The California Attorney General’s Office looked into the delayed report on the cause of death of Bishop’s Shaleen Duckey. They came back with the same information we already had, the Department of Justice forensics lab in
Fresno has held onto evidence for 9 months and is “continuing to conduct DNA analysis on several pieces of evidence.” The AG spokesman basically said that the Duckey case is not a priority.

Maybe not for them, but for Eastern Sierra residents, it is. Many have called us to get answers.

Gareth Lacy of the Attorney General’s Press Office said that the Department of Justice deals with homicides and rapes before missing persons. Does this mean Duckey’s case is not a murder? No one is willing to conclude that at this point.

Lacy claimed that the DOJ lab is not neglecting Inyo County’s case. When will they provide a final answer as to why Ms. Duckey died? Lacy said there is no date on when. “We have a lot of crimes to handle,” he said.

The 32 year old Shaleen Duckey went missing last July 12th. Her body turned up in a field just off Barlow Lane about two weeks later. Local law enforcement did confirm finding a knife next to her body, but they have not issued a definite cause of death.

Inyo Sheriff’s Investigator Marson Mottweiler said, “No final decision can be made until all of the information is available from the forensics laboratories and evaluated.” Mottweiler said that about two weeks ago, DOJ spokesmen told him that they are waiting on chemicals needed to move forward with certain evidence testing.

Asked if the Sheriff’s office might consider other ways to obtain critical forensic information on future cases, Investigator Mottweiler said, “We have explored other private labs that we can use in the future.”

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