Flood Law Attorneys Hired To Supplement Suspicious Death Investigation

Banker’s family hires team to investigate his mysterious death
By JOE SWICKARD
See Article in Detroit Free Press

While the debate about David Widlak’s puzzling death swings between suicide and murder, his family and an array of blue-chip allies have hired a powerhouse law firm to find out who put a bullet in the back of the banker’s head.

“It appears Mr. Widlak was murdered,” said Todd Flood, a former prosecutor whose Royal Oak-based office has played roles in some of the area’s biggest criminal cases, including Kwame Kilpatrick’s state charges and the misconduct allegations against retired Wayne County Circuit Judge Mary Waterstone.

“Suicide is highly unlikely,” Flood said. “This man had too much going on; he was making too many plans.”

While the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office is keeping a tight lid on the details of their investigation, others familiar with the case pointed out stumbling blocks to declaring the death a homicide:

• He was probably killed with his own gun — one that family thought was long lost or given away.

• His bank office was in disarray, but lacked a “crime scene feel” for some investigators.

• He left the bank alone, security videos from the day he disappeared show.

In a case already marked by a botched autopsy, are things really what they seem?

And what was clenched in Widlak’s left hand?
Murder mystery in the Pointes?
Whatever was driving his friend David Widlak this fall, state Rep. Tim Bledsoe wanted some of it.

“David was so very upbeat,” said Bledsoe, a Democrat from Grosse Pointe who spoke to the banker while in the midst of a rugged, though successful, re-election campaign. “I thought if I could just bottle some of his enthusiasm…”

Speculation that Widlak took his own life, Bledsoe said, doesn’t square with the man he saw.

“There was no hint that he was plagued by self-doubt,” Bledsoe said. “It just doesn’t make sense in any way.”

Now, Widlak’s family and their A-List associates have called in the savvy and well-connected law firm of former Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Todd Flood to try to sort out how and why the 62-year-old Grosse Pointe Farms banker wound up dead in a weedy cut-off from the Clinton River feeding into Lake St. Clair.

They also want to know who pulled the trigger in what a veteran forensic pathologist called an execution-style slaying.

After missing a bullet wound to the back of the head in the initial autopsy, Macomb County Medical Examiner Dr. Daniel Spitz now says the manner of death is still undetermined.

“Spitz has four main choices,” Flood said. “Natural death? No. Suicide? Very unlikely.”

Flood said “undetermined” was a possible choice but one he doesn’t support: “Homicide? That’s what we’re leaning toward, based on my experts….

“There is no indication from any of my people this was a suicide.”

Spitz said Friday: “I’m waiting for the lab results. The manner of death is open and pending till then.”

He declined to say what items were being tested. Widlak walked out of the Community Central Bank in Mt. Clemens on Sept. 19 and into a mystery.
What was in his left hand?
Missing for weeks, his body was found Oct. 17 by duck hunters near a boat access area and private marina off Lake St. Clair, some 4 miles from the bank.

The first autopsy found no obvious evidence of foul play. But the family had a second autopsy, which found a gunshot wound to the back of his neck. Divers from the Sheriff’s Office also found a .38-caliber revolver — registered to Widlak, but believed by his family to have been lost or given away — in the weeds about 6 feet from where the banker’s body was found.

In the Grosse Pointes, there was concern among friends and associates, primarily from his wife Anne’s connections that included storied Detroit names such as Ford, Stroh and Dingell.

Leafy posh suburbs, a missing banker with blood blue and political connections found dead in the lake, overlooked evidence, a bank steering through troubled waters and millions in death benefits — it’s a murder mystery among the mighty and irresistible catnip for coffee break and cocktail circuit sleuths.

And just what was found clutched in Widlak’s left hand?

A piece of fabric or perhaps some paper that somehow survived weeks in the water, according to widely circulated but unconfirmed reports. As with most evidence, Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel and detectives aren’t talking.

Flood’s heard the reports, too.

“If there was something in his left hand, it might be of help resolving what happened,” he said.

There is a lot to be resolved.

Hackel and his detectives have said there aren’t any suspects or persons of interest, and investigators have gone back to re-interview witnesses, some more than once.

Widlak’s cell phone almost taunts police. The last activity was in St. Clair Shores — but the service provider can’t tell whether it was a call or a text.

Other electronic footprints — from computers, e-mails, GPS — are being tracked.

Widlak had his wallet, cash and keys on his person when his body was found, but was missing a hat, a coat and a fanny pack.

Flood said his team of former state and federal investigators, specialists and medical experts are to complement, not supplant the official investigation.

Hackel did not return calls seeking comment.

Widlak’s estate is now open in Wayne County Probate Court, and Flood’s firm was hired to help resolve some of the issues. The bank, struggling like many institutions, had a $2.3-million death benefit package on Widlak, the president and CEO. The bank had purchased life insurance to cover this benefit.
The dream team
The manner of death is one issue that needs to be put to rest, Flood said.

“The insurance proceeds only go to estate, not to Anne,” Widlak’s widow, Flood said. “All Anne is seeking is the truth of her husband’s death. She is mourning the loss of her husband, and all of us can sympathize that she has not been able to go through the grieving process of this devastating loss.”

Flood’s firm in Royal Oak — Flood Lanctot Connor Stablein — is loaded with former prosecutors, including David Gorcyca, David Highbee, Paul Bernier and John Dakmak. Gerald Evelyn, a top Detroit criminal defense lawyer who also handles civil cases, is a counsel to the firm.

“We know the sheriff’s investigators are committed,” Flood said. “I think that more minds are better than one.

“It appears that Mr. Widlak was murdered,” he said. “However, we are going to follow the elementary rule that we will take all the evidence to its conclusion.”

Flood said Widlak was seeking investors for the bank and had concerns about the bona fides of some people who were putting themselves forward.

“Money, that could be a motive, and that’s something we’d want to follow up,” he said.

Former FBI agents are aboard to check the accounting and financial issues.

So far “nothing leads us to believe gambling is an issue here,” Flood said. “Tax records are good so far, and we don’t see any drug issues.

“A man’s life has been taken,” Flood said. “I think we can help get some answers because of our resources.”

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