This afternoon, Arcata city government sent members of the media a memo on the state of the investigation into the death of Josiah Lawson that City Manager Karen Diemer had written for members of the City Council a couple of weeks ago. (The memo is dated Sept. 10.)

In sending out the memo, to media, a city staffer noted that the city manager wished to share details about the investigation, as it stands, with the public.

David Josiah Lawson, a 19-year-old Humboldt State student, was stabbed to death at a house party on Spear Avenue in the early morning hours of Saturday,, April 15, 2017. Kyle Zoellner, a McKinleyville resident who had been seen grappling with Lawson at the party, was arrested on murder charges, but a judge later ruled that there was not enough evidence to hold him to those charges.

Memo from the office of Arcata City Manager Karen Diemer:

Per the City Council’s support, the Arcata Police Department has secured additional outside resources to enhance the David Josiah Lawson investigation. I wanted to update the Council on the status of these resources.

Original Case Resources

Oversight from Interim Police Chief Ehle, with support from Lieutenant Dokweiler who has been with the case since the beginning. Sergeant Ortega, who has assisted with this case since the beginning, has been reassigned so that his time is solely devoted to the case.

New Case Resources

• An Investigative Case Analyst has completed a case review and an action plan for the detectives to initiate. The Case Analyst is a Police Investigation Consultant with over 25 years of experience, 7 of which were specific to homicide.
• Two Detectives, each with over 30 years in law enforcement including extensive homicide investigation and critical case analysis experience.
• Humboldt State University Police has assigned a Sergeant to assist with the investigation part-time.

This enhanced investigative team is following up and re-investigating every lead previously brought forth in the case, as well as new leads they have developed from their case reviews. They have been very active in the community and if you receive questions about their work in the community, please meet with the Chief or I.

Follow Up with Tom Parker

As discussed with the community on August 15th, I had a follow up conversation with Tom Parker. I updated him on the case progress and additional resources added to the investigative team. This conversation further confirmed for me that the Detectives/Investigative Specialists we have hired, with their background and expertise, are what the case needs to progress.

Police Foundation Review

The Police Foundation was hired to review the Police Department’s response and to make recommendations for improving major criminal events, including response to, and investigation of catastrophic, multiple victim and/or multiple witness incidents in the future. They have completed the in town review of case material and spent a week in the region conducting interviews for their response analysis. I would anticipate a report to you by the end of the year.