EXCLUSIVE: Parents' anguish as officials have refused for YEARS to answer basic questions about the suspicious 'suicide' of their son, 29, who had recently exposed a fraud ring



The death of Alex Heitman, 29, on July 25, 2011 was ruled a suicide

His mother Annette Heitman told MailOnline: ' We felt very blessed, we never thought we would lose one of our children in such a devastating way'

Mr Heitman's wife Kristie was 8 months' pregnant with the couple's first child at the time of his death



The 29-year-old's body was cremated five days after his death without being identified by his wife or parents



His guns were found at the scene but no ballistics reports were carried out so it's unknown if any were the weapon that fired the deadly shot



The parents of Alex Heitman have been left with countless, unanswered questions after he was found dead from a gunshot wound just months after he reported a fraud ring linked to drugs.

Alex's parents, Annette and Donnie Heitman, this month called for the FBI to investigate their son's death as they remain unconvinced of the official verdict that he took his own life.



The Heitmans fear that Alex may have trusted the wrong person or identified someone who found out about his cooperation with authorities.

The 29-year-old was found dead on July 25, 2011 from a gunshot wound to the head. His body was discovered by a stranger in a remote part of Cocke County, 70 miles from his home in Knoxville, Tennessee. His wife Kristie was eight months' pregnant at the time of his death.



Donnie and Annette Heitman in the last picture they took with their son Alex. His parents continue to fight for answers as they remain unconvinced that he committed suicide in 2011

His parents believe that the police report, which stated Mr Heitman committed suicide, was hastily embraced as the official ruling with little investigation into the surrounding circumstances.



Annette Heitman told MailOnline: 'I could never imagined this happening to our family. I don't think anyone could. We felt very blessed, we have three beautiful children and we never thought we would lose one of them in such a devastating way.'

Three months before his death, Mr Heitman, a business supervisor for Oak Ridge Schools, had approached three Tennessee police departments with concerns about an alleged fraudulent check-cashing ring linked to a school bank account.

Although involved in a stressful situation, his mother said it was unlikely to have 'pushed him over the edge'.

She added: 'He didn't appear to be under any undue stress. We were in Wisconsin and he was in Tennessee, so the last time we saw him alive was Memorial weekend. He was in good spirits. His job was stressful but he had a lot of responsibility.

Alex Heitman's death was ruled a suicide in 2011 but his family have alleged that there were major flaws in the investigation

'Alex had the stress we all experience. He had a lot on his plate, he was studying for a doctorate, his wife was about to have a baby.'

Alexander John Heitman grew up in Wisconsin with his parents, brother Nicolas and sister Sara. A devoted St Louis Cardinals fan, he was a keen sportsman who loved running, hunting and golf, along with helping on the farm and his dog Yadi.

Annette Heitman said: 'Alex had an extremely compassionate heart. He wanted to make people happy, he never wanted anyone to feel left out - in his personal life, his career or in sports. He was a very caring person.'

After graduating from Adams-Friendship High School, Alex earned bachelor’s and a master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin. He went on to receive an accounting certificate from the University of California-Berkley and completed pre-doctorate work in finance/educational leadership at Nova South Eastern University.

His first jobs included working for the American Cancer Society and UNICEF. Alex, a member of the Catholic Church, also supported charities including the Loggerhead Marine Center, due to his love of sea turtles and the St Jude Children’s Hospital.

After marrying Kristie Kasperski on June 28, 2008 in Waunakee, Wisconsin, the newlyweds decided to move to Tennessee. Alex had accepted a position as Oak Ridge Schools' supervisor of business and support services while his wife got a teaching job at the elementary school.



'It was an opportunity to use his degree, to fully use what he had learned,' his mother said. 'It was also a warmer climate and we had a cold winter [in Wisconsin]. The job was a stepping stone to gain more experience.

'Alex also liked the idea of helping a school system. When he took the job, he wanted to make the most of it.'

He told his family that he had been hired to clean up financial issues specifically concerning the school district's 2008 audit which had over $1 million in adjustments. From the beginning, Alex Heitman found problems in the way the school finances were being run, according to his mother.

Mr Heitman was ordered to attend a meeting at the Oak Ridge Administration building (pictured) on July 25, 2011 but never showed up. His family only found out he had not arrived when they called the school, his mother said. Hours later, his body was found 70 miles away in a different county with a gunshot wound to the head

'Fairly early on, he felt that things were not being done the way he was taught,' she told MailOnline. 'He tried to make a difference - and he tried to teach people some of the correct ways. Part of his job was to teach people - to improve things, correct mistakes that had happened in the past.'

On April 12, 2011, Mr Heitman filed a report at the Oak Ridge Police department saying that he suspected people were taking hundreds of dollars from the school district by using stolen bank account details.



These allegations were later linked to a suspect who forged checks to buy methamphetamine, according to a police report from June 2011.



Mr Heitman also filed police reports with Knoxville Police Department and Clinton Police Department in Tennessee. In the following months, Mr Heitman was subpoenaed at least six times, according to his parents' FBI request.

On July 25, 2011, Mr Heitman was asked to attend a meeting with Oak Ridge schools' then Superintendent Tom Bailey.

Annette Heitman said: 'On the Sunday before he died, we talked several times and exchanged text messages.

'Alex had been called to a meeting at work but he told us that he didn't know what it was about. He had some concerns about it but was more upset. He was on vacation and had made plans to be with family. He had to change everything to go in [to school] for that meeting.'

Cocke County Lt Richard Caldwell (pictured) was involved in early 911 calls on the day Alex Heitman died. He later resigned from his job after an FBI investigation found he was dealing drugs, according to news reports

Three hours after Alex had been scheduled to attend the 9am meeting with then Superintendent Tom Bailey, his family, including his eight months' pregnant wife Kristie, had no calls from Alex or the school.



His mother told MailOnline: 'I called around noon in Tennessee to ask [Alex's wife] how the meeting had gone. She hadn't heard anything so we assumed he was still busy.

'Alex's wife then spoke to a secretary and she said that he had not been there [at the school].'

Annette Heitman said: 'We felt that something might be wrong, when they said he didn't show. We had concerns, we wondered what had happened. We tried not to think the worst and to stay positive.'

Later that day, Mr Heitman's body was found miles from his intended destination that morning.



He had suffered a gunshot wound to the head. His guns were found at the scene.

'We were in shock but parental instincts take over,' Annette Heitman said. 'We needed to figure out what happened to our son. You have to understand what happened in order to make sense of it.'

Mrs Heitman said: 'We had never dealt with law enforcement before, we never had any reason to with our children. Alex never had as much as a speeding ticket - I guess you could say he was kind of a nerd.



'We initially asked the police lots of questions like - what is the procedure; what are you going to do to; what is going to happen; why are you doing this; why are you doing that?

'They [Cocke County Sheriff's Department] appeared to be sincere. We thought that but it's because we were naive. Because we hadn't any experience, we trusted they were doing their job. Cocke County law enforcement told us: ''We are going to follow proper procedure.'''

Mrs Heitman added: 'At the time, we did not know the history of Cocke County. Alex had never been there and none of it made any sense.'

WHAT HAPPENED TO ALEX HEITMAN? TIMELINE OF EVENTS

2008: Alex Heitman and his new wife Kristie move to Knoxville, Tennessee for their new jobs in the Oak Ridge School Department

April 12, 2011: Alex Heitman files a report at Oak Ridge Police department saying that he suspected people were taking hundreds of dollars from the school district by using stolen bank account details April-July 2011: Mr Heitman is subpoenaed several times relating to the fraud case Memorial weekend 2011: Alex Heitman sees his parents who describe

July 25, 2011: Mr Heitman is scheduled to attend a meeting with his bosses at Oak Ridge. He never arrives at the meeting and hours later is found dead, 70 miles away in a different county July 26, 2011: The man who found Alex Heitman's body allegedly finds vital evidence left at the scene

July 29, 2011: The 29-year-old's body is cremated without being officially identified by his eight months' pregnant wife or parents April 2014: Annette and Donnie Heitman request an FBI investigation into their son's death. They have yet to receive a response



Soon after he died, Mr Heitman's wife Kristie gave birth. Annette Heitman would say only that the couple have a 'healthy grandchild'.

Kristie Kasperski was not available for comment and the Heitmans asked that her privacy be respected.



From the beginning, the investigation appears to have been seriously mishandled, the Heitman family claim.



On a website to honor their son, the Heitmans write that 911 call recordings revealed Alex’s death was presumed to be a suicide prior to discovery of his body, and prior to the arrival of the coroner.

In their request for an FBI investigation, the Heitmans wrote: 'This presumption seems to be the only basis for the annotation (of suicide) on his final death certificate.... To date, we have not been provided any evidence to support this claim.

'Though we have made repeated requests to various offices, we’ve received no documentation from any authority that indicates who made the initial suggestion or final determination that Alex committed suicide.'

The family say that Cocke County Detective Robert Caldwell told them that a point of entry for the gunshot wound could not be determined and seemed inconsistent with suicide.



They also claim that Detective Caldwell told them that someone else could have shot their son.

The Heitmans have not seen ballistics or fingerprint reports despite being told by Detective Caldwell that they were completed.

The Heitman family doubt that the autopsy was conclusive. The man who found Alex's body told them he found evidence of brain matter and a shotgun shell casing left behind at the scene when he went back the following day.

Alex Heitman's body was not identified by his wife or parents and was cremated five days after he died.

For almost three years, the Heitmans have doggedly pursued police, court and medical officials for answers. The majority of their requests for information have been ignored, denied or obfuscated with bureaucratic trails that lead nowhere, they say.



Elisha Hodge, at the Tennessee Open Records Counsel, told the family that they are entitled to many of these documents. Ms Hodge confirmed for MailOnline on Tuesday that the Heitmans had been in contact multiple times between July and December 2013.

She said that the Heitmans had copied her on an email to the sheriff's department requesting certain records about their son but were told the documents were all confidential.

Cocke County Sheriff's Department handled the investigation into the death of Alex Heitman. His family have alleged that the police have repeatedly refused to cooperate or ignored their requests for information

Later, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations informed the family that the District Attorney's office did not order ballistics or fingerprints. The family therefore don't know if their son's guns which were at the scene were actually fired or by whom.

The Heitmans received only an initial incident report filed by Detective Caldwell. A full, final police report was never completed, they say.



It is also unclear whether Cocke County Sheriff's Department performed victimology or spoke to the three other police departments where Alex had filed fraud complaints.

Cocke County Sheriff's Department has refused to return Alex's guns to his father. At one point, the Heitmans say, law enforcement even claimed to have lost them.

Mr and Mrs Heitman also claim to have found serious mistakes in official records including Alex being wrongly identified as 'John Heitman' on the autopsy report.

In their FBI request, the Heitmans wrote: 'It is difficult to believe that this hospital or any of the Cocke County officials treated our son with any level of dignity when we hear them state his given first name of Alexander repeatedly on the 911 calls yet make such a blatant error in all of the files about him.'

Mrs Heitman told MailOnline that following her son's sudden death, 'we wanted to speak to Deputy Michael Whitmer as he was the first law enforcement person who found our son. We were told that all our calls had to be referred to Robert Caldwell'.

Detective Robert Caldwell retired in September 2011 - less than two months after Alex Heitman's death was ruled a suicide.

It was later revealed that a lieutenant who was part of the 911 calls and initial response to locate Alex Heitman, Richard Caldwell, was being investigated by the FBI in 2011 because he was involved in narcotics, an ABC report revealed.



Richard Caldwell resigned in August last year after an FBI investigation revealed he was dealing drugs. He entered a 'plea by information' on August 20, 2013, to felony charges, allowing him to bypass the grand jury.

Cocke County Sheriff Armando Fontes said he was told in 2011 that Lt. Caldwell was involved in illegal activity and brought in the FBI to conduct an unbiased investigation. The Sheriff' Department's website still lists Richard Caldwell as an employee.

Cocke County Sheriff's Department did not respond to multiple phone and email requests for comment at the time of publication.



In the days after his death, the Oak Ridge Police Department Chief of Police Jim Akagi attempted to conduct interviews of Alex’s coworkers and supervisors but was denied access by the schools’ Superintendent Tom Bailey, according to the Heitman family.



Mr Bailey retired from his post in March 2012 and moved to Glastonbury, Connecticut. In his position, the Superintendent was required to give six months' notice, meaning he probably resigned around September 2011.

Current schools' superintendent Bruce Borchers told MailOnline last week: 'The Oak Ridge City Schools lost a valued friend and colleague with the death of Alex Heitman in 2011. Questions about this incident still surface from time-to-time.

'The school board and its employees will respond only to members of law enforcement who are engaged in an official investigation of the matter.'

Oak Ridge Police Department's Chief of Police James T. Akagi told MailOnline that Mr Heitman had been reported to his department as a missing person in 2011. He refused to comment on whether Mr Heitman had filed reports with the police department, saying he was not familiar with the case.

Chief Akagi had denied to the Heitman family that Alex Heitman had ever been 'in communication with anyone at the Police Department', despite a police report emerging on Tennessee Watchdog.

Anderson County District Attorney Dave Clark told MailOnline last Friday that Mr Heitman had been subpoenaed a 'handful of times' but that it was routine for a school employee to be brought as a witness when there were reports of fraud in a large organization, such as a school district.



Mr Clark was unaware that Mr Heitman had filed police reports about fraud with Oak Ridge Police.



The district attorney said that a few people had been prosecuted for fraud linked to the Oak Ridge school system but did not have the exact number.



Mr Clark said that he believed one person pleaded guilty to fraud and was jailed, a second case was dismissed while another suspect's charges were waived to the grand jury. The latter decision could mean that the case was being prosecuted at a higher level.



The Heitman family's devastating loss has been made even more painful, they say, by the treatment of local authorities. It has driven them to speak publicly about Alex, in an effort to find justice for their son. At the very least, they believe that Alex's death should be deemed 'inconclusive' and not a suicide.



Mrs Heitman said: 'We tried dealing through the proper channels but we have had door after door closed in our faces. We thought we would try a different avenue and see if it was more successful.'

The Heitmans have yet to receive a response on their request for an FBI investigation.

An FBI spokesman in Knoxville told MailOnline last week that he was aware the Heitmans' letter had been sent to their D.C. headquarters but that they had not received a request locally.

He added that any request would be considered if the allegations fell under federal jurisdiction. Local FBI offices tend to handle cases that happened in their jurisdiction, he added.

For the Heitman family, an FBI investigation would bring much-needed closure in an ordeal that they hope no others ever have to face.



Mrs Heitman said: 'We don't want any family to have to go through this again. We want law enforcement to work with the families and to treat them with the utmost respect from the beginning, so that they do not find themselves in our situation.

'Nothing will bring our son back, but the lack of respect regarding his life and all the issues surrounding it, have been extremely hurtful.'

All seven suspects were eventually prosecuted, Anderson County District Attorney General David Clark told Tennessee Watchdog in an email. Five of those suspects entered guilty pleas and served jail time. Another suspect’s charges were waived to a grand jury. - See more at: http://tennessee.watchdog.org/2014/03/11/records-tn-school-district-official-reported-check-forging-before-suicide/#sthash.ryEhmg0O.dpuf