Hawk ex-girlfriend testifies about custody

Published online on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009

HANFORD -- Dave Hawk's former live-in girlfriend testified Tuesday that investigators told her she was a possible suspect in the disappearance of Debbie Hawk and threatened to put her in jail and take her children away.

Investigators "told you that you were living with a man that they were 100% sure had killed his wife," defense attorney Mark Coleman said to Mary Royer during the second day of Hawk's murder trial in Kings County Superior Court.

Royer broke into tears earlier when testifying about threats by investigators during interviews.

Debbie Hawk, a Hanford resident, has been missing since June 2006. Her body has never been found.

At the time of Debbie Hawk's disappearance, she and Dave Hawk were engaged in a bitter court battle over allegations he was misusing trust funds established for their three children.

Hawk, 51, of Lemoore was charged in mid-2007 with embezzling more than $300,000 from the trust funds and was awaiting trial in that case when he was arrested in May 2008 in connection with his ex-wife's murder.

Royer cried again when Coleman asked her whether she might have felt pressured to provide testimony investigators were seeking so she could protect herself and her children.

"All of a sudden my concern wasn't with him [Hawk], it was with me and my kids," she said.

In testimony earlier Tuesday, Royer said Dave Hawk became upset on one occasion after being served court papers over child custody matters and said the conflict between him and Debbie Hawk wouldn't end until his former wife was dead.

Hawk made similar comments three or four times over a five-year period, Royer said.

"Those statements would occur when he and Debbie were in conflict over the kids," she said.

Concerning the financial status of Royer and Hawk, who lived together five years, Royer testified they lived off money in a joint bank account. She learned later that many deposits in the account were from the children's trust funds, established by Hawk's parents, Stan and Lois Hawk.

When asked by prosecutor Larry Crouch if Hawk said "the kids have a bunch of money that I can spend any way I'd like to," Royer said, "No, he never said this."

FBI financial analyst Carole Donovan, testifying about bank documents, said about $89,000 was deposited into Hawk's bank account in 2002, including about $53,000 from the children's accounts.