UNSOLVED MYSTERY CHAPPAQUIDDICK ON BAYOU ST. JOHN _________________________________________________________________________ Web site at www.b2k.net/wbhjr 'CHAPPAQUIDDICK ON BAYOU ST. JOHN.' Featuring LSUMC's Christopher Nabors (Pittsburg. PA native) MD, DDS, PhD LA. Convicted Felon '95 LSUMC degree awarded 5/20/95 3 months after homicide. Anyone with information regarding the obstruction of justice involving LSUMC, Charity Hospital in New Orleans, and the Orleans Parish Coroner's office please contact the family. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This site is dedicated to our daughter Michelle 'Shelly' Haensel, born on March 30, 1969. Shelly was killed by a Louisiana State University Medical School doctor on February 17, 1995. Based on an autopsy performed by an LSUMC doctor, the Orleans Parish Coroner's Office reported that Shelly died of asphyxiation in Bayou St. John in New Orleans, Louisiana. The vehicle in which she was a guest passenger launched into the shallow Bayou at a high rate of speed and sank. Testimony in the four day criminal trial revealed that the driver of the vehicle, Christopher C. Nabors, M.D., D.D.S., Ph.D. ( a Pittsburgh, PA. native), offered no assistance to Shelly as he exited the Eagle Talon vehicle over her through the sunroof. Trial testimony revealed that Dr. Nabors was visible on the water surface above the vehicle for some period of time until he was rescued from the Bayou by the New Orleans Police Department. Dr. Nabors refused to provide rescue workers with any information about the v! ehicle's passenger or location in the shallow Bayou. Testimony did reveal that Dr. Nabors had time and the presence of mind to remove the sunroof, exit the vehicle over his victim, inform eye witnesses and rescue workers that he had to purchase a new car and his insurance rates would be going up. Dr. Nabors also made statements to New Orleans Police Department officers after he arrived at Charity Hospital with responses such as 'What vehicle are you referring to? I have several.' and 'I don't know the bitch's name'. After Dr. Nabors was rescued from the Bayou, he was rushed to Charity Hospital (now known as the Medical Center of Louisiana) in New Orleans, Louisiana where he worked as part of his training at LSUMC. He was attended to by LSUMC residents at Charity Hospital who apparently destroyed blood samples sent into the hospital lab for drug and blood alcohol testing and tampered with other blood samples given to the New Orleans Police Department for blood alcohol testing. The Police blood alcohol test showed 0.04 g/dl. When Dr. Nabors arrived at Charity Hospital, the EMT's attending to him were ordered out of the room by LSUMC residents. The autopsy, which was performed by an LSUMC doctor for the Orleans Parish Coroner's Office, was not released until several months after the homicide. Dr. Nabors pleaded not guilty and did not testify at his trial or make any statements until 363 days after the homicide and after he was in jail for three months when he stated at sentencing that he was a lifelong practicing alcoholic, had been drinking for many hours, was drunk at the time of the incident and implied that he was in an alcoholic blackout at the time he launched his vehicle into the Bayou. It was noted that Dr. Nabors did remember unconfirmed exculpatory actions. According to notorized documents submitted to the court by an LSUMC doctor one month after the sentencing, it was widely known long before the homicide that Dr. Nabors was a practicing alcoholic. The LSUMC leadership disregarded Dr. Nabors alcoholic and sociopath behavior before and after the homicide in defiance of requirements in their school bulletin and their policy and procedures manual which requires treatment for substance abuse. Dr. Nabors admitted to the court that he had been in lifelong denial. After the homicide, the LSUMC leadership presented Nabors with a medical degree then enrolled him in their full residency program at Charity Hospital until the trial judge placed Dr. Nabors in jail. After Dr. Nabors was placed in jail, the LSUMC leadership, LSUMC doctors, and LSUMC dentist wrote official letters on State of Louisiana stationary to the trial judge in an attempt to extricate Dr. Nabors from jail. These letters remain on file in the open record at the Orleans Pa! rish Criminal Court records room on Tulane Avenue in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Chancellor has not made any public statements regarding the inappropriate behavior of his leadership nor has he written the trial court judge retracting the letters. According to official records, when Dr. Nabors' vehicle was removed from Bayou St. John, the EMT's waiting at the scene for Shelly Haensel were given the do not resuscitate order by an LSUMC resident at Charity Hospital. LSUMC and Charity Hospital concealed information from the criminal trial court during prosecution of their doctor. Names of those doctors and nurses attending to Dr. Nabors on February 17, 1995 were concealed. Critical testimony needed by the State was therefore not available. The efforts of LSUMC and Charity Hospital failed to influence the jury or trial judge. Dr. Nabors was convicted of vehicular homicide and was given the maximum jail sentence available under Louisiana law of 15 years hard labor without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. A measure of justice was served for the only crime which could be prosecuted at that time. Nabors full term release date is June 6, 2010. The Louisiana State Dental Board on several occasions in 1995, denied that Dr. Nabors was registered with their Board when in fact he was (registration S-40). To date they have taken no action regarding the LSUMC registrant. The Dental Board now claims that Dr. Nabors registration has expired. The Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners refused to take action as required by state law regarding Dr. Nabors registration document (registration No. 96-I-009) until public pressure forced them to initiate action several months after his conviction and imprisonment. Even when they initiated action, they refused to revoke Dr. Nabors registration document. Recently, they announced the registration document expired. The Pennsylvania State Board of Dentistry indefinately suspended Dr. Nabors dental license on January 9, 1997. On February 15, 1996, the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections was charged with supervision responsibilities of Dr. Nabors. As of April 3, 1998, this agency has not revoked Dr. Nabors' Louisiana driver license. They claim they are unaware of his vehicular homicide conviction even though he is a guest at their medium security facility in Angie, Louisiana. In November 1997, Warden Ed Day sent Dr. Nabors to St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana to lecture to junior high school students. Dr. Nabors lectured and apparently began appealing his cause to the impressionable students according to teachers and residents of the area. Sheriff Jack Strain sent a letter to the warden asking that Dr. Nabors not be allowed back in St. Tammany Parish to lecture to school children. Louisiana Governor Mike Foster instructed the warden to remove Dr. Nabors name from the list of inmates eligible to speak to children. No one has come forward to provide information regarding the events at Charity Hospital and LSUMC. Where are the honest people in this world? Anyone with a conscience please contact us with any information about the actions of doctors, nurses and staff occurring at Charity Hospital (now known as the Medical Center of Louisiana) in New Orleans, Louisiana on February 17, 1995. We can be reached by email at wbhjr@b2k.net, snail mail at 3901 N. Hullen Street, Metairie, Louisiana 70002, or by telephone at (504) 454-3905. We pray to God to know the truth one day. Please help by calling or writing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Convict's school speech sparks anger, questions ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ by Julie Dupruis News Banner Covington, Louisiana December 5, 1997 page 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Imagine it's your daughter who drowned because the drunk driver who killed her was more concerned about losing his career and low insurance rates than helping her out of his car. Imagine that same man, now serving the maximum sentence of 15 years because the judges found his actions and attitudes to be so heinous, bamboozles children at a school lecture into writing letters to the parole board on his behalf after telling them through tears that he had killed a 'dear friend' and was appealing his case. William Haensel was enraged when he heard that the drunk doctor who had killed his daughter seemed to be appealing his case to the students of Mandeville Junior High School in a series of lectures on drug and alcohol abuse during Red Ribbon Week. 'The school system was the victim here', Haensel said. 'They can't have this happen. These children are impressionable.' Indeed, children and even teachers were moved by Dr. Christopher Nabors speeches. The young dentist offered practically no details about the accident, which occurred when he drove himself and Michelle Haensel into Bayou St. John in New Orleans on Feb. 17, 1995. Nabors now an inmate at the Washington Correctional Institute in Angie, La., offered Haensel no help in getting her out of his sports car's unconventional seatbelt and instead climbed out over her through the car's moon roof. He didn't even acknowledge there was someone else in the car until he got to Charity Hospital, where witnesses testified that Nabors had said, 'I didn't know the bitch's name. I just picked her up in a bar.' But Nabors' told none of that to students, leaving out almost all the details of the accident. Instead, his 'Bambi eyes' and talk of how he had killed his 'dear friend' compelled Drew Falconer, 13, a student at Mandeville Junior High, to feel sorry for him. 'I thought, ' I hope he gets his license back. He doesn't deserve to be in jail,' Falconer recalled. 'When I read the other side of the story I felt really mad at him.' Teachers circulated old newspaper clippings about Nabors' trial to all the students shortly after Nabors' speeches to make sure they had 'both sides of the story.' Falconer was not the only student swayed by Nabors' charismatic lecture. Kathy Clarke, 12, said she 'used to feel bad for him.' 'He made you feel sorry for him,' Clark said. 'Once our reading teachers read it (the newspaper article) to us, it completely told the other side of the story.' The students said Nabors didn't ask his audience to write letters for him, but some decided to anyway after he announced he was appealing his case. It made them think he was innocent. 'He gave that drift'' Falconer said. 'He kind of went around the issue.' William Haensel said the fact that Nabors is appealing his sentence should have kept him from being a school speaker. 'An appeal is a right, and that's fine. But it's a statement that you haven't accepted responsibility,' he said. 'He created a misconception.' The St. Tammany Parish School System has been using this program of having inmates come speak for years with great success, said Richard Sylvest, principle of Mandeville Junior High. In fact, no one has questioned the value or importance of the program. 'We knew nothing of the history of this man,' Sylvest said. 'Our intended value was to show the pitfalls of alcohol abuse.' The schools don't have any idea of who is coming to speak until the day of the event for security purposes. Warden Ed Day of the Washington Correctional Institute said they chose to send Nabors because they thought students could relate to the young doctor. 'He's very articulate, and with the incident he'd been through, we thought he would be a good candidate,' Day said. Day said in the future they might send notice to the sheriff or district attorney of who will be sent to the schools to make sure the parish doesn't have a problem with the chosen inmate. But he said ruling out every inmate who is appealing their case or sentence is not a viable option. 'Inmates appeal their cases all the time; that's their right,' he said. 'That doesn't affect our decision.' Sheriff Jack Strain sent a letter to Day requesting that Nabors not be sent back to any schools in St. Tammany Parish. He wrote, 'While I'm an advocate of prisoners talking to students about the perils of crime life, I'm afraid Mr. Nabors was using his opportunity to put down on the Justice system and to drum up support for his cause.' Strain's request may be unnecessary. Day said Nabors will not be sent to speak again in any more school programs at all. 'This program is intended for the children,' Day said. 'It is not intended to offend anybody.' Haensel said other options include getting speakers from victim groups, such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving. But he said he understands there is a powerful impact on the children when they here a convicted criminal speak. 'Other than the victim, the perpetrator is someone who is good to talk,' Haensel said. But, he said, 'the Department of Corrections needs to handle this differently. It's too important.' ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ Times-Picayune New Orleans, Louisiana February 16, 1996 Driver gets 15 years for death in bayou By James Varney A Louisiana State University medical student who killed a woman when he drove his car into Bayou St. John after a night of heavy drinking was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison. Christopher Nabors, wearing handcuffs and an orange prison jumpsuit, bowed his head as he listened to a judge describe him as a heartless villain who let his date drown last year. District Judge Dennis Waldron, ignoring Nabors last minute display of remorse, gave the budding physician the maximum sentence for vehicular homicide. Nabors earliest possible release date under 'good time' provisions will come in 2003. Nabors, 31, was convicted in November of vehicular homicide in the death of Michelle Haensel, 25, of Metairie. Nabors now admits he was staggering drunk when he drove his car into Bayou St. John on the eastern edge of City Park on Feb. 17, 1995. The car sank, and Nabors clambered out through the sunroof. But he apparently made no effort to help Haensel and the woman died while strapped into the passenger seat of the Eagle Talon sports car. Waldron said he is haunted by the image of Haensel pinned in the car. But he expressed even more anger at Nabors attitude in the tragedy's aftermath. Nabors in oral surgery training at LSU Medical School, worried about his career, his car insurance and his vehicle - but not Haensel, trial testimony showed. When he arrived at Charity Hospital that night, witnesses testified Nabors said: 'I didn't know the bitch's name. I just picked her up in a bar.' 'Your lack of respect for the victim by calling her the bitch is something that will remain with me forever,' Waldron said. 'She deserves better than that on her tombstone.' Another factor leading to the harsh sentence was Nabors' purchase, after the accident, of a pickup truck with 'Splash' decals on the rear and side doors. Haensel's parents were aghast when they spotted Nabors driving that truck, a point they stressed in letters to Waldron. The Judge was incredulous after Nabors and two doctors friends testified they never considered the implications of 'Splash' on the truck. 'I guess my sensibilities are a little more delicate than yours,' Waldron said. Before sentencing, in testimony punctured by frequent tears, Nabors said he prays for the Haensel family and is wracked with guilt because of what he did. Describing himself as a raging alcoholic, Nabors admitted he guzzled beer and hard liquor shots for hours before getting in his car with Haensel. Looking at Haensel's mother, Cookie, Nabors begged for forgiveness. 'I was an idiot. It's my fault. I am completely responsible,' Nabors said. 'I can't say I like myself very much, but I'm not evil and I never meant to hurt anybody.' When Waldron announced the maximum sentence, Nabors parents and family hurried from the courtroom. 'God!' his father shouted, pounding on the heavy wooden door as he left. His parents declined to comment on the matter, but Nabors brother, Eric, said the family believes Nabors is sincere with his expression of remorse. 'We feel like nothing that was said today was taken into consideration,' Eric Nabors said. But the Haensels were quick to dismiss Nabors testimony as mere performance. 'He a careless human being who only showed remorse after he was found guilty to try and save himself,' Cookie Haensel said. 'But God has answered our prayers, and we hope this sentence makes a statement in the City.' ____________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________ Times-Picayune New Orleans, Louisiana February 18, 1996 Drowning case; unfinished justice By James Gill Christopher Nabors' friends rallied round on his arrival in the early hours of the morning at Charity Hospital, where he was doing his residency. Nabors was probably still wet after swimming ashore and leaving Michelle Haensel to drown, trapped into the small car he had driven into Bayou St. John. Since Nabors was dead drunk, he faced mandatory jail time if convicted of homicide. The EMS technicians were instructed to leave the room, which they said had never happened before, while innocent fluids were pumped into Nabors veins. Blood tests then showed an alcohol level consistent with drinking a glass of wine at dinner whereas Nabors had been guzzling beer and shots for hours. In the course of that debauch he had gotten into a row with a barman and told him to watch out if he ever wound up being treated at Charity. Apparently the Hippocratic oath isn't hip in some circles these days. Nabors was able to hire hotshot defense attorney John Reed, who pleaded him innocent and attacked the states case as 'innuendo and guesswork', but the jury was not fooled. Now we know why fraudulent evidence is described as 'doctored'. Haensel will not be fully avenged unless the doctor, or doctors, who committed that obstruction of justice are prosecuted and stripped of their license to practice. Perhaps, though, Haensel can never be fully avenged. Although Judge Dennis Waldron imposed the maximum sentence, 15 years was it. With good time Nabors could be out in 2003. Let us not blame the Legislature for coddling criminals, however. When that maximum sentence was enacted, nobody could have anticipated such a case as this. If Nabors had wanted to ensure that he got a long stretch, and earned universal contempt into the bargain, he could not have done a better job. Not only did he make no attempt to save Haensel - climbing through the sunroof without even trying to unfasten her seatbelt - he was in no hurry to tell anyone she was in the water. He had no time to worry about her, because he had his career, his nifty sports car and his insurance premiums to fret about. At Charity he announced, 'I don't even know the bitch's name.' He later bought a pickup truck with the word 'Splash' emblazoned on the side and rear. When Haensel's parents spotted Nabors driving around town, they naturally concluded that he was making a joke about her death and wrote outraged letters to Waldron. When Nabors was hauled up for sentencing, he testified that it hadn't occurred to him that the truck decals might add to his already considerable reputation as a heartless jerk. Two of his colleagues also told an incredulous Waldron that the implications hadn't occurred to them either. If medical schools are graduating people who are this insensitive, or this stupid, the rest of us had better hope we don't get sick. Nabors turned out to have feelings after all, for his own plight reduced him to tears on the witness stand. At last, he admitted that he was drunk the night Haensel was killed and, indeed, that he was no stranger to alcohol-induced blackouts. A couple of Nabors' colleagues testified* that, sure, he was an arrogant sob, but then so were they, because that's the way you have to be to cope with the demands of attending to the sufferings of humanity. Plenty of doctors will be inclined to regard that as a slander on their profession, and the testimony evidently didn't do Nabors any good. Neither, in the end, did the friends who hooked him up to the IV at Charity in an attempt to save his skin while police were still struggling to haul Haensel's body from the bayou. Prosecutors said they are looking into the case and reviewing the evidence. While Nabors is now safely locked up, more justice remains to be done. * Dr. Jack Kruse (LSUMC) and Ms. Kimberly Meng (LSUMC) testified at Dr. Nabors sentencing hearing on February 15, 1996 ____________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ Times-Picayune New Orleans, Louisiana March 10, 1997 Parole board letters decried To the Editor: Your recent articles on influential letters to the State Parole Board struck a familiar chord. This kind of misuse of trust an influence is found not only at the Parole Board but also in the courts. I write from personal experience. In 1995 my daughter was a vehicular homicide victim. A Louisiana State University Medical School doctor was convicted on Nov. 30, 1995. He was placed in jail on Dec. 5, 1995 by the trial court judge. Shortly thereafter, numerous letters on LSUMC, LSUSD, LSUSM, LSU Eye Center and state Department of Health letterheads were sent to the judge urging compassion and leniency if not outright forgiveness for the convicted felon because of the involvement of alcohol. Unfortunately for the institutions, the judge placed their letters on public display with other case proceedings. The letters are still on public display at the Orleans Parish Criminal Court record room. The dentist and doctors who wrote these letters are as follows: William Scott Grieffies, MD Donald R. Bergsma, MD John R. Kent, DDS Fred A. Loe, DDS Andrew K. Chang, DDS, MD Richard F. Howes, MD Michael S. Block, DMD Kenneth E. Kratz, Ph.D William H. Woods, DDS, MS Francine Morrison, MD Denies St. Clair The LSU Medical Center chancellor, unlike his counterpart at LSU, did not make a public statement regarding the inappropriate behavior of his leadership nor did he write the trial court judge correcting the situation. This kind of inappropriate behavior will continue because there is no policing or consequence attached to such action. The state spends substantial money to apprehend, investigate, and convict criminals and then another part of the state bureaucracy tries to undo the process. How ridiculous. W. B. Haensel, Jr. ____________________________________________________________________________ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- University of New Orleans Volume XL - Number 12 Thursday,October 30, 1997 Loyola, LSUBR Actions Positive about Alcohol Abuse To the Editor: A recent letter to the editor by Chancellor James Carter, S.J., of Loyola University of New Orleans published in The Times-Picayune caught my attention. His thoughts about recent alcohol-related student deaths were obviously written from a special perspective that only a chancellor could have. I believe that most citizens would agree with Chancellor Carter that individuals should be held accountable for their actions. The recent death of an LSU student due to alcohol consumption was tragic. No words can adequately express the sympathy everyone feels for the student and his parents even though the student bears some responsibility. The decisive action of the LSU Baton Rouge chancellor relating to this tragedy is to be applauded. Unfortunately, I have personal experience with a state educational institution and their position on alcohol and drug abuse. My daughter was a vehicular homicide victim on Feb. 17, 1995. She was a senior in college when an LSU Medical School student doctor drove his vehicle at a high rate of speed into Bayou St. John and killed her. Through trial and sentencing documents, we later learned that the student doctor was a widely known practicing alcoholic. He was under the supervision of LSUMC from 1989 through 1995. The student doctor was a Charity Hospital intern when he was taken to Charity for treatment the night of the accident. Trial testimony revealed that LSUMC residents at Charity apparently destroyed the doctor's blood samples intended for drug and alcohol testing in the hospital and altered blood samples destined for New Orleans Police Department testing. LSUMC investigated the alcohol-related incident and awarded its student a medical degree just months after the homicide and then admitted him into its full residency program. After the doctor was placed in jail, the LSUMC leadership wrote official letters on state stationery to the judge in an attempt to extricate the doctor from jail. The LSU Medical Center and its chancellor talk the talk but don't walk the walk when it comes to alcohol and drug abuse. LSUMC's actions revealed the institution's disregard for the problems of alcohol abuse within and outside the institution. At least we can respect the positive actions of the LSU Baton Rouge chancellor and the Loyola chancellor's position and pray that their messages are heeded by students and society overall about the dangerous and tragic effects of alcohol abuse. W.B. Haensel, Jr. _______________________________________________________________________ How it changed my life:It has destroyed my family.
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