Police investigator testifies in Hawk trial

Published online on Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009

HANFORD -- Dave Hawk's fingerprints and DNA did not turn up in his ex-wife's home or van, Hanford police officer Daren Matteson testified Monday in Hawk's murder trial in Kings County Superior Court.

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 never been found. Her van, which contained some of her blood, was found in southwest Fresno.

Defense attorney Mark Coleman noted that within days after Debbie Hawk disappeared in June 2006, Dave Hawk consented to a search of his home and provided fingerprints and DNA samples of himself and his children.

During Matteson's testimony, prosecutors played a taped interview that the officer conducted with Dave Hawk's daughter, Chelsa, now 17, who told investigators shortly after her mother went missing that her father had remarked on how there was no longer conflict within the family.

"See how everybody gets along now?" Chelsa quoted her father as saying.

The remark came after a family gathering, which Dave Hawk hosted, and included his ex-wife's relatives.

In other testimony Monday, another police officer who helped investigate Debbie Hawk's north Hanford home after she disappeared said it was not "your typical burglary scene."

Officer Gabriel Jimenez said items such as televisions, computers and jewelry were not missing from the home.

Jimenez also said drawers in an entertainment center in the living room and an armoire in Debbie Hawk's bedroom were not opened, as they likely would have been in a burglary.