July 25, 2020 • 41 mins
Who killed Kim Dorsey? As Karen and her co-workers forensically reconstructed the crime scene, the homicide detectives ran down lead after lead until they found the suspect and arrested him. Who was he and how did the crime really happen? What was the suspect’s story when he took the stand at the trial? Interviews with Detective Kim Long, Prosecutor London Kite, Detective Larry Kuczkowski and Sergeant Karen Dukes.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ah, Phil, well what she so? Well? You can hold
hold back, but it does in bed. How you feel?
(00:22):
This is the This is the New Real. This is
Shattered Souls. I'm your host, Karen Smith. This podcast contains
graphic language and is not suitable for children. This is
the New Real. Welcome back. This is episode twelve. When
(00:47):
we left off, I was in the middle of reconstructing
the homicide of Kim Dorsey after she was found by
her husband, Derek, when he came home from his overnight
shift as a firefighter. Quick, Andy, how did you hear her? Though?
I don't know? Cut her copper from ca. Okay, let
(01:07):
me get a rescue Kim, than you are you? Okay?
So tell me exactly what happened. I don't know what
You're God coming through a god from rescue? Are you
with her right now? Okay? How old is she? I
(01:28):
don't know. Full that doesn't make a bert with you? Okay,
there we are, sir, We are sending rescue. She awake.
Nom Derek Dorsey had been quickly eliminated as a suspect
since he had a rock solid alibi at the fire
station overnight, the homicide detectives ran down three other possible
(01:52):
suspect leads, and they also had alibis. During the time
of Kim's murder, the detectives went back to Derek to
find out if he could provide any further information. Detective
Larry Kiskowski. But once we started going down associates and individuals,
we were able to determine that it was probably somebody
(02:14):
else that came to the home and did it. We
felt confident though, that whoever did it actually knew the
Dorsees or had some connection to them. It wasn't just
a random act. Based on the interview with Derek and
some of the individuals that him and his wife both
used in their businesses, we felt that there was an
(02:35):
individual that we kind of honed in on that could
definitely be responsible for this. Sergeant Karen Dukes, they really
started talking to Derek Dorsey about who he thought might
have done it, who would have access to the house,
who wouldnew where that hidden key was by the front door.
Detective Kim Long to other junior detectives and I were
(02:58):
going into our fourth day at the scene. Kim Long
had reconstructed three bullet defects in the kitchen ceiling, showing
that the origin of those shots was right in front
of a nightstand between the bed and the wall, whereas
saturation stain was on the carpet and an open gun
box remained in the upper drawer. We determined that Kim
(03:20):
Dorsey had fired that gun toward the kitchen. The pink
handled revolver had been found just under the foot of
the bed before it was collected. The revolver cylinder held
five bullets, so it was empty. We knew the flight path,
but we didn't know why Kim Dorsey would have fired
toward the kitchen. We made the supposition that the suspect
(03:42):
had zip tied Kim to the nightstand after rendering her
either semi conscious or unconscious with a punch or a
strike to her nose or eye, which was evidenced by
an impact pattern on a mirror and a wall by
the bathroom door. She regained consciousness at some point and
fired all five rounds toward the kitchen before she got
(04:04):
up and left that part of the bedroom and made
it across the room over to a window where she
was trying to escape. I had reconstructed the blood stains
showing the heinousness of the attack evidenced by numerous cast
off events, impacts, saturations, transfer stains, and Kim's movement across
(04:26):
the room. Kim Dorsey had been bludgeoned by the bottom
half of a pool queue that was broken into three pieces,
and then stabbed in the neck with a kitchen knife
that was also left at the scene. We now had
much of the story about what happened to Kim based
on the evidence at the scene. What we didn't have
was a suspect, but the homicide detectives were about to
(04:49):
zero in on one man whose name was provided by
Derek Dorsey. There were definitely multiple people and along with
special with Lance. Lance had come out of the fire
station I believe it was the Wednesday before that weekend,
and had borrowed some money from Derek. At that time, Lance,
(05:09):
either at that conversation or later in the week he
had told Derek that he was going to go out
and work on a sprint boat, trying to make some
money doing that. So that was the last story that
Derek had far as where Lance was headed. Lance Kirkpatrick
Lance had lived at the Dorsey home for a short
period of time while he worked for Derek Dorsey at
(05:31):
his part time contracting company, Karen Duke's. Lance may have
done some side work for him and they part of
his payment was that they allowed him to live in
their home for a brief amount of time while he
was doing some odd in jobs for him. That at
a certain point I think the either had to kick
him out or they forced him to leave. He didn't
leave on very good terms. Derek was adamant that Lance
(05:54):
would never do such a thing. He was a friend,
and Derek didn't think that Lance would of any motive
to kill Kim Dorsey. Right from the beginning, Derek was
almost convinced the Lance wouldn't do this. You know, he's
a family friend. He had lived at the house at
one time. Derek, I believe, just you know, refused to
believe that Lance could do something like that. Prosecutor London Kite, well,
(06:18):
it's interesting about lands Ko Patrick is that he had
developed a relationship with those Ms Dorsey, who wasn't very
keen on them, I guess. And but the husband really
did not respect him at all. Gamely because the husband
told the detective that he was supposed on a shrimp boat.
Initially we thought that he had an alibi, and so
(06:38):
they started digging a little bit deeper and found out
that that was absolutely not true. One very important clue
was found by Karen Duke's an overturned statue by the
front door. The very first thing that I noticed as
I was walking up that front sidewalk was a concrete
(06:59):
a very small a concrete statue near the front door
that was tipped over. You as you're walking up, you know,
you're looking at the door frame to see if there's
any times of four entry, someone kicked the door in,
or how did they gain entry, and for some reason
that statue being tipped over. The first thing I thought
is someone hid the spare key to the front door
(07:19):
under that statue and it was tipped over because someone
knew that there was a key there, or had been
searching right around the front door and found it there.
That's honestly what I thought. Lance Kirkpatrick would have known
about this key since he had lived at the house.
The detectives now had to find Lance and find out
if he had an alibi for the morning of the murder.
(07:42):
Let's go back to the scene for just a moment.
The Dorsey House was located in a gated development that
required a code for entry. It was secure a low
crime area. Their house was located on a corner lot
on a cul de sac, not far from the entrance
to the develop a mint. There were cameras positioned at
(08:02):
that entrance. The homicide detectives went in and reviewed that
video footage. As the homicide detectives chased down Lance Kirkpatrick,
we continued our work at the house. At that point,
the reconstruction was just about done, and Kim Long and
the others had completed a diagram of the entire house,
(08:24):
but there were still plenty of other areas that needed
to be searched and documented. The other two junior detectives
had processed and collected a lot of items in the
kitchen and upstairs in the loft, but there was still
plenty of work to do. I went upstairs for the
first time on that fourth day to do a walk
through with one of the others, and Kim Long focused
(08:45):
on the kitchen. One thing that crime scene detectives do
on a regular basis is go through garbage for any evidence.
The Dorseys had a trash compactor in the kitchen just
below the sink. Luckily for us, it hadn't been activated
for several days. This is Detective Kim Long. I looked
in the trash can and so there were like the
(09:06):
treats that she had bought for the dog, and they
were still in there. I think the the unopened bags
were still in there. And underneath all that was the cigarette.
But and it was our understanding, Kim didn't smoke, and
I did her husband, So why would a cigarette but
be in the trash can you know who did smoke?
Lance Kirkpatrick marlboroughs the same brand Kim Long package that cigarette,
(09:32):
but for DNA analysis. There were still various items sitting
in that kitchen sink, including several remote controls and Kim
Dorsey's cell phone. Whoever put them in there had done
it with the purpose of destroying evidence. But why the
television and stereo remote controls. I went into the living
(09:52):
room and looked at the DVD player. That same greasy
substance from the side table and the bed posts was
on the butt. At that point, Larry Kaskowski came back
into the scene along with Derek Dorsey, and I told
him about it. I processed the buttons for DNA and
latent Prince and we had Derek Dorsey turned that system
(10:13):
on Instantly a video began playing on the television. It
was pornography. Derek Dorsey was stunned and said that it
certainly was not his. Larry Kaskowski questioned him right there
in the living room, and Derek was adamant that it
did not belong in that video player. So we ejected
(10:34):
the DVD and more of that greasy substance was on
the disk, so it was collected for processing. Detective Kim
Long there was no information about the DVD player. There
was a DVD of pornography, so I want to say
that we were looking at the DVD player, there seemed
to be like some almost kind of like greasy smears
(10:55):
kind of on it. When that was coupled with the
cigarette but left in the trash, it seemed like the
suspect was not only comfortable enough to smoke in the house,
but also sat down to watch porn after the murder
and brought that disk with him to the house. What
the hell kind of a twisted person does that. Derek
(11:21):
excused himself at that point and left Larry Giskowski, me
and the others to do a final walk through of
the scene to make sure that everything had been documented
and to give Larry the sequence of events for when
he got in the box with Lance Kirkpatrick. We went
back upstairs and processed a few other items in the loft,
and after nearly five full days of work, we released
(11:44):
the scene and gave the house back to Derek Dorsey.
In the meantime, the homicide detectives had found a friend
of Lance Kirkpatrick's we'll call him Mike, who said that
Lance had admitted to the murder to him during a
conversation the day after the crime. Mike said that Lance
(12:08):
told him that he had gone to the Dorsey house
to get some of his belongings and had gotten into
an argument with Kim Dorsey. He admitted to beating her,
saying quote, I broke a pool stick on the bitch
and to stabbing her in the neck. Mike also said
that Lance had a bad injury to the knuckle of
(12:30):
his hand. Lance also told him that he thought he
hadn't cleaned the scene up very well, so he went
back to the house after the murder and put those
items into the kitchen sink. He also realized that he
had left his cell phone behind and he took that
with him. There's no way Mike could have known this
(12:50):
information unless he spoke directly with Lance Kirkpatrick, Kim Dorsey's killer.
The detectives found out through other acquaintances that Lance Kirkpatrick
owed a drug debt to a dealer and had borrowed
a female friends car, a Toyota REV four. The video
surveillance at the complex showed that same v for leaving
(13:15):
the housing development shortly after the murder, and that car
was found abandoned on the north side of town. They
tracked down the man who had supposedly been driving at last,
who was a drug dealer named t and he said
that he had been with Lance Kirkpatrick on a trip
to Fort Myers to purchase pills the day after the murder.
(13:37):
Prosecutor London Kite lank Patrick was hopelessly addicted to drugs,
which turned out to be the motivation behind the murder
when we started to look further behind what he was doing.
It was actually a drug debt that Madtion decided that
he was going to come over and steal in the
Dorthe's like he had done before. Mike told the detectives
(13:59):
where to find Lance, an apartment complex on the south
side and on November six, two twelve, nine days after
the murder, they brought him downtown for questioning. The interview
of Lance once we took him in the custody ended
abruptly when he asked for an attorney. Of course, he
lawyered up. He was guilty as homemade sin of this
(14:22):
horrible crime, and while he was in the box they
made him take his shirt off. Lance Kirkpatrick had scratches
all over his body from Kim Dorsey's fingernails. Lance was
booked on first degree murder, sexual battery using a firearm,
and burglary. The prosecution would file an indictment to seek
(14:43):
the death penalty. As the court case went forward, the
DNA analysis results started to trickle in. A sexual assault
kit was done during the autopsy, and swabs from that
came back swabs from the Broke Can Pool queue. Both
of them showed a match to Lance Kirkpatrick, with a
(15:05):
one in one nine quintillion chance of it belonging to
anyone but him. The zip ties had Lance Kirkpatrick's DNA
on them. The cigarette but from the garbage belonged to
Lance Kirkpatrick, and his DNA was embedded in the fingernail
clippings from Kim Dorsey. We had the suspect in the story,
(15:29):
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America's number one meal kit. Prosecutor London Kite called me
a few days later. She asked me to take a
look at Kim Dorsey's gray T shirt and some of
the other evidence that was collected prior to my involvement.
I met her at the property facility and we pulled
Kim's gray T shirt from storage. It was blood soaked
(17:18):
on the left side, but there were still several patterns
of interest on the front and on the right side.
Several areas of impact were present on the shoulder and back,
which would be expected in a blunt force trauma event.
But one pattern piqued my curiosity and I pointed it out.
She asked what I was seeing and I told her
(17:40):
that this particular pattern was deposited after the shirt was
saturated with blood. Kim was injured pretty badly before this
transfer stain was left on top of it and London
Kite asked me if I could tell what caused it,
and I said, yeah, the pool queue. The pattern was
really distinct. I measured the width at thirty millimeters or
(18:05):
just over an inch at the narrowest part. The pattern
widened towards the end and had a round base. There
was no doubt about it. Lance Kirkpatrick slammed that pool
queue down on her right side after it had been
bloodied by striking her in another area of her body,
likely on her head. The blood from the pool queue
(18:27):
transferred onto the fabric, leaving that impression on her shirt,
and London said, so that would be on her right side, correct,
And I nodded, and she looked at me and said,
did you know that the medical examiner found two broken
ribs on her right side? And I said no, I
didn't I continued my analysis with the pillows that had
(18:52):
been on the side of the bed in front of
the nightstand. A couple of them were underneath Kim Dorsey's
body at some point, and I dog amended impact spatter
on two of them and a third that had an
unusual stain in the center that luminest under ultra violet light.
It had the hallmarks of a Siemen stain. So I
collected a sample and that was sent off to the lab.
(19:15):
There was nothing left for me to do with the
evidence at that point. We had to wait for the
laboratory to complete their analysis, which would take some time.
Everything was repackaged and sealed, Our reports were submitted, and
we all crossed our fingers and waited. About a year
after the murder, detective Kim Long had to go back
(19:37):
to the Dorsey house for yet another look at those
bullet trajectories. It seemed as if Lance Kirkpatrick was going
to say he was using self defense when Kim Dorsey
attacked him. First, Kim Long had to show once again
the fact that all of the shots originated from one
single area. This is Kim Long. I actually had to
(20:00):
go back to the house before trial. The reason they
wanted me to do this. And part of my testimony
is he finally came back and said she was trying
to shoot me. So I was fighting with her while
she had the gun. And as I was fighting with her,
and I had her arm and I had, you know,
and I was trying to move her arm away from me.
So we were struggling. She was firing the gun off
(20:21):
cause she was trying to shoot me, and I was
trying to protect myself, so was self defense. You were
not going to get those type of groupie if you're
struggling with somebody and you're paying a gun, you're going
to have bullet defects all over the place. You're not
going to have two of them in a door frame
that or what maybe six inches apart of even that
(20:41):
one hit and then one light below it, and then
you're not going to have those three that ran the
wall that were like basically linear boom boom boom. The
fact that she could show that the bullets were fired
in an immediate, rapid successive manner and not during a struggle,
became a crucial a part of London Kiteses prosecution. The
(21:04):
trial began two and a half years later with jury
selection on April six. After three days of questions, dismissals,
and approvals, twelve people were chosen to weigh the facts
and determine the fate of Lance Kirkpatrick. I had retired
from the Sheriff's office at that point, and I was
living in Gainesville, about an hour and a half away.
(21:26):
Early in the morning of April nine, I made the
drive up State Road three oh one to the court House.
I walked up the marble steps, past the contradiction of
well dressed attorneys and homeless people. And I was used
to strolling right into the building in my uniform, but
now that I was retired, I had to go through
the metal detector like everyone else. At the security checkpoint.
(21:46):
My briefcase slid down the X ray conveyor belt, and
I entered the seventy foot tall rotunda, past the massive
staircase and took the elevator to the sixth floor. I
paced the hallway outside of Courtroom six. So far, I've
making small talk with some of my former co workers
who were waiting for their trials. Reporters and photojournalists set
(22:07):
up news cameras and milled outside the courtroom door, which
remained auto locked. I reviewed my report over and over again,
reading every detail, every letter, designator and description. The ten
pages of questions that London Kite emailed me were clipped
on top and I sat on a bench and five
hours went by. The bailiff poked his head out of
(22:29):
the door and called my name. After an introduction, the
judge designated me as an expert witness and there were
no objections from the defense council. London smiled at me,
and she worked her way through the initial questions by
introducing some of the photographs taken by the initial two investigators,
building on their testimony from earlier in the day. After
(22:51):
laying the foundation regarding how I was called to the scene,
she and I spent four hours going over every aspect
of the scene and part of the reconstruction. I explained
the sequence of events, starting with the impact pattern on
the mirror, the cast off on the upper walls and ceiling,
Kim Dorsey's movement to the window, and her attempted escape,
(23:13):
all the way through to her final resting place on
the floor. After my testimony, the defense attorney stood and
told the judge they had no questions for me at all.
London Kite, the friends, and what you guys were able
to say forensically. I think it was so important as
I'm so glad you guys were involved as early as
(23:35):
you were, I know that as early as you'd like
to have been, but it was crucial that we get
her story forensically. I didn't hear about the injuries to
Lance Kirkpatrick's hand and the scratches on his body until
after the trial was over. I also didn't know about
his admission to his friend Mike that he broke the
(23:56):
pool cue on her body, and that he waited for
the sixth shot from that revolver while he ducked down
in the kitchen before he returned to the bedroom and
yanked Kim down onto the bedpost away from the window
when he heard it open. All of that testimony was
given to the jury, along with Kim Long's reconstruction, Larry
(24:17):
Kiskowski's homicide investigation, the medical examiner's findings, and numerous other
witnesses who explained Lance's drug debt and how he came
to borrow the Toyota rav four seen leaving the complex.
A cellular data specialist would testify that Lance Kirkpatrick's cell
phone painned off of the towers adjacent to the housing
(24:38):
development at the time of the murder. The jury listened
to the defense witnesses testify, and there was one in
particular that would put this case to bed for good
Lance Kirkpatrick, this is London Kite. I would prepare for
it because I know I knew from the deal calls
(25:00):
that his defense had more from an I D defense,
meaning that he was going to say that he wasn't there,
which I think he was initially planning on doing from
the outside of the crime, like the fact that he
threw you know, remote and things like that into the
think to try to wash off what he might have touched.
(25:20):
And then that he didn't do anything with her body,
which I thought was interesting because the being it was
found on swabs that were taken from her body. So
I think initially he thought, you know, I'm gonna just
run an I D defense, which I knew from the
deal calls, And so the moment he twitched asifen to
self defense, that meant for me at least I had
(25:41):
to prepare for a cross of the inn nation of him.
Kim Dorothy was probably the most injured victim I've ever seen.
She was beaten, she was sad, she was great. So
all those things I knew from the outset that he
would have to admit that. He had to say I
did it, but I did it because and I need
that would be a touchow on the jury. After London
(26:04):
had Lance Kirkpatrick dead to rights and against the ropes,
cowering on the witness stand, she pulled Kim Dorsey's gray
T shirt from the evidence table and placed it on
the banister close to his face. She pointed at the
bloodstains and tapped on the cellophane display states Exhibit five
(26:25):
sixty five. I want you to take a good look,
she said. I know, he said, and turned his head
to avoid looking at it. Do you see that pattern,
that linear mark across her stomach that's consistent with that
pool queue you admit to wielding at her? She snapped, yes, ma'am.
So you're saying that you didn't do what's on this exhibit,
(26:46):
and Lance Kirkpatrick said, the only thing I can think
that how that happened is when we fell to the floor.
I probably had the pool stick in my hand and
when I pressed it down like to get up or whatever.
It could have easily left that in on there. You're
now saying that this, that breaking her ribs, was an accident,
(27:07):
and he said, it happened when I tackled her. That's
the only thing I can think because I never hit
her in the side. You realize that if you do
admit to wielding that thing like you actually did that day,
striking her over and over, beating her to the point
that her ribs were broken, that's pretty damaging to your position. Right,
So this was all an accident, And he said it
(27:27):
was horrible, But I I didn't swing at her ribs.
I didn't swing at her body like that. I was
swinging overhead while trying to get the gun from her,
and that's the only time I was swinging the pool stick.
And London walked over to the evidence table again and
she removed the three pieces of the pool queue, which
were mounted together in cellophane and foam board. There were
(27:50):
two inch gaps between each piece to show that they
fit together, but it left room for the jurors to
see Kim's blood and hair still embedded in the broken
shards states Exhibit four ninety one. Look at it. She
demanded I've seen it, he replied, Oh, you've seen it?
Do you recognize it? Yes? You never explained how this
(28:12):
pool queue ended up in three different pieces when you
were just hitting her by accident. I don't know how
it came to be in all those pieces, he said,
and lowered his head. Is it because you can't admit
to the amount of force that you were using on
her body as you hit her over and over? She asked,
and he interrupted, I told you, I don't know the
amount of force. And she countered. You used enough force
(28:36):
to break that weapon into three pieces, didn't you, Yes, ma'am,
I did. Did you break it on her head or
did you break it on her body? And at that moment,
the courtroom went so silent that you could have heard
a pin drop. London Kite gave him no respite, and
she went back to the evidence table again. I'm going
(28:58):
to show you what's been admitted in the evidence of States,
Exhibit four nineteen. You can see the blood on this knife, right, yes, ma'am.
Can't you see this kind of goopy stuff that's right
here next to the blade, Yes, ma'am. Did you cut
something beforehand? Did you make yourself a sandwich? No, ma'am,
(29:19):
what did you do to get that stuff on there?
You didn't get this knife from the knife block, did you?
You went to the dishwasher? Correct? I remember, I remember
getting it from the knife block. You see that debris
on that knife besides Kim Dorsey's blood, correct, Yes, I
see it. And you knew when you stabbed Kim Dorsey
(29:40):
in the neck that she would never walk this earth again.
You knew that she was dead. I didn't know she
was dead until after I checked. But you stabbed her
in the neck all the weight of the bone, didn't you?
Not on purpose? No? Oh, so that was another accident.
Why was end to get her off when we were fighting,
(30:02):
when we were wrestling over the knife, and when I
got the knife, I was just flailing my arm, he said.
And there was no other cut on her right in
this knife wielding fight that you're talking about. There's not
another cut on her other than to her neck. No, ma'am,
not to my knowledge. So you're saying the knife accidentally
(30:22):
landed there, yes, ma'am. All the weight of the bone, yes, ma'am.
London walked over to the laptop computer and she changed
the photograph on the computer screen to the first one
from her opening statement, showing Kim Dorsey's position on the
bedroom floor. States Exhibit one O two. This is how
(30:44):
you left Kim Dorsey right, Yes, ma'am, the woman who
opened her home to you. This is how you left her, yes, ma'am,
with the pieces of the weapons you used on her
demise gathered all around her. Yes, ma'am. Fed a coomp
Lee London Kite madam prosecutor just brilliant. There was no
(31:07):
redirect from the defense, and both sides rested. The jurors
were released to deliberate a week's worth of testimony, over
three thousand photographs and several dozen pieces of evidence. Everyone
was expecting a long process because of the volume of
information they needed to sort through, and the jurors left
and went into deliberation at four fifty pm. They emerged
(31:32):
less than two hours later. Lance Kirkpatrick was brought back
into the courtroom and stood motionless as the court clerk
read the verdict the State of Florida versus Lance Kirkpatrick.
The jury advises and recommends to the court that it
imposes life in prison without the possibility of parole. One
(31:52):
month later, the judge upheld that verdict. My name is
Derek Dorsey and that was Kim Dorsey's usbin. I reached
out to Derek Dorsey because I wanted to hear details
about Kim Dorsey's life. Reading court transcripts and talking to
other people didn't tell me anything about her. And if
(32:14):
you've listened to this podcast, you know I am not
a broad brush kind of gal. I like details, and
Derek provided them, and he was very candid, and I
wanted to give him the ending to season one. And
this is our conversation. Derek, what's your fondest memory of Kim.
(32:37):
I'm kind of narrow it down to one. I guess
probably the fondest memories when we went out to pick
out her first her baby, and I just saw it
in her eyes. This is something that would give her
unconditional love and then she could love back. And just
seeing that look in her eye, that's what That's what
really sticks. What kind of a fur baby? Was it?
(32:58):
Minister Snowdler and his name was Dexter And we went
up to Orange Park. We've been searching everything else. In
the moment they started playing together, I knew we were
taking off. He was the first of what would soon
be three. What were the other names, Gracie and Duncan.
What's your biggest regret besides going to work that day? Um,
(33:21):
I don't know. You always wish you'd have one more time.
You always wish you would have watched one more episode
of Little House on the Prairie, even though it was
the twentieth time for the same episode. It's it's just
a little thing. You think back. There's a lot of
self loathing because you just wish you wouldn't have wasted
similar stuff. I'm going to ask you a couple more questions.
(33:44):
They're not that difficult. That was the hardest one, Okay,
how do you feel the justice system worked for you
and for Kim? In my eyes, there is no justice system.
I mean justice refers to actually getting some type of
accountability for what someone does, And even in my wildest
imagination of dark rooms and having this individual in front
(34:08):
of it, there is no justice because nothing is going
to bring her back, nothing to give for life anymore.
Meaning something like this happens to the word justice, just
as so there's never any any such thing as closure. Ever,
no grief has a beginning, but it has no end.
(34:34):
You have been through the justice system. You've been through
this tragic event, and a lot of folks who listen
to these podcasts they don't understand. They try to, but
it's very difficult for them to comprehend what you and
the other families of victims have been through. So what
kind of closing thoughts would you give to them? Don't
(34:54):
try to do this by yourself. Get some professional help.
This is not a road you want to walk alone.
No matter how well you think you're doing, your poor
judgment of the progress that you've made. I was forteous.
I met somebody that saw the struggling and she actually
had me go to somebody that actually changed. I doubt
(35:16):
I would be here when you've listened to it. So
you know that that Kim's case hit a lot of
us sideways. Um, well, it's funny because I used to
think to myself and I used to ask this questions
Tracy many times. Yeah, I hope that some of a
bitch is. Oh he goes to bed every night thinking
(35:37):
about what he did. I hope he is. For I
hope this is Scarin and she just looked at me
and to shoot her head. She went there. He's already
convinced himself east be he doesn't go to bed. He
is he is in his own little world and this
isn't enough to live on history. And that was also
sort of cut here. I am going, yeah, you know,
(35:58):
you've you've got to be losing leap. What it is
this has got ahead, he's not eating and everything else.
And no, he is convinced himself somehow, some way he
got railroaded and that he is vistive. That was a tough,
tough swallow, but I believe it now, I honestly did.
He actually reached out to me looking at letter, and
it just give you cliff notes. It was pretty much listen,
(36:22):
in order for you to get on with your life,
you just need to forget well. And I showed it
to too. Go ahead, pisses me off, but go ahead. Well.
I shared it with two people, one person that actually
feels with inmates. And you know, even Tracey meant it
was a form lever. It was one of those almost
like an a twelve step you have to you know,
(36:42):
men bridges make amends, and you could have plugged anybody
into that particular letter. She won't be surprised if it's
something he just got off the internet. And inserted Derek
and inserted Kim, and that just absolutely disgusted. And then
here you are, and I realized family. Family. But at
what point does your mom and your family just get
(37:07):
up and walk out of the room. How can you
sit down there and look at the autopsy photos and
see him trip over his own life on the stand
and still stand by. You can't stand behind somebody who
does something that sets, because that's not Oh, don't drug
add a tough life, that's evil. If you want to
get something off your chest, if you have a message,
(37:29):
please feel free to send it. I do want to
address one thing. There's a lot of people saying that
she suffered from depression. I believe some of it was
just working from home. Here I am, I'm busy. I've
got the Star Department, I have my construction company, and
pretty much she has no outside activity. And I think
that's what lets system of the depression is, because you
need human interaction. But I mean the mental health issue,
(37:51):
that's one thing that rubbed me wrong. It's this the
fact that I think she was working from home, and
that just leads you to be depressed. Over everything I
put out on the podcast, I had read in the
court transcripts. I had read all of the reports and
read all of your statements and other people's statements. So
it's not always exactly the truth. Regardless of what comes
(38:13):
out in court. There may be some hindsight that comes forward,
there may be some other thoughts that come out later on.
But she was on meds for depression. Correct. Yes, But
even looking back now, you think that a contributing factor
to that was the fact that she was just isolated. Absolutely,
I know that. I know that was the fact that
we had disquessions about. But it wouldn't for her to
put in a ten hour day. I do want to
(38:35):
say one thing as far as the detectives, and I
can't say enough about lemon Kite. I used to say
I could do any job. I could go in there
and I could make it my home. That is one job.
I do not walk, just like you. You have to walk,
you have to tread, you have to swim through pain
and just evil. I don't know how they do it,
(38:56):
honest to God. I mean, here's London, brilliant at what
she does. And I know she was on the private sector.
The sky would be the limited, but she chooses to
stay and help I agree with you there, she's brilliant.
What do you want people to know about Kim Dorsey?
(39:18):
That she was more than just a fireman's Every headline,
every news outlet, and everything referred to her as the
fireman's flight. That wasn't who she was. She was a smart, beautiful, educated,
hard working fighter. And I just hate hate the fact
that because the fireman of his wife gets a little
bit more coverage or it's a little bit better headline,
(39:40):
that that's the pretty much the only way they referred
to her as I did not define who she was.
She had her own identity. I'll give you a prime
example of just the type of individual that she was
when she worked for the engineering firm. She went there
and she decides she wanted to start her own construction company,
so she she left there, and after everything happened in
(40:02):
the funeral, she had a group of people knew pretty
close knits that she won't but she hadn't seen them
in several years since she left. The come and lo
and behold at the funeral, the bos says she hadn't
seen in five years. Flew her whole team in from
the funeral, So she made that type of impact she
was only there two or three years, and in that
(40:24):
time she had bonded with him enough to where they
came in from, and her whole team flew into the
funeral people that hadn't seen her in years. Well, thank
you so much for opening your heart and giving us
some more perspective. I know I appreciate it, and I'm
sure everybody else does too. Thanks Derek, have a great week. Okay,
(40:48):
take it easy. Bye bye. This is the New Real
Opening music by Sam Johnson at Sam Johnson Live dot com.
Underscore music by Kevin McLeod at incomputech dot com. All
rights reserved by Angel Heart Productions. M.
Ah, Phil, well what she so? Well? You can hold
hold back, but it does in bed. How you feel?
(00:22):
This is the This is the New Real. This is
Shattered Souls. I'm your host, Karen Smith. This podcast contains
graphic language and is not suitable for children. This is
the New Real. Welcome back. This is episode twelve. When
(00:47):
we left off, I was in the middle of reconstructing
the homicide of Kim Dorsey after she was found by
her husband, Derek, when he came home from his overnight
shift as a firefighter. Quick, Andy, how did you hear her? Though?
I don't know? Cut her copper from ca. Okay, let
(01:07):
me get a rescue Kim, than you are you? Okay?
So tell me exactly what happened. I don't know what
You're God coming through a god from rescue? Are you
with her right now? Okay? How old is she? I
(01:28):
don't know. Full that doesn't make a bert with you? Okay,
there we are, sir, We are sending rescue. She awake.
Nom Derek Dorsey had been quickly eliminated as a suspect
since he had a rock solid alibi at the fire
station overnight, the homicide detectives ran down three other possible
(01:52):
suspect leads, and they also had alibis. During the time
of Kim's murder, the detectives went back to Derek to
find out if he could provide any further information. Detective
Larry Kiskowski. But once we started going down associates and individuals,
we were able to determine that it was probably somebody
(02:14):
else that came to the home and did it. We
felt confident though, that whoever did it actually knew the
Dorsees or had some connection to them. It wasn't just
a random act. Based on the interview with Derek and
some of the individuals that him and his wife both
used in their businesses, we felt that there was an
(02:35):
individual that we kind of honed in on that could
definitely be responsible for this. Sergeant Karen Dukes, they really
started talking to Derek Dorsey about who he thought might
have done it, who would have access to the house,
who wouldnew where that hidden key was by the front door.
Detective Kim Long to other junior detectives and I were
(02:58):
going into our fourth day at the scene. Kim Long
had reconstructed three bullet defects in the kitchen ceiling, showing
that the origin of those shots was right in front
of a nightstand between the bed and the wall, whereas
saturation stain was on the carpet and an open gun
box remained in the upper drawer. We determined that Kim
(03:20):
Dorsey had fired that gun toward the kitchen. The pink
handled revolver had been found just under the foot of
the bed before it was collected. The revolver cylinder held
five bullets, so it was empty. We knew the flight path,
but we didn't know why Kim Dorsey would have fired
toward the kitchen. We made the supposition that the suspect
(03:42):
had zip tied Kim to the nightstand after rendering her
either semi conscious or unconscious with a punch or a
strike to her nose or eye, which was evidenced by
an impact pattern on a mirror and a wall by
the bathroom door. She regained consciousness at some point and
fired all five rounds toward the kitchen before she got
(04:04):
up and left that part of the bedroom and made
it across the room over to a window where she
was trying to escape. I had reconstructed the blood stains
showing the heinousness of the attack evidenced by numerous cast
off events, impacts, saturations, transfer stains, and Kim's movement across
(04:26):
the room. Kim Dorsey had been bludgeoned by the bottom
half of a pool queue that was broken into three pieces,
and then stabbed in the neck with a kitchen knife
that was also left at the scene. We now had
much of the story about what happened to Kim based
on the evidence at the scene. What we didn't have
was a suspect, but the homicide detectives were about to
(04:49):
zero in on one man whose name was provided by
Derek Dorsey. There were definitely multiple people and along with
special with Lance. Lance had come out of the fire
station I believe it was the Wednesday before that weekend,
and had borrowed some money from Derek. At that time, Lance,
(05:09):
either at that conversation or later in the week he
had told Derek that he was going to go out
and work on a sprint boat, trying to make some
money doing that. So that was the last story that
Derek had far as where Lance was headed. Lance Kirkpatrick
Lance had lived at the Dorsey home for a short
period of time while he worked for Derek Dorsey at
(05:31):
his part time contracting company, Karen Duke's. Lance may have
done some side work for him and they part of
his payment was that they allowed him to live in
their home for a brief amount of time while he
was doing some odd in jobs for him. That at
a certain point I think the either had to kick
him out or they forced him to leave. He didn't
leave on very good terms. Derek was adamant that Lance
(05:54):
would never do such a thing. He was a friend,
and Derek didn't think that Lance would of any motive
to kill Kim Dorsey. Right from the beginning, Derek was
almost convinced the Lance wouldn't do this. You know, he's
a family friend. He had lived at the house at
one time. Derek, I believe, just you know, refused to
believe that Lance could do something like that. Prosecutor London Kite, well,
(06:18):
it's interesting about lands Ko Patrick is that he had
developed a relationship with those Ms Dorsey, who wasn't very
keen on them, I guess. And but the husband really
did not respect him at all. Gamely because the husband
told the detective that he was supposed on a shrimp boat.
Initially we thought that he had an alibi, and so
(06:38):
they started digging a little bit deeper and found out
that that was absolutely not true. One very important clue
was found by Karen Duke's an overturned statue by the
front door. The very first thing that I noticed as
I was walking up that front sidewalk was a concrete
(06:59):
a very small a concrete statue near the front door
that was tipped over. You as you're walking up, you know,
you're looking at the door frame to see if there's
any times of four entry, someone kicked the door in,
or how did they gain entry, and for some reason
that statue being tipped over. The first thing I thought
is someone hid the spare key to the front door
(07:19):
under that statue and it was tipped over because someone
knew that there was a key there, or had been
searching right around the front door and found it there.
That's honestly what I thought. Lance Kirkpatrick would have known
about this key since he had lived at the house.
The detectives now had to find Lance and find out
if he had an alibi for the morning of the murder.
(07:42):
Let's go back to the scene for just a moment.
The Dorsey House was located in a gated development that
required a code for entry. It was secure a low
crime area. Their house was located on a corner lot
on a cul de sac, not far from the entrance
to the develop a mint. There were cameras positioned at
(08:02):
that entrance. The homicide detectives went in and reviewed that
video footage. As the homicide detectives chased down Lance Kirkpatrick,
we continued our work at the house. At that point,
the reconstruction was just about done, and Kim Long and
the others had completed a diagram of the entire house,
(08:24):
but there were still plenty of other areas that needed
to be searched and documented. The other two junior detectives
had processed and collected a lot of items in the
kitchen and upstairs in the loft, but there was still
plenty of work to do. I went upstairs for the
first time on that fourth day to do a walk
through with one of the others, and Kim Long focused
(08:45):
on the kitchen. One thing that crime scene detectives do
on a regular basis is go through garbage for any evidence.
The Dorseys had a trash compactor in the kitchen just
below the sink. Luckily for us, it hadn't been activated
for several days. This is Detective Kim Long. I looked
in the trash can and so there were like the
(09:06):
treats that she had bought for the dog, and they
were still in there. I think the the unopened bags
were still in there. And underneath all that was the cigarette.
But and it was our understanding, Kim didn't smoke, and
I did her husband, So why would a cigarette but
be in the trash can you know who did smoke?
Lance Kirkpatrick marlboroughs the same brand Kim Long package that cigarette,
(09:32):
but for DNA analysis. There were still various items sitting
in that kitchen sink, including several remote controls and Kim
Dorsey's cell phone. Whoever put them in there had done
it with the purpose of destroying evidence. But why the
television and stereo remote controls. I went into the living
(09:52):
room and looked at the DVD player. That same greasy
substance from the side table and the bed posts was
on the butt. At that point, Larry Kaskowski came back
into the scene along with Derek Dorsey, and I told
him about it. I processed the buttons for DNA and
latent Prince and we had Derek Dorsey turned that system
(10:13):
on Instantly a video began playing on the television. It
was pornography. Derek Dorsey was stunned and said that it
certainly was not his. Larry Kaskowski questioned him right there
in the living room, and Derek was adamant that it
did not belong in that video player. So we ejected
(10:34):
the DVD and more of that greasy substance was on
the disk, so it was collected for processing. Detective Kim
Long there was no information about the DVD player. There
was a DVD of pornography, so I want to say
that we were looking at the DVD player, there seemed
to be like some almost kind of like greasy smears
(10:55):
kind of on it. When that was coupled with the
cigarette but left in the trash, it seemed like the
suspect was not only comfortable enough to smoke in the house,
but also sat down to watch porn after the murder
and brought that disk with him to the house. What
the hell kind of a twisted person does that. Derek
(11:21):
excused himself at that point and left Larry Giskowski, me
and the others to do a final walk through of
the scene to make sure that everything had been documented
and to give Larry the sequence of events for when
he got in the box with Lance Kirkpatrick. We went
back upstairs and processed a few other items in the loft,
and after nearly five full days of work, we released
(11:44):
the scene and gave the house back to Derek Dorsey.
In the meantime, the homicide detectives had found a friend
of Lance Kirkpatrick's we'll call him Mike, who said that
Lance had admitted to the murder to him during a
conversation the day after the crime. Mike said that Lance
(12:08):
told him that he had gone to the Dorsey house
to get some of his belongings and had gotten into
an argument with Kim Dorsey. He admitted to beating her,
saying quote, I broke a pool stick on the bitch
and to stabbing her in the neck. Mike also said
that Lance had a bad injury to the knuckle of
(12:30):
his hand. Lance also told him that he thought he
hadn't cleaned the scene up very well, so he went
back to the house after the murder and put those
items into the kitchen sink. He also realized that he
had left his cell phone behind and he took that
with him. There's no way Mike could have known this
(12:50):
information unless he spoke directly with Lance Kirkpatrick, Kim Dorsey's killer.
The detectives found out through other acquaintances that Lance Kirkpatrick
owed a drug debt to a dealer and had borrowed
a female friends car, a Toyota REV four. The video
surveillance at the complex showed that same v for leaving
(13:15):
the housing development shortly after the murder, and that car
was found abandoned on the north side of town. They
tracked down the man who had supposedly been driving at last,
who was a drug dealer named t and he said
that he had been with Lance Kirkpatrick on a trip
to Fort Myers to purchase pills the day after the murder.
(13:37):
Prosecutor London Kite lank Patrick was hopelessly addicted to drugs,
which turned out to be the motivation behind the murder
when we started to look further behind what he was doing.
It was actually a drug debt that Madtion decided that
he was going to come over and steal in the
Dorthe's like he had done before. Mike told the detectives
(13:59):
where to find Lance, an apartment complex on the south
side and on November six, two twelve, nine days after
the murder, they brought him downtown for questioning. The interview
of Lance once we took him in the custody ended
abruptly when he asked for an attorney. Of course, he
lawyered up. He was guilty as homemade sin of this
(14:22):
horrible crime, and while he was in the box they
made him take his shirt off. Lance Kirkpatrick had scratches
all over his body from Kim Dorsey's fingernails. Lance was
booked on first degree murder, sexual battery using a firearm,
and burglary. The prosecution would file an indictment to seek
(14:43):
the death penalty. As the court case went forward, the
DNA analysis results started to trickle in. A sexual assault
kit was done during the autopsy, and swabs from that
came back swabs from the Broke Can Pool queue. Both
of them showed a match to Lance Kirkpatrick, with a
(15:05):
one in one nine quintillion chance of it belonging to
anyone but him. The zip ties had Lance Kirkpatrick's DNA
on them. The cigarette but from the garbage belonged to
Lance Kirkpatrick, and his DNA was embedded in the fingernail
clippings from Kim Dorsey. We had the suspect in the story,
(15:29):
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America's number one meal kit. Prosecutor London Kite called me
a few days later. She asked me to take a
look at Kim Dorsey's gray T shirt and some of
the other evidence that was collected prior to my involvement.
I met her at the property facility and we pulled
Kim's gray T shirt from storage. It was blood soaked
(17:18):
on the left side, but there were still several patterns
of interest on the front and on the right side.
Several areas of impact were present on the shoulder and back,
which would be expected in a blunt force trauma event.
But one pattern piqued my curiosity and I pointed it out.
She asked what I was seeing and I told her
(17:40):
that this particular pattern was deposited after the shirt was
saturated with blood. Kim was injured pretty badly before this
transfer stain was left on top of it and London
Kite asked me if I could tell what caused it,
and I said, yeah, the pool queue. The pattern was
really distinct. I measured the width at thirty millimeters or
(18:05):
just over an inch at the narrowest part. The pattern
widened towards the end and had a round base. There
was no doubt about it. Lance Kirkpatrick slammed that pool
queue down on her right side after it had been
bloodied by striking her in another area of her body,
likely on her head. The blood from the pool queue
(18:27):
transferred onto the fabric, leaving that impression on her shirt,
and London said, so that would be on her right side, correct,
And I nodded, and she looked at me and said,
did you know that the medical examiner found two broken
ribs on her right side? And I said no, I
didn't I continued my analysis with the pillows that had
(18:52):
been on the side of the bed in front of
the nightstand. A couple of them were underneath Kim Dorsey's
body at some point, and I dog amended impact spatter
on two of them and a third that had an
unusual stain in the center that luminest under ultra violet light.
It had the hallmarks of a Siemen stain. So I
collected a sample and that was sent off to the lab.
(19:15):
There was nothing left for me to do with the
evidence at that point. We had to wait for the
laboratory to complete their analysis, which would take some time.
Everything was repackaged and sealed, Our reports were submitted, and
we all crossed our fingers and waited. About a year
after the murder, detective Kim Long had to go back
(19:37):
to the Dorsey house for yet another look at those
bullet trajectories. It seemed as if Lance Kirkpatrick was going
to say he was using self defense when Kim Dorsey
attacked him. First, Kim Long had to show once again
the fact that all of the shots originated from one
single area. This is Kim Long. I actually had to
(20:00):
go back to the house before trial. The reason they
wanted me to do this. And part of my testimony
is he finally came back and said she was trying
to shoot me. So I was fighting with her while
she had the gun. And as I was fighting with her,
and I had her arm and I had, you know,
and I was trying to move her arm away from me.
So we were struggling. She was firing the gun off
(20:21):
cause she was trying to shoot me, and I was
trying to protect myself, so was self defense. You were
not going to get those type of groupie if you're
struggling with somebody and you're paying a gun, you're going
to have bullet defects all over the place. You're not
going to have two of them in a door frame
that or what maybe six inches apart of even that
(20:41):
one hit and then one light below it, and then
you're not going to have those three that ran the
wall that were like basically linear boom boom boom. The
fact that she could show that the bullets were fired
in an immediate, rapid successive manner and not during a struggle,
became a crucial a part of London Kiteses prosecution. The
(21:04):
trial began two and a half years later with jury
selection on April six. After three days of questions, dismissals,
and approvals, twelve people were chosen to weigh the facts
and determine the fate of Lance Kirkpatrick. I had retired
from the Sheriff's office at that point, and I was
living in Gainesville, about an hour and a half away.
(21:26):
Early in the morning of April nine, I made the
drive up State Road three oh one to the court House.
I walked up the marble steps, past the contradiction of
well dressed attorneys and homeless people. And I was used
to strolling right into the building in my uniform, but
now that I was retired, I had to go through
the metal detector like everyone else. At the security checkpoint.
(21:46):
My briefcase slid down the X ray conveyor belt, and
I entered the seventy foot tall rotunda, past the massive
staircase and took the elevator to the sixth floor. I
paced the hallway outside of Courtroom six. So far, I've
making small talk with some of my former co workers
who were waiting for their trials. Reporters and photojournalists set
(22:07):
up news cameras and milled outside the courtroom door, which
remained auto locked. I reviewed my report over and over again,
reading every detail, every letter, designator and description. The ten
pages of questions that London Kite emailed me were clipped
on top and I sat on a bench and five
hours went by. The bailiff poked his head out of
(22:29):
the door and called my name. After an introduction, the
judge designated me as an expert witness and there were
no objections from the defense council. London smiled at me,
and she worked her way through the initial questions by
introducing some of the photographs taken by the initial two investigators,
building on their testimony from earlier in the day. After
(22:51):
laying the foundation regarding how I was called to the scene,
she and I spent four hours going over every aspect
of the scene and part of the reconstruction. I explained
the sequence of events, starting with the impact pattern on
the mirror, the cast off on the upper walls and ceiling,
Kim Dorsey's movement to the window, and her attempted escape,
(23:13):
all the way through to her final resting place on
the floor. After my testimony, the defense attorney stood and
told the judge they had no questions for me at all.
London Kite, the friends, and what you guys were able
to say forensically. I think it was so important as
I'm so glad you guys were involved as early as
(23:35):
you were, I know that as early as you'd like
to have been, but it was crucial that we get
her story forensically. I didn't hear about the injuries to
Lance Kirkpatrick's hand and the scratches on his body until
after the trial was over. I also didn't know about
his admission to his friend Mike that he broke the
(23:56):
pool cue on her body, and that he waited for
the sixth shot from that revolver while he ducked down
in the kitchen before he returned to the bedroom and
yanked Kim down onto the bedpost away from the window
when he heard it open. All of that testimony was
given to the jury, along with Kim Long's reconstruction, Larry
(24:17):
Kiskowski's homicide investigation, the medical examiner's findings, and numerous other
witnesses who explained Lance's drug debt and how he came
to borrow the Toyota rav four seen leaving the complex.
A cellular data specialist would testify that Lance Kirkpatrick's cell
phone painned off of the towers adjacent to the housing
(24:38):
development at the time of the murder. The jury listened
to the defense witnesses testify, and there was one in
particular that would put this case to bed for good
Lance Kirkpatrick, this is London Kite. I would prepare for
it because I know I knew from the deal calls
(25:00):
that his defense had more from an I D defense,
meaning that he was going to say that he wasn't there,
which I think he was initially planning on doing from
the outside of the crime, like the fact that he
threw you know, remote and things like that into the
think to try to wash off what he might have touched.
(25:20):
And then that he didn't do anything with her body,
which I thought was interesting because the being it was
found on swabs that were taken from her body. So
I think initially he thought, you know, I'm gonna just
run an I D defense, which I knew from the
deal calls, And so the moment he twitched asifen to
self defense, that meant for me at least I had
(25:41):
to prepare for a cross of the inn nation of him.
Kim Dorothy was probably the most injured victim I've ever seen.
She was beaten, she was sad, she was great. So
all those things I knew from the outset that he
would have to admit that. He had to say I
did it, but I did it because and I need
that would be a touchow on the jury. After London
(26:04):
had Lance Kirkpatrick dead to rights and against the ropes,
cowering on the witness stand, she pulled Kim Dorsey's gray
T shirt from the evidence table and placed it on
the banister close to his face. She pointed at the
bloodstains and tapped on the cellophane display states Exhibit five
(26:25):
sixty five. I want you to take a good look,
she said. I know, he said, and turned his head
to avoid looking at it. Do you see that pattern,
that linear mark across her stomach that's consistent with that
pool queue you admit to wielding at her? She snapped, yes, ma'am.
So you're saying that you didn't do what's on this exhibit,
(26:46):
and Lance Kirkpatrick said, the only thing I can think
that how that happened is when we fell to the floor.
I probably had the pool stick in my hand and
when I pressed it down like to get up or whatever.
It could have easily left that in on there. You're
now saying that this, that breaking her ribs, was an accident,
(27:07):
and he said, it happened when I tackled her. That's
the only thing I can think because I never hit
her in the side. You realize that if you do
admit to wielding that thing like you actually did that day,
striking her over and over, beating her to the point
that her ribs were broken, that's pretty damaging to your position. Right,
So this was all an accident, And he said it
(27:27):
was horrible, But I I didn't swing at her ribs.
I didn't swing at her body like that. I was
swinging overhead while trying to get the gun from her,
and that's the only time I was swinging the pool stick.
And London walked over to the evidence table again and
she removed the three pieces of the pool queue, which
were mounted together in cellophane and foam board. There were
(27:50):
two inch gaps between each piece to show that they
fit together, but it left room for the jurors to
see Kim's blood and hair still embedded in the broken
shards states Exhibit four ninety one. Look at it. She
demanded I've seen it, he replied, Oh, you've seen it?
Do you recognize it? Yes? You never explained how this
(28:12):
pool queue ended up in three different pieces when you
were just hitting her by accident. I don't know how
it came to be in all those pieces, he said,
and lowered his head. Is it because you can't admit
to the amount of force that you were using on
her body as you hit her over and over? She asked,
and he interrupted, I told you, I don't know the
amount of force. And she countered. You used enough force
(28:36):
to break that weapon into three pieces, didn't you, Yes, ma'am,
I did. Did you break it on her head or
did you break it on her body? And at that moment,
the courtroom went so silent that you could have heard
a pin drop. London Kite gave him no respite, and
she went back to the evidence table again. I'm going
(28:58):
to show you what's been admitted in the evidence of States,
Exhibit four nineteen. You can see the blood on this knife, right, yes, ma'am.
Can't you see this kind of goopy stuff that's right
here next to the blade, Yes, ma'am. Did you cut
something beforehand? Did you make yourself a sandwich? No, ma'am,
(29:19):
what did you do to get that stuff on there?
You didn't get this knife from the knife block, did you?
You went to the dishwasher? Correct? I remember, I remember
getting it from the knife block. You see that debris
on that knife besides Kim Dorsey's blood, correct, Yes, I
see it. And you knew when you stabbed Kim Dorsey
(29:40):
in the neck that she would never walk this earth again.
You knew that she was dead. I didn't know she
was dead until after I checked. But you stabbed her
in the neck all the weight of the bone, didn't you?
Not on purpose? No? Oh, so that was another accident.
Why was end to get her off when we were fighting,
(30:02):
when we were wrestling over the knife, and when I
got the knife, I was just flailing my arm, he said.
And there was no other cut on her right in
this knife wielding fight that you're talking about. There's not
another cut on her other than to her neck. No, ma'am,
not to my knowledge. So you're saying the knife accidentally
(30:22):
landed there, yes, ma'am. All the weight of the bone, yes, ma'am.
London walked over to the laptop computer and she changed
the photograph on the computer screen to the first one
from her opening statement, showing Kim Dorsey's position on the
bedroom floor. States Exhibit one O two. This is how
(30:44):
you left Kim Dorsey right, Yes, ma'am, the woman who
opened her home to you. This is how you left her, yes, ma'am,
with the pieces of the weapons you used on her
demise gathered all around her. Yes, ma'am. Fed a coomp
Lee London Kite madam prosecutor just brilliant. There was no
(31:07):
redirect from the defense, and both sides rested. The jurors
were released to deliberate a week's worth of testimony, over
three thousand photographs and several dozen pieces of evidence. Everyone
was expecting a long process because of the volume of
information they needed to sort through, and the jurors left
and went into deliberation at four fifty pm. They emerged
(31:32):
less than two hours later. Lance Kirkpatrick was brought back
into the courtroom and stood motionless as the court clerk
read the verdict the State of Florida versus Lance Kirkpatrick.
The jury advises and recommends to the court that it
imposes life in prison without the possibility of parole. One
(31:52):
month later, the judge upheld that verdict. My name is
Derek Dorsey and that was Kim Dorsey's usbin. I reached
out to Derek Dorsey because I wanted to hear details
about Kim Dorsey's life. Reading court transcripts and talking to
other people didn't tell me anything about her. And if
(32:14):
you've listened to this podcast, you know I am not
a broad brush kind of gal. I like details, and
Derek provided them, and he was very candid, and I
wanted to give him the ending to season one. And
this is our conversation. Derek, what's your fondest memory of Kim.
(32:37):
I'm kind of narrow it down to one. I guess
probably the fondest memories when we went out to pick
out her first her baby, and I just saw it
in her eyes. This is something that would give her
unconditional love and then she could love back. And just
seeing that look in her eye, that's what That's what
really sticks. What kind of a fur baby? Was it?
(32:58):
Minister Snowdler and his name was Dexter And we went
up to Orange Park. We've been searching everything else. In
the moment they started playing together, I knew we were
taking off. He was the first of what would soon
be three. What were the other names, Gracie and Duncan.
What's your biggest regret besides going to work that day? Um,
(33:21):
I don't know. You always wish you'd have one more time.
You always wish you would have watched one more episode
of Little House on the Prairie, even though it was
the twentieth time for the same episode. It's it's just
a little thing. You think back. There's a lot of
self loathing because you just wish you wouldn't have wasted
similar stuff. I'm going to ask you a couple more questions.
(33:44):
They're not that difficult. That was the hardest one, Okay,
how do you feel the justice system worked for you
and for Kim? In my eyes, there is no justice system.
I mean justice refers to actually getting some type of
accountability for what someone does, And even in my wildest
imagination of dark rooms and having this individual in front
(34:08):
of it, there is no justice because nothing is going
to bring her back, nothing to give for life anymore.
Meaning something like this happens to the word justice, just
as so there's never any any such thing as closure. Ever,
no grief has a beginning, but it has no end.
(34:34):
You have been through the justice system. You've been through
this tragic event, and a lot of folks who listen
to these podcasts they don't understand. They try to, but
it's very difficult for them to comprehend what you and
the other families of victims have been through. So what
kind of closing thoughts would you give to them? Don't
(34:54):
try to do this by yourself. Get some professional help.
This is not a road you want to walk alone.
No matter how well you think you're doing, your poor
judgment of the progress that you've made. I was forteous.
I met somebody that saw the struggling and she actually
had me go to somebody that actually changed. I doubt
(35:16):
I would be here when you've listened to it. So
you know that that Kim's case hit a lot of
us sideways. Um, well, it's funny because I used to
think to myself and I used to ask this questions
Tracy many times. Yeah, I hope that some of a
bitch is. Oh he goes to bed every night thinking
(35:37):
about what he did. I hope he is. For I
hope this is Scarin and she just looked at me
and to shoot her head. She went there. He's already
convinced himself east be he doesn't go to bed. He
is he is in his own little world and this
isn't enough to live on history. And that was also
sort of cut here. I am going, yeah, you know,
(35:58):
you've you've got to be losing leap. What it is
this has got ahead, he's not eating and everything else.
And no, he is convinced himself somehow, some way he
got railroaded and that he is vistive. That was a tough,
tough swallow, but I believe it now, I honestly did.
He actually reached out to me looking at letter, and
it just give you cliff notes. It was pretty much listen,
(36:22):
in order for you to get on with your life,
you just need to forget well. And I showed it
to too. Go ahead, pisses me off, but go ahead. Well.
I shared it with two people, one person that actually
feels with inmates. And you know, even Tracey meant it
was a form lever. It was one of those almost
like an a twelve step you have to you know,
(36:42):
men bridges make amends, and you could have plugged anybody
into that particular letter. She won't be surprised if it's
something he just got off the internet. And inserted Derek
and inserted Kim, and that just absolutely disgusted. And then
here you are, and I realized family. Family. But at
what point does your mom and your family just get
(37:07):
up and walk out of the room. How can you
sit down there and look at the autopsy photos and
see him trip over his own life on the stand
and still stand by. You can't stand behind somebody who
does something that sets, because that's not Oh, don't drug
add a tough life, that's evil. If you want to
get something off your chest, if you have a message,
(37:29):
please feel free to send it. I do want to
address one thing. There's a lot of people saying that
she suffered from depression. I believe some of it was
just working from home. Here I am, I'm busy. I've
got the Star Department, I have my construction company, and
pretty much she has no outside activity. And I think
that's what lets system of the depression is, because you
need human interaction. But I mean the mental health issue,
(37:51):
that's one thing that rubbed me wrong. It's this the
fact that I think she was working from home, and
that just leads you to be depressed. Over everything I
put out on the podcast, I had read in the
court transcripts. I had read all of the reports and
read all of your statements and other people's statements. So
it's not always exactly the truth. Regardless of what comes
(38:13):
out in court. There may be some hindsight that comes forward,
there may be some other thoughts that come out later on.
But she was on meds for depression. Correct. Yes, But
even looking back now, you think that a contributing factor
to that was the fact that she was just isolated. Absolutely,
I know that. I know that was the fact that
we had disquessions about. But it wouldn't for her to
put in a ten hour day. I do want to
(38:35):
say one thing as far as the detectives, and I
can't say enough about lemon Kite. I used to say
I could do any job. I could go in there
and I could make it my home. That is one job.
I do not walk, just like you. You have to walk,
you have to tread, you have to swim through pain
and just evil. I don't know how they do it,
(38:56):
honest to God. I mean, here's London, brilliant at what
she does. And I know she was on the private sector.
The sky would be the limited, but she chooses to
stay and help I agree with you there, she's brilliant.
What do you want people to know about Kim Dorsey?
(39:18):
That she was more than just a fireman's Every headline,
every news outlet, and everything referred to her as the
fireman's flight. That wasn't who she was. She was a smart, beautiful, educated,
hard working fighter. And I just hate hate the fact
that because the fireman of his wife gets a little
bit more coverage or it's a little bit better headline,
(39:40):
that that's the pretty much the only way they referred
to her as I did not define who she was.
She had her own identity. I'll give you a prime
example of just the type of individual that she was
when she worked for the engineering firm. She went there
and she decides she wanted to start her own construction company,
so she she left there, and after everything happened in
(40:02):
the funeral, she had a group of people knew pretty
close knits that she won't but she hadn't seen them
in several years since she left. The come and lo
and behold at the funeral, the bos says she hadn't
seen in five years. Flew her whole team in from
the funeral, So she made that type of impact she
was only there two or three years, and in that
(40:24):
time she had bonded with him enough to where they
came in from, and her whole team flew into the
funeral people that hadn't seen her in years. Well, thank
you so much for opening your heart and giving us
some more perspective. I know I appreciate it, and I'm
sure everybody else does too. Thanks Derek, have a great week. Okay,
(40:48):
take it easy. Bye bye. This is the New Real
Opening music by Sam Johnson at Sam Johnson Live dot com.
Underscore music by Kevin McLeod at incomputech dot com. All
rights reserved by Angel Heart Productions. M.
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