WARNING: This report contains graphic language.
A Goodyear police detective told internal investigators that his department’s “serious problem” with handling evidence could be a “massive s***storm” that could put a high-profile murder trial and other cases in jeopardy.
Detective Noah Yeo made the comments earlier this year as part of an administrative investigation into problems with how Goodyear tracks and documents the chain of custody of evidence in their property and evidence unit.
The cursory investigation was launched in late January because of evidence issues uncovered in the middle of a child abuse and murder trial against a former Phoenix police officer and his wife.
The trial against Germayne and Lisa Cunningham has since been suspended indefinitely and the pair has been released from custody while the court figures out what to do with the case.
Yeo is the lead detective in the Cunningham case, and he’s the one who internally raised concerns about the evidence problems, records show. According to a transcript filed in court, once Yeo informed his department, he told investigators that “this may be a massive shit storm.”
At the bottom of Goodyear’s administrative investigation, it states in bright red font, “CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION – DO NOT REPRODUCE ANY PORTION OF THIS REPORT.” The report concludes that, based on initial fact-finding interviews, it is recommended that further investigation be conducted.
Goodyear has asked Chandler to conduct an independent investigation.
But the city’s initial confidential report and the corresponding fact-finding interviews highlight several issues:
- The police evidence tracking system creates “strange,” “wacky,” and “erroneous” dates and times.
- Property and evidence technicians have the “ability to manipulate dates and times of property entered within the database without documentation.”
- Re-packaging and re-taping evidence without proper documentation.
- The last formal audit of the property and evidence unit was completed in 2017.
A Goodyear evidence supervisor, Andrea Gamez, is currently on administrative leave, records show. In his internal interview, Det. Yeo told investigators Gamez told him there have been problems for years.
“She goes, ‘Oh man, we’ve had this problem for years Noah.’ She’s like, these times have been in the system, these wacky times, have been in the system for years. ‘We’ve been trying to figure this out.’”
Internal interviews show that problems about Goodyear’s evidence has been known by officials up and down the department for years.
In a recent motion to dismiss that led the court to pause the Cunningham trial, defense attorneys accused police and prosecutors of hiding information about the evidence problems.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has denied the allegation in court and told the judge they are working to disclose more information and records about the problems.
The defense also highlighted several issues with evidence in their case.
Specifically, their motion to dismiss states that data shows Lisa Cunningham’s iPhone – a key piece of evidence in the case – was turned on, connected to WiFi, moved, re-packaged, and re-taped without any documentation.
The defense specifically accused Yeo, who has not yet testified in the Cunningham case, of hiding information about the evidence problems for months and only coming forward to raise concerns because he was worried about his upcoming cross-examination.
Their motion to dismiss highlights several portions of Yeo’s fact-finding interview with his department, including this statement from the detective: “This for me is more of a preemptive strike on what’s coming, I think. The Defense, I think they know damn-well that this is here and they’re waiting for me to get on the stand and talk about this.”
According to the defense’s motion, “It is hard to believe that Det. Yeo, who has been with Goodyear PD for eighteen years, was unaware evidence logs were manipulated. He is either incompetent or lying.”
Yeo recently declined to comment outside of court when asked by an ABC15 reporter if he had a response to the allegations.
“With all due respect, no comment,” he said.
Yeo told the reporter to contact his department’s public information officer.
Through the public information officer, ABC15 requested an interview with the chief of police, Brian Issitt, who declined. The Goodyear mayor and city council have not responded to a request for comment.
ABC15 has learned that Goodyear’s widespread issues with evidence documents could also impact several other cases, with a growing number of defense attorneys now requesting and reviewing the chain of custody in their cases.
Contact ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing at Dave@ABC15.com.
