S. Elgin missing more blood evidence

Two more samples of blood evidence are missing from the South Elgin Police Department, the chief revealed Thursday as he promised a full inventory check.

"It's a logical conclusion there could be other ones," Police Chief Chris Merritt said.

A total of three blood samples are unaccounted for, including one from a high-profile reckless homicide case pending in Kane County courts, Merritt. Specifics of the other two cases weren't immediately available.

No one at the department has been reprimanded, Merritt said, but an internal investigation continues. The chief also pledged to adopt stricter evidence-handling procedures and to bring in an independent auditor to check the existing evidence inventory.

"I don't know who to blame," Merritt said. "I can only blame myself, really."

Of the three missing samples, one was being used to prosecute 19-year-old Erika N. Scoliere of St. Charles, who has pleaded not guilty to drunken driving and reckless homicide charges stemming from a July 13, 2007, crash that killed motorcyclist and finance executive Frank Ferraro, 40, of South Elgin.

Kane County State's Attorney John Barsanti said Thursday that it's still unclear exactly how the lack of evidence will affect the state's case.

If a judge grants a defense motion to suppress the evidence, Barsanti said his office would have three options: pursue the case without blood evidence, appeal the suppression or drop the charges entirely. He declined to comment on what other evidence the state might have.

"Our position is that just because this evidence is not find-able at this point does not necessarily mean it gets suppressed," Barsanti said. "We can prove it's the same blood that was taken from (Scoliere) and was the same blood that was tested. We can show we have a tight chain of evidence up to the test."

Scoliere's attorney, Sarah Toney, said she would ask a judge to deem the blood sample inadmissible at trial.

"We don't even know necessarily that that is her blood," Toney said. "We've lost the opportunity to have our own experts evaluate the sample."

Merritt said Thursday he did not have readily available specifics of the other cases with missing evidence, but the blood sample taken from Scoliere the night of the deadly crash is the most "significant" of the three. Officials at the state's attorney's office also did not have the information.

"Of course, our job is to make sure these things all can be prosecuted as successfully as possible," Merritt said.

Barsanti said a loss of evidence happens occasionally but "it's not usual by any means." Illegal drug samples, for instance, are sometimes destroyed in the testing process, he said.

Other times, "It's just basically human error in my experience. The more people involved in these chains of evidence, the more opportunity you have for things to go wrong," Barsanti said.

According to Merritt, the Scoliere sample arrived at the police station, which shares a common area with village hall, several months ago. It was in a box that also included two other samples, he said, citing delivery records from the state crime lab.

Police are still piecing together details, but Merritt said it appears a village employee who does not work for the police department directly signed for the package. Its contents, however, were never logged in to evidence storage.

As a result, the department is adopting a new procedure in which evidence deliveries must be accepted by police personnel, then immediately logged in by an officer. Merritt said he also has plans to hire an independent auditor to "critique our practices and (suggest) ways to improve the way we conduct our business."