A missing mom and traces of blood

Kim Aguirre, Debbie's attorney: The issues that she was dealing with were custody and support.

NBC video 2: Missing woman’s ex-husband suspicious? May 8: Police had a "person of interest" in Debbie Hawk’s disappearance – her ex-husband, Dave Hawk. Investigators found some new, disturbing, information was coming out about his relationship with Debbie. Dateline NBC

Kim Aguirre is Debbie’s attorney, and it turns out, when Debbie disappeared, the exes were battling in the courts.  Child support payments were one issue. Dave was supposed to be paying $553 a month for the three children and wanted to pay less,  claiming he only made $6,000 a year.  That’s well below the poverty level, and Aguirre found it hard to believe.

Aguirre: He lived in what I understood to be a very nice home. He drove a late model Suburban. At least, that’s what I saw when I saw him drive up to court. And it’s just, that’s hard to do on $6,000 a year.

Dave says he accurately reported his income, and supplemented it with savings and gifts from his parents

Debbie was also asking for more time with the children.

Aguirre: His response was to ask for half custody. The percentages were something like 65 with Debbie and 35 with Dave. And he wanted to make it an even 50-50.

And then there were the children’s trust funds.  Debbie accused her ex-husband of stealing money from the trust funds over several years. 

Stafford:  How much money are we talking about?

Darren Mattison, investigator: A significant amount.

Stafford:  Ten thousand, 100,000?

Mattison:  More than $100,000. It appears that his living expenses were coming out of the children’s trust account.

Could the ongoing custody dispute and accusations of misusing  the children’s trust funds make Dave Hawk so angry that he wanted to kill his ex-wife?

Stafford:  Debbie’s been accusing you of misusing the funds that are set aside for the children.

Dave Hawk: She claimed that, yes. Well, if you look a little further those trust funds are in my name.  And if I want to go in and sell Exxon stock and buy Microsoft stock, I can do that.

Stafford:  You can do it.  The question is have you been reinvesting the money?  Or have you been spending the money on personal things for yourself and not the kids.

Dave Hawk:  No, I— can do that.  And as far as the way the Hawks live their lives, that’s private.

Stafford:  I would assume as the ex-husband you weren’t happy about the fact that Debbie’s accusing you of misusing the trust funds for the kids.

Dave Hawk:  Right.  Well, she’s—

Stafford:  Make you angry, I would assume.

Dave Hawk:  Yeah.  She’s trying to paint me in a bad light so that she could win more custody of our children.

Stafford:  And I would think that that’s an escalating, angering situation between the two of you.

Dave Hawk:  Not on my part.

Did it ever get physical? Well, in 1998, Debbie did get a temporary restraining order against Dave.

Stafford:  Debbie accused you of grabbing her throat.  And starting to choke her.

Dave Hawk:  That’s what she claims.

Stafford:  Did that happen?

Dave Hawk:  No. It didn’t happen.

And yet another strange twist: On May 18, 2006, a day before he was supposed to be in court dealing with the Hawks’ custody issues, Debbie’s attorney was shot in the neck right outside his office.

Aguirre: Opened my car door and heard this tremendous explosion, felt it in the back of the head like I got hit with a baseball bat,

A few days later, Aguirre says he got an interesting call from Debbie Hawk.

Aguirre: She called to express a concern that maybe it was her ex-husband.

Dave says he had nothing to do with the shooting.

Stafford:  Where were you when Debbie’s attorney was shot?

Dave Hawk:  I was at work.

The shooting remains under investigation by the Fresno police.

In the months following Debbie’s disappearance, police came down hard on Dave Hawk, searching his home at least four times and taking away items like computers and Dave’s shoes. Police even cuffed him outside his house in full view of local television cameras. They also seized evidence, including computers, from the church where Dave sometimes worked. Dave describes it as a witch hunt.

Dave Hawk: They need to find somebody and paint him bad and hammer him.

Stafford: And you’re saying you are that somebody?

Dave Hawk:  Well, I’m the ex-husband. I’m the first guy on the list.

He claims law enforcement is so determined to find him responsible, that an FBI agent threatened to make up evidence against him. He wrote down what he says the agent told him.

He wrote that the agent said ‘I dont need a body or evidence. I can manufacture that. All I need is motive. And with an ex-husband that’s easy.”

Police investigator Matteson says Dave Hawk was never threatened as he claims.

Mattison:  I’m not gonna get into what Mr. Hawk believes.  However, I can tell you that the FBI was professional, and did not say the things that Mr. Hawk believes he said.

Stafford:  Did you have anything to do with Debbie’s disappearance?

Dave Hawk:  No.

Stafford: Did you kill your ex-wife?

Dave Hawk: No.

Stafford: Are you worried in the back of their minds, your kids say, "Maybe dad did have something to do with this."

Dave Hawk: My kids aren’t going to think that because they don’t think that.

Dave maintains he has an alibi for the time Debbie disappeared.

Dave Hawk:  I was either here with my children, or I was at work.

Stafford: You could have hired someone.

Dave Hawk:  Could have hired—oh, like a hit man?

Stafford:  Yeah.

Dave Hawk:  Yeah. I don’t know any. I don’t even know where to buy marijuana. I’m pretty vanilla when you start looking at me.

Plain as vanilla?  Hanford police aren’t buying it.

Stafford:  Does Dave Hawk’s alibi check out?

Mattison:  I don’t know if you can call it an alibi.  He was at home.

Matteson says there’s no way to verify that Dave Hawk didn’t leave the house while his children were sleeping or slip away from work.

In late October, police named Dave Hawk the prime suspect in the disappearance of his ex wife.

Stafford: Almost every road that you’ve explored, you’re saying leads back to Dave Hawk?

Mattison: Yes.

Police say there’s a chance more than one person was involved in Debbie’s disappearance. As for what happens next - police say they are still waiting for that computer evidence to be analyzed.

Stafford:  Without Debbie’s body, do you have a case?

Mattison:  Yes.  That’s not an issue, according to the district attorney’s office. 

Stafford:  You’ll prosecute this case if you find the evidence you think you need.

Mattison: Yes.

Debbie and Dave’s son is now in foster care.  Their daughters are still living with their dad.  As Debbie’s friends wait for answers... it is those children they worry about the most.

Taryn: Those kids need their mom.  No 16-year-old, no 14-year-old, no 11-year-old should have to ever deal with or go through something awful like this.

If you have information on Debbie Hawk, contact the Hanford Police Department at (559)585-2540. You can also visit the Web site http://www.debbiehawk.com/ or join our   Discussion on the Dateline message boards.

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