Ben Schachtman: Okay, Nikolai, we've been on this story for a little while now. Why don't you catch everyone else up to speed?
Nikolai Mather: Yeah. So, Heather Fennell was a teacher at Topsail Middle School. She died on December 4, 2024 at a house she shared with Scott Lawson, who used to work as a detective for the Pender County Sheriff's Office. The State Bureau of Investigation took over the case almost immediately, presumably because Lawson used to work for PCSO and that would be a conflict of interest. We didn't really get any information on how she died at the time, we were basically just told that the investigation was underway.
That was six months ago. Periodically, I've been checking in with the comms person for the State Bureau of Investigation to see if there was any new information – no dice. But this week, they finally released her autopsy.
BS: They did. But before we get into that, we should probably point out that this case is still under investigation. No arrests have been made yet, and no suspects have been announced.
NM: Yes.
BS: As for the autopsy, it showed that she was shot in the head. The medical examiner stated that her body was found face up on her bed with her hands folded over a .38 caliber revolver on her stomach. The examiner also noted that there was a blanket partially covering her abdomen, including her hands. They wrote that she had been diagnosed with anxiety, but otherwise had no documented history of suicidal ideation or suicide attempts. There was also no suicide note. Also something they mentioned: per local authorities, there had been an uptick in calls related to domestic disturbances from that household. Lawson, who the autopsy calls her ex boyfriend and roommate, told the authorities he found her dead and he was the one to call 911,
NM: Yes. Other thing to note, too: the autopsy said she had patches of what the examiner described as, "multiple linear healing, superficial, incised wounds," on her neck and on both of her wrists. Her toxicology report also came up clean.
BS: I should say, while it's totally understandable to want to wring some meaning from an autopsy, I think it can be risky to jump to conclusions based on these reports. They play an important role in death investigations, of course, but they're almost always part of like, a bigger picture, and we don't have all that right now.
NM: We do not. Yes, yes.
BS: Okay, so the autopsy is dated December 6, 2024 – only two days after her death, but it wasn't released until last week. Nikolai, why do you think they hung onto her autopsy for so long?
NM: That's a good question, and I got up with Chad Flowers from the SBI for that very reason. I asked him this question, and he told me that the medical examiner typically releases autopsy results in batches. So there's not really any rhyme or reason to when certain cases get released. There's also a lot more work that goes into autopsies than it may initially appear. Like the documents that we posted on WHQR.org are just a portion of the many, many, many pages the examiner has to fill out and approve. So these things take time.
BS: We touched on the increase in domestic disturbances prior to her death. Do we have any record of those 911 calls?
NM: So Pender County only keeps recordings of 911 calls for 90 days. And while we've requested any from that household, it's unlikely there are any that still exist, because bear in mind, this happened back in December 2024, and it's been well over 90 days since then. We did obtain the 911 calls from when Lawson called in Fennell's death back in December when we were initially reporting on it, but those calls didn't really provide many more details, either.
I know that there's a lot of people who are scared and angry about this whole thing, especially that the investigation has taken this many months. I've only been covering stuff like this for about two years, but Ben, you've done a lot of cases similar to this one that involved the SBI. Do you have any insight on this? Like, is this a typical timeline for the SBI?
BS: The truth is… there are just so many factors, whether that's getting results from the lab or tracking down people to interview. It's hard to say exactly what the quote-unquote standard timeline should be. I can tell you, good investigations take time. As frustrating as that is obviously going to be for some people, I think there would be more concern for me as a journalist if the SBI wrapped it all up in like two days.
But in any case, you spoke to the SBI recently, what did they say is next?
NM: Yeah. So Flowers told me that they just sent over some pieces of evidence to the state crime lab, and they're waiting to get results from them before making any other announcements. It'll probably be a couple weeks before we hear anything, but when we do, y'all will be the first to know.
BS: Okay, well, thanks for staying on the story.
NM: Thanks for helping me break it down.
Read more:
- State officials release autopsy for Hampstead school teacher
- Pender County officials share new details on Heather Fennell's death
- SBI confirms death of Hampstead school teacher
