than a block away.
1:30 p.m.: Sarah arrived at St. Edwards ER in a coma, mortally wounded. She would live 19 more days. She passed away on Feb. 13, 2009.
1:45p.m.: St Edwards Mercy Medical security has to be called to remove the boyfriend from the ER because he still adamantly refuses to allow anyone to help Sarah. (“Clinical Record”), (Incident Report)
2:40 p.m.: The boyfriend is asked to come to the police station to give a sworn statement. He is asked what happen to Sarah. “She drank over a half gallon of vodka and just started attacking me for no reason unprovoked.” He adds, when she started attacking me “I just curled up into a fetal position and took the beating, I never hit her back, not once”
The boyfriend was then asked if he had ever hit Sarah before this incident, “Yes, I have hit her before, but I never hit her this time.”
After police investigators recover Sarah’s ripped blouse from the crime scene and photograph damage to the apartment, they ask the boyfriend if he can explain the busted door and how Sarah’s blouse may have become ripped, “All I can think of is, it must have been damaged and her blouse ripped when I was trying to keep her off me.”
The boyfriend is then asked why he did not call 911 when he discovered Sarah unconscious and unresponsive at 9 a.m. And why he dragged her to the bathroom, stripping her naked and getting into the bathtub with her, “because she was just drunk and I have been that drunk before, I was just trying to make her wake up.”
At the conclusion of this interview, investigators will place in their report, “ the boyfriend keeps changing his story about what happened and in what order” (Incident Report)
Note: All of Sarah’s siblings receiving these barbaric calls from the boyfriend, not knowing if it was a joke or real. What normal person could even fathom that someone would be holding a battered, unconscious, and unresponsive human being for over four hours and refuse to call 911 or tell them where she was, so they could send help?
Twelve hours after Sarah was beaten, she arrives at St. Edwards Mercy Emergency Room.
Below is the text of a St. Edwards Mercy clinical report written by Dr. Phillips, Under History of Present Illness, page 1: The patient was found to have multiple bruises all over her body”
Assessment page 2: “Has had multiple traumatic injury about her body” It has been medically established, Sarah was in a coma due to the ’restriction of blood and oxygen to her brain’. Fort Smith Police Report page 2. Officer J. Scarborough is the first officer to arrive at the ER, he will place in his report. ” The doctor advised me that Sarah had marks on her neck that was consistent with strangulation.” — Fort Smith Police Offense Report Number 0090004428-00
Officer R. Reed is the first Detective to arrive at the ER, he will place in his report page 3. ” RN Time Green said Sarah was suffering from lack of oxygen to her brain” Detective Reed goes on to say ” There are scratches on her chest and shoulder area. She had a red bump about the size of a quarter behind her right ear and what looked like a small cut in front of her right ear. “On her neck I saw what appeared to be redness on the right side and continuing to the left side.” — Fort Smith Police Offense Report Number 0090004428-00
Detective M. Warren and Detective Reed meet with Fort Smith Prosecutors Dan Shue, DPA Ward, DPA Wagoner, DPA Houston and DPA Jennen. After this meeting Dan Shue will tell them; “They would wait to make any decisions when something could be proven.” — Fort Smith Police Offense Report Number 0090004428-00
The document below is the last page of the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory Report (the autopsy). This autopsy was performed almost a month after Sarah was beaten; naturally all superficial wounds would have healed by that time. What is most interesting and defies any human logic is the last paragraph, “Investigators indicated their belief that the decedent had not sustained injuries during the admitted altercation”.
Note: I have elected not to publish the entire autopsy out of respect for our family members.
Everyone now knows 25-year-old Sarah Fennell officially died as the results of a ‘stroke’ but what caused the stroke?
Below is a St Edwards Mercy clinical report written by Dr. Knubley. He is stating they have ruled out every possible health related causes for a stroke and why Sarah is in a coma.
The boyfriend based his whole defense on his claims that Sarah was drunk. His explanation to everyone of how and why Sarah was in the condition she is in is because of alcohol. Detectives will put in their report “[The boyfriend] would change his story, about what happened, and in what order.”
He stated in the police report and even told the ER staff “she drank over a half gallon of vodka.”
Another St. Edwards Mercy clinical report written by Dr. Yazbeck. Under Emergency Room Course states: ” After the blood alcohol came normal,”
Years have now passed, and the boyfriend still has NEVER been arrested, much less charged with any crime involving the brutal beating death of Sarah M. Fennell (age 25).
The following in a letter I received from one of the Forensic Pathologists that will opinion on Sarah’s autopsy results and challenge the manner of death finding.
This is just one of four I have, they all pretty much say the same things so I will only post this one. I have deleted this medical Doctor’s name because it is rumored the boyfriend has filed a lawsuit to silence me and anyone else he can in order to stop me.
This one particular medical doctor has over 30 years of experience in Clinical Pathology and Anatomic Pathology and has been provided the ‘complete’ autopsy report. Here is this Medical Doctors response:
James,
I have reviewed the autopsy report as well as the material on your website.
I find it difficult to fathom how the investigation seems to have completely ended when the pathology report was returned as “natural” manner of death.
That judgment was made by a pathologist who either was given very poor information about the case or completely misunderstood the reports. The summary that he relates in his “opinion” leaves out the very important details of the 43 injuries described on her admission, for example.
The type of ischemic injury she sustained probably occurred as a result of forcible neck twisting. She probably was not “strangled” in the conventional sense, but had her head twisted in the struggle that so obviously ensued between her and the boyfriend. I do not believe for a moment that he curled into the fetal position and took a beating from her without touching her.
The fact that her blood alcohol was negative at the time of admission means that she did not drink enough to sustain brain damage from the drinking. It’s quite easy to estimate what her blood level could possibly have been (and what it could not have been) given that information and the hours that passed.
The autopsy itself looks to be pretty well performed. My guess would be that if there had not been the passage of 19 days for the bruises to resolve, and had the pathologist had a more complete picture of the facts surrounding the incident (or not ignored them) the conclusion might have been quite different.
Unfortunately it seems that it will not be possible to have the pathologist who performed the autopsy review it. An internet search reveals that he himself died in November 2011 at the age of 45. I don’t know the cause of his death, but I wonder if he were indeed healthy at the time that he performed this autopsy. It is worth studying.
Despite all of this, it is inconceivable that the prosecutor and police would let this case drop and consider it a natural death.
If your attorney needs to retain me officially that can be arranged. However, I don’t mind helping in an unofficial capacity if you have questions for me. Feel free to call me if you like.
M. Norman M.D.
I have relied on the following documentation to support my charges:
1. Fort Smith Police Department Incident Report #090004428-00 (the “Incident Report”).
2. Fort Smith Police Department Incident Report Witness Statements.
3. St. Edwards Mercy Medical Emergency Clinical Record #RM T2 (the “Clinical Record”).
4. St. Edwards Medical Mercy Medical Center Physician(s) reports (“St. Edwards Clinical Reports”).
5. Radiology, Nuclear Medical and Medical Imagining Clinical Test Results.
6. Arkansas State Crime Laboratory Report case #ME-152-09 (the “State Crime Lab Report”).
The following is a ‘narrative’ taken from the actual signed and notarized Sworn Complaint I filed. Evidence and Documented Facts to Support my Claim/Charges:
(1) Sarah Fennell (victim), age 25, was in a coma at St. Edwards Mercy Medical Emergency Department as the result of an admitted violent domestic assault. She had 43 documented traumas to her body, including visible neck and head trauma. The treating physicians told Fort Smith investigators that Sarah was in a coma due to the ”restriction of blood and oxygen to her brain.”
(2) Sarah arrived at St. Edwards ER at 1:30 p.m. on January 25, 2009. This was almost 12 hours after the admitted domestic assault. Her boyfriend, admitted to investigators that he and Sarah got into a fight in the early morning hours of that date, between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. (Incident Report)
(3) Fort Smith Police Officer J. Scarborough noted in his written report, “The Doctor advised me that Sarah had marks on her neck that was consistent with strangulation.”(Incident Report, pg 2)
(4) Five medical doctors and one RN recorded 43 visible marks of trauma to Sarah’s body, including visible trauma to her neck and head. Dr. Yarborough stated in a clinical report, “She has had multiple traumatic injuries about her body.” (St. Edwards Clinical Reports) (revised)
• Dr. Yarborough
• Dr. Knubtey
• Dr. Ghussain
• Dr. Yazbeck
• Dr. S. Phillips
• RN Tim Green
(5) Four police officers/investigators reported and documented visible traumas to Sarah’s body, neck and head area. (Incident Report)
• Officer J. Scarborough
• Unknown officer identified only as ‘CFS’ on page 3
• Detective Michael J. Warren
• Detective Reed
(6) St. Edwards Mercy Clinical Radiology Department confirmed that Sarah had “Internal Trauma” to her neck, head, and brain. Clinical test results show: ’Basilar Artery Occlusion and Kinking of the Left Vertebral Artery.’
(7) St. Edwards Mercy Medical Doc# 987795 quotes Dr. Yazbeck: “She had a bruise in the right Mastoid area.” This injury to Sarah’s head is repeatedly documented throughout the St. Edwards Clinical Record and the Incident Report.
(8) Detective Michael J. Warren reports, “I went into the room and took photos of Sarah Fennell. She had a knot on the top of her forehead and behind her right ear [this is the Mastoid area]. She had some red blotches around her neck.” (Incident Report)
(9) St. Edwards Mercy Medical Clinical Report Dr. S. Phillips “She has multiple bruises around her neck and right mastoid, she has had multiple traumatic injuries about her body”
(10) St. Edwards Mercy Medical Clinical Report -Department of Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Medical Imaging Job#20314. “Tilt of the Cervical Spine noted to the left.”
(11) St. Edwards Mercy Medical Clinical Report-Department of Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Medical Imaging Job#22425D: “Stenosis/Kinking of the left Vertebral at its exit from C2 foramina and additional stenosis/filling defect along the wall, slightly beyond this within the left vertebral artery. There is mild irregularity of the left vertebral artery just beyond this as well.”
(12) Detective Warren and Detective Reed meet with Fort Smith Prosecutors Office (PA Shue and DPAs Wagoner, Houston, and Jennen) to present evidence. After this meeting with Prosecutors Office they concluded, “After review they stated they would wait to make any decision when something could be proven.” (Incident Report, page 9)”
WHAT HAPPENED TO SARAH FENNELL?
