Seized-evidence lawsuit filed

A Charleston judge will be asked today to decide whether police should be barred from sifting through evidence gathered by private detectives involved in the weekend discovery of Katherine Waring's remains on Wadmalaw Island.

Private investigators hired by attorney Andy Savage, a Waring family friend, found the missing woman's remains Saturday, ending a four-month search. At the request of Charleston police, county sheriff's deputies seized and searched one investigator's vehicle for evidence, authorities said.

Savage filed a lawsuit Monday against Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon, Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen and their respective departments, seeking unspecified damages and the return of photographs, notes and other items taken from private investigator William Capps. Savage also is seeking a temporary restraining order preventing authorities from viewing, using or sharing the seized items.

The two sides will argue their positions before Circuit Judge Thomas Houghston.

Court documents state that the items seized from Capps contain sensitive, confidential "work product" from the Waring investigation and other cases, and that their release would violate attorney-client privilege.

Savage also told Charleston police that his staff has been advised to avoid speaking with police about activities conducted on behalf of clients. He informed police that he would be dealing directly with 9th Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson on the Waring case.

The Sheriff's Office and Charleston police had no comment on the lawsuit or Savage's stance. Police said they were under a gag order.

Since Waring's disappearance, four private investigators working for the Waring family had been involved in the effort to find her, Savage has said. Among that group was Capps, a retired Charleston police sergeant.

The private investigators developed information on Friday that pinpointed the exact location of the remains in a general area police had been searching, Savage said. The investigators notified police of this information and invited them to revisit the area on Saturday for another look. Police declined the invitation, so three of the investigators set out on their own, he said.

"We knew Friday night that this was going to happen and that police were looking in the wrong place," Savage said. "It's not like we were going out there to sneak around in the middle of the night."

After investigators found the remains, they immediately called 911 and guided police to the site, Savage said.

The remains were about 30 to 40 feet off the main road into Polly Point Plantation, a secluded development off Bears Bluff Road. Charleston County Coroner Rae Wooten has not released the cause of the death.

While the private investigators worked closely with police detectives throughout the investigation, Mullen and his chief of detectives were "very aggressive" toward the team on Saturday, threatening them with arrest if they didn't provide statements, Savage said. Despite Capps' offer to give police a document they wanted, police opted to seize his vehicle and a host of sensitive information unrelated to the case, he said.

In an effort to preserve evidence, Charleston police asked sheriff's deputies to get a search warrant for Capps' 1994 Jeep Cherokee, sheriff's Maj. John Clark said. Though Charleston police have headed the investigation into Waring's disappearance, the Sheriff's Office has jurisdiction over the site where the remains were found.

Deputies towed Capps' vehicle to the Sheriff's Office and searched it Sunday with city investigators, Clark said. All items taken from the vehicle were turned over to Charleston police, he said.

Waring, 28, lived with her parents on Murray Boulevard in Charleston. She vanished after she went to a West Ashley gym, a downtown drugstore and then to Wasabi Japanese Steakhouse. Her cell phone and credit cards haven't been used since.

Charleston police on Wednesday arrested a couple on charges of forgery and obstruction of justice in relation to the case. Ethan Mack, 29, of Pineland Drive on Johns Island and Heather Angelica Kamp, 30, of Riley Road on James Island each are charged with one count of obstruction of justice and one count of forgery. Authorities allege both suspects gave false statements about events on the night Waring was last seen and that they forged a check drawn on Waring's account. Bail was set Thursday at $200,000 each.

A memorial service for Waring will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Michael's Episcopal Church, 71 Broad St., Charleston. Her family will receive friends between 5 and 7 p.m. Friday at Ashley Hall school, 172 Rutledge Ave., Charleston. Stuhr's downtown chapel is handling the arrangements.

Reach Glenn Smith at 937-5556 or gsmith@postandcourier.com.