KBI case agent points finger at husband

As the second week began in the trial to determine if Brent Bollinger is responsible for his wife's death in an October 2011 house fire, jurors on Monday heard testimony that he has been the only suspect.

Brenna Bollinger died Oct. 13, 2011 in her home at 2166 Grand Road. Brent Bollinger and Bryson Bollinger, their then 2-year-old son, received burn injuries in the blaze. Brent Bollinger was treated at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan., and Bryson Bollinger was treated at Shriners Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In January 2012, Brent Bollinger pleaded not guilty to first degree murder, child endangerment and aggravated arson. Bollinger is represented in the Bourbon County District Court by his attorney, former Kansas Attorney General Paul Morrison. The state is represented by Bourbon County Attorney Terri Johnson and Kristiane Bryant, assistant state attorney general criminal division.

Honorable Judge Mark Ward is presiding over the trial.

On Monday morning, three witnesses from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation testified to the roles they played in the investigation of Brenna's death. KBI Special Agent Beth Brooks was the case agent for the investigation, which means she was in charge of ensuring her staff provided assistance to the Bourbon County Sheriff's Office. State Fire Marshall Agent Rose Rosmiarek contacted Brooks at about midnight the night of the fire.

At 3 a.m. on Oct. 14, Brooks said she received a second call and was asked to come to Bourbon County to assist in an investigation. She first went to the Sheriff's Office, where she was told a woman had died in a fire and her husband and son had been injured. The husband had said the fire started when he lit a cigarette, igniting his shirt, which had gasoline on it from when he was cutting firewood.

Brooks said she was also told the husband's truck had been driven to the hospital, then towed from there and placed in storage as evidence. She went to the storage and took photographs of the truck. Jurors saw photographs of the interior of the vehicle, which Brooks described as having "fire debris," consisting of dust. Brent Bollinger's father, Dale Bollinger, was one of the firefighters who first entered the house. He then took Brent's pickup to Mercy Hospital Fort Scott, where Brent was transported by ambulance.

Photographs also showed firewood in the back of the pickup and a container of oil. There was also dried blood on the driver's side door, rail of the pickup and the tailgate area. Swabs of those stains were taken, and a swab of Bryson's mouth was also done. It was later determined the blood belonged to Bryson, Brooks said.

"We were looking for blood, cell phones, anything," Brooks said.

The location of Brent and Brenna Bollinger's cell phones has become a mystery in the trial. Serial numbers showed two Blackberry phones belonging to Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, where Brent Bollinger was employed, were located in the back seat of his pickup. An Alltel Razor phone that also was found in the truck did not match the phone descriptions given by friends and family of Brent and Brenna Bollinger, Brooks said.

EMS and fire personnel, friends and family were interviewed in an attempt to locate those phones. Calls also were made to the phones to determine where they might be.

"It was a very wide search to find the phones," Brooks said.

She said a thorough search was done -- the house, the area between Brent Bollinger's house and (Brent's grandmother) Mary Bollinger's house, where he took Bryson after the fire. Investigators also searched the hills and fields around the house. There was no evidence of the phones in any fire debris, she said, adding that she would have expected to find evidence of a cell phone in the debris. No phones were ever found.

Investigators also tried to "ping" the phone, a technology used when trying to find missing persons, she said.

"In this case the emergency had already happened and the victim was deceased, so the cell phone company won't allow us to ping the phone because the emergency had already passed," Brooks said. "The phone was evidence, not part of an emergency."

A week after the investigation began, Brooks said she sent a letter to Sprint and Verizon cell phone companies stating that records for Brent and Brenna's cell phones would be subpoenaed to obtain information on tower usage for incoming and outgoing calls, and also text messages. However, Brooks said it is common for cell phone companies to delete text message data after three days.

A request for records of phone calls made beginning on Oct. 7, 2011 was made to see who they talked to in order to corroborate stories friends and family had given investigators, Brooks said. The records also showed which cell phone towers calls went to, which indicates the area Brent and Brenna were when making calls.

For example, records show calls made by Brent went to a tower at Louisburg, which corroborated the story that he was in Paola when friends said he was.

The jury saw a record of activity for both phones. The record for Brenna's began on Oct. 15, 2011 and went back to Oct. 12, 2011. Brent's phone records go from Oct. 13 through Oct. 15. Both sets of records included a map of towers.

The last call to Brenna's phone was made at 1:39 p.m. Oct. 15, 2011, and that indicates the phone was still on, Brooks said.

"So it wasn't turned off, it wasn't destroyed," Brooks said. "It was on somewhere and that it was ringing into voicemail."

Brooks said friends and family said they called Brenna's phone to hear her voice mail after the fire.

There also was a call from Jason Harris, who, according to court testimony, Brenna was having an affair, at 10:12 p.m., a text message at 10:15 p.m. and another call at 10:29 p.m. on Oct. 13, 2011. Those were all made after firefighters were called to her house.

In the hour before the fire, there were calls and texts to Harris, as well as an outgoing text message to Derek Cagle, who testified that he and Brenna had a physical relationship just a few days prior to the fire.

Records also showed when Brenna called a law firm.

Brooks said she has learned from cell phone companies that calls will go to other towers if the closer tower is blocked or busy.

Records for Brent's phone show the phone was in the area of the Louisburg tower earlier in the evening, then connected to the Fort Scott tower later in the evening and finally the Garland Tower when he called Brenna prior to the fire. The records show his phone also called 911 at 9:51 p.m. The Fort Scott Police Department returned a call to Brent's phone shortly after the 911 call was made.

Using information from interviews and phone records, Brooks said she was able to create a timeline of activity for Harris, Brent Bollinger and Brenna Bollinger. That timeline, mounted on poster board, was unfolded so Brooks could walk jurors through it.

Brooks also interviewed Scott Perkins, the paramedic who took care of Brent Bollinger after the fire. He testified that besides his EMS report, he made a separate and more thorough report because he thought the fire was suspicious. Brooks said in addition to Perkins, she interviewed "multiple people."

"At what point in your investigation did Brent Bollinger become a suspect?" Bryant asked.

"I would say probably in the first week," Brooks said.

She based her suspicion on the fact that Brenna was in a prone position when she was "put on fire," and interviews from friends and witnesses, as well as statements made by Brent Bollinger. Brooks said she ruled out Harris and Cagle as suspects because of where they were, based on phone records and statements.

Brooks said alternative theories to how Brenna died also were ruled out. Those included being hit with a golf club and suicide. Investigators also ruled out the theory that Brent had been cutting wood, spilled gasoline on himself, then caught himself on fire when he lit a cigarette inside the house. Brooks said that theory was ruled out because friends stated Brent had been at a home in Fort Scott and was smoking outside and did not smell of gasoline or light himself on fire at that time.

She added that there is no record of Brenna having mental health issues.

During his questioning, Morrison focused on the fact that Brent has been the only suspect.

"You testified that my client was a suspect within the first week. It was really like within 10 minutes," Morrison said.

When Brooks began to respond, "In my opinion..." he stopped her and told her it was a yes or no question. She said she didn't know about Perkins telling people 24 hours later that Brent Bollinger was to blame.

According to a report read in court, when Brent Bollinger first got in the ambulance, he stated it was his fault she was dead, he couldn't get her out.

"At this time, Brent hadn't said he killed her," Morrison said. "He stated he couldn't get her out of the house. And Perkins said he said he killed her in context he couldn't get her out of the house."

Brooks said that statement was made on the way to the hospital, but Morrison stopped her. She said what she was reading was not a transcript of the interview with Perkins. Brooks said Perkins also said, "I've never had anybody tell me they killed somebody."

She said Perkins' statement that he wondered if Brent knew what he was saying was not in the interview transcript, but on a DVD. When she tried to explain why it was not included, Morrison kept stopping her and insisting that she answer his question, "Don't you think it was important enough to be included in the report?" with a yes or no answer. She finally answered, "No."

Morrison also questioned Brooks about Brent's cell phone. She admitted she never sent an investigator to ask emergency and medical staff if they saw a cell phone with Brent's personal possessions. She said it was her understanding those items were handed to the family. Again, Morrison asked for a "yes" or "no" answer.

She eventually answered "No."

Morrison also questioned why a copy was not made of text messages on Harris' cell phone.

"Don't you think that was important to see what Jason was saying to Brenna?" Morrison asked. "You didn't think someone having an affair with Brenna Bollinger during this period of time was worth looking at more than two 15-minute interviews?"

Brooks said they were working "off of physical evidence."

Morrison said there were more than 200 phone calls between Cagle and Brenna the week leading up to her death. Morrison asked if Brooks first learned during this trial that Cagle had sex with Brenna, and Brooks said "Yes."

Brooks told Bryant she was able to verify where those two men were on the night of the fire.

Bryant, in her redirect, took Brooks back to Perkins' statement. Brooks said that Perkins had stated that normally, the first reaction of someone who has a house fire is, "What am I going to do?" Brent's first reaction was that (Brent) had killed her, it was his fault. Brooks said Perkins did not seem concerned for Brent's mental state.

In a redirect from Morrison, Brooks said she did not send any investigator to Holmtown Pub to see whether Harris was there the night of the fire. It was after Brent was charged that an investigator confirmed Cagle's whereabouts, she said.

Other testimony

* KBI Senior Special Agent Kelly Schneider was responsible for collecting possible evidence. When he arrived at 3 p.m. on Oct. 14, the investigation was underway and Wally Roberts of the Fire Marshal's office had collected items that pertained to the fire. Schneider collected evidence that might relate to the crime.

He told jurors that some items had been collected because, not knowing what would be determined, those items might be evidence. A broken piece of a door jam and a broken door plate were collected because, "At the time, we didn't know what had taken place before our arrival. We were thinking that someone may have broken the door and got into the residence," Schneider said.

It was later determined that the door was broken by firefighters in their effort to extinguish the fire.

A golf club which had a brown substance on it and skin tissue lying nearby were collected outside the house because it was initially thought they might contain human blood and tissue. It was at first thought Brenna Bollinger had been struck on the head with a golf club, but Schneider said DNA testing later determined there was no human tissue involved with those items.

Schneider said a lighter and charcoal fluid were collected from the back porch area because at the time, investigators did not know an area in the yard had been burned prior to Oct. 13, Schneider said.

Bryant handed him packages of evidence and asked Schneider to talk about each one -- a cigarette lighter that was located in the master bedroom next to the bedroom where the fire allegedly started, and a T-shirt that was found on the burned stairway leading to the bedroom area of the house. A burned bra and pants that were beneath Brenna Bollinger's body and carpet and padding near her body also were collected.

All the items except the lighter were placed in a metal paint bucket and sealed because they were flammable, Schneider said. He opened each of the cans and held up each item for the jury to see.

Schneider also swabbed blood droplets found on the side of a white Tahoe parked in the driveway, the concrete on the driveway, the center of the garage and the entry door leading from the garage to the house.

As Morrison has done with other witnesses, he asked Schneider who was making the decision on what to collect as evidence.

"It's kind of a group effort," Schneider said.

He said he also was responsible for creating a diagram of where the evidence was found on the property.

He also said the only location where fire samples were taken was from the southeast bedroom, where it was determined the fire had started, and the stairs. Items collected in the badly burned bedroom were found near the edge of the origin of the fire, Schneider said.

Schneider said no glass container had been collected or analyzed.

* James Baer is now retired from the KBI, but in October 2011, as a forensic scientist, he was responsible for testing evidence for the presence of ignitable fluids. He said because the items were highly flammable, it was a quick process. Besides using his sense of smell, he also examined the items and conducted tests.

Items were numbered and labeled with general written descriptions in his reports: a pair of jeans, shoes, black and blue cloth, burnt cloth, debris, carpet and padding. The majority of the items he discussed on the witness stand tested positive for the presence of gasoline. The chemicals found on one piece of burnt cloth was determined to be "suspicious."