ABC News correspondent Ryan Smith investigates the death of Michelle O’Connell in St. Augustine, Florida. On September 2, 2010, the 24-year-old single mom was shot in the mouth while packing to leave her deputy sheriff boyfriend, Jeremy Banks. The bullet that killed O’Connell came from Banks’ gun which was in its retention holster. Police say O’Connell committed suicide. Her mother Patty O’Connell, who is raising Michelle’s daughter Alexis, now 10, believes Michelle was killed by Banks.
According to The New York Times crucial evidence was missing or unexamined by the sheriff’s office. (It was later discovered that O’Connell’s jaw was cracked, and two neighbors reportedly said they heard a woman scream for help before hearing gunshots.) St. Johns County sheriff, David B. Shoar “resisted outside review of the case” but eventually agreed. Agent Rusty Rodgers led the investigation and then Sheriff Shoar commissioned his own investigation of Agent Rodgers — “accusing him of serious crimes.”
Rodgers was later “forced to surrender his badge and gun, barred by his agency from publicly defending himself.” In 2014, O’Connell’s former boyfriend Banks filed a lawsuit against Rodgers claiming Rodgers’ investigation violated Banks’s civil rights. The complaint sought “damages in excess of the $15,000.00 jurisdictional limits of this court” and sought a jury trial. On April 4, 2018, a federal judge dismissed the case. He ruled that Rodgers had probable cause to investigate whether Banks shot O’Connell. 20/20 airs Fridays at 10pm on ABC.
