A Baton Rouge man filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court Monday for invasion of privacy in the serial killer investigation.
In the lawsuit, Shannon Kohler claims investigators ignored evidence and concealed information when they obtained a warrant for him to submit his DNA for testing.
Kohler is asking for the return of his DNA, removal of records connecting him to the serial killer investigation and unspecified damages.
Kohler filed a similar lawsuit in May in Baton Rouge District Court.
In November 2002, the Multi-Agency Homicide Task Force filed an affidavit to collect a DNA swab sample from Kohler after he refused to submit a sample voluntarily.
Dennis Whalen, Kohler’s attorney, said his client is suing for damages in regards to the way the case was handled, the way documents were entered into public record and loss of privacy.
Whalen said his client’s claims stem from serial killer suspect Derrick Todd Lee not being swabbed for DNA earlier.
Whalen said if Lee’s DNA had been taken in January 2001 after he was released from jail on stalking charges, Kohler would never have been brought into the situation and perhaps Lee would have been connected to Gina Wilson Green’s murder earlier.
Lee is accused of murdering Gina Wilson Green, Charlotte Murray Pace, Pam Kinamore, Trineisha Dene Colomb and Carrie Lynn Yoder. Those murders occurred between September 2001 and March 2003.
Lee’s DNA was not obtained until May 5, 2003 after the Attorney General’s office assisted detectives in Zachary, La. in looking at Lee as a possible serial killer suspect.
Lee has also been connected to the January 2002 murder of Geralyn DeSoto. He has been connected to all of those deaths through DNA.
Baton Rouge Police Chief Pat Englade, BRPD Det. Christopher Johnson, East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff Elmer Litchfield and the city-parish government are named as defendants in the suit.
BRPD Cpl. Mary Ann Godawa said she had not yet seen the suit and had no comment.