Hawk children saw blood in mom's home

Published online on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009

HANFORD -- Debbie Hawk's three children saw blood in a hallway and other areas of her home on June 13, 2006, but Hawk -- who had failed to retrieve them from their father's home -- was missing.

Savannah Hawk, 13, testified Thursday that she and her siblings noticed something else unusual: The sliding glass door in their mother's Hanford home was open, but the vertical blinds were closed.

"We weren't allowed to go through the door if the blinds were closed, because it messed up the blinds," she said during the fourth day of her father's murder trial in Kings County Superior Court.

Papers also were scattered near two computers in separate areas, and Debbie Hawk's bed was mussed, even though she normally kept a tidy home, Savannah and her sister Chelsa Hawk, 17, testified.

Dave Hawk, 51, of Lemoore was charged in mid-2007 with embezzling more than $300,000 from his children's trust funds and was awaiting trial in that case when he was arrested in May 2008 in connection with his ex-wife's murder. Debbie Hawk's body has not been found.

Defense attorney Mark Coleman asked Savannah if her father acted strangely either on June 13, 2006, or the day before.No, Savannah said, but "he was irritated that he had to drive us over" to their mother's home. When asked how their parents got along, both sisters said not well. Chelsa said she often had to be the mediator.

Prosecutors showed jurors nearly 100 photographs of blood drops, stains and smears taken by now-retired Hanford police officer Mark Dillon in Debbie Hawk's home hours after she was reported missing. Police have said previously that Debbie Hawk's blood was found in her home and her abandoned van.

"Looks like something was dragged through there," Dillon testified about smear marks on the laundry room tile floor and the garage floor.

Coleman said his client is glad to get to the murder testimony of the trial, because there is no physical evidence that Hawk killed his ex-wife. "If there was a murder, Dave did not do it," he said.

The Hawks had battled over how Dave Hawk was spending money from the children's trust funds, which were established by his parents. Dave Hawk was the trustee of the funds.

Prosecutor Shane Burns asked Chelsa if she called the trust her college fund.

"I referred to it as a trust fund," she said. "I knew it was for college or other needs that we had."

In other testimony, Marlene Dunn, a computer forensics specialist with the Kings County District Attorney's Office, said Dave Hawk had purchased a stun gun on May 3, 2006, based on e-mails she found on the family's personal computer. Prosecutors say the stun gun purchase was part of Hawk's murder plan.

Also on Thursday, a juror was dismissed when she called in sick. She was replaced by a male alternate juror.