BOULDER CITY (KTNV) — A widow's heartbreak has reignited calls for accountability in Boulder City following a 13 Investigates report that uncovered allegations of a police department marred by potential cover-ups, corruption and investigative failures.
Our special report prompted Boulder City officials to reopen a homicide investigation. Now, four months later, family members say the case appears stalled, and their pursuit of justice has once again brought them to 13 chief investigator Darcy Spears.
Police won't discuss what the reopened investigation looks like, but 13 Investigates remains committed to shining a light on the case, even as the family claims they remain in the dark. New information deepens the questions about whether justice has truly been served.
WATCH: 13 Investigates follows up after family members claim reopened shooting investigation has stalled
The Boulder City Police Department looks like it's straight off a small-town movie set. Those who've lived there say the town 25 miles outside Las Vegas is indeed small — and for one family, that's created a big problem.
In May 2021, Scott Dingman was shot and killed in the street outside the home of his long-time friend John Powell Morgan III, known as JP.
"Who did the shooting?" Officer Armando Salazar asked into his mic on body-worn camera footage obtained by 13 Investigates.
"I did! I did! I did!" Morgan responded.
Morgan admitted to pulling the trigger but claimed self-defense. On the scene that night, Det. Mark Dubois noted there were lots of unanswered questions about the shooting. As he told other officers, he believed Morgan would have to prove his self-defense claim in court.
"Either way, he's gonna be hit with a murder charge, but if that actually happened, that would be great for his defense attorney," Dubois said.
Morgan's attorney never had to make an argument because Morgan was never charged in connection with Scott Dingman's death.
"In dealing with the police department, I was just trying to get answers, and nothing made sense," said Scott's widow, Ashley Dingman.
Dingman turned to 13 Investigates. Her plea prompted this year-long investigation into how Boulder City police handled the case:
Document review, frame-by-frame video analysis and interviews with retired police experts Wade Seekatz and Jamie Borden revealed what they called flaws that may have allowed a killer to go free. The experts point to body camera footage that contradicted police reports, key evidence mishandled and an eyewitness account that was overlooked.
"Absolutely unacceptable on any crime," Seekatz said.
"I have never seen flaws to this level that have gone unchecked," Borden said. "And I get impassioned about it because I'm here as an expert to protect law enforcement, not to protect cops. When cops make mistakes, they've got to be held accountable."
Key details revealed by the investigation
Body camera footage showed officers removing Scott Dingman's wallet and a bullet from JP Morgan's pockets and tossing them into the crime scene, which Seekatz and Borden say amounts to evidence tampering and crime scene contamination.
Forensic tests proved Dingman's gun was never fired, which the experts say undermines the self-defense claim.
Autopsy bullet trajectories directly conflicted with Morgan's account, but police never resolved the discrepancies.
Although Morgan's home security cameras may have shown critical evidence, police never seized the footage.
"Had all of these mistakes been averted, and the decision was that it was self-defense, that's acceptable. But that's not acceptable in this case because there's nothing to support that," Borden said.
Previous self-defense claim
This isn't the first time Morgan has claimed self-defense during a violent crime. 13 Investigates recently received records showing that in 2012, Morgan was charged with felony battery with a deadly weapon after police say he stabbed a man in the stomach with a folding knife in a Town Square bar parking lot, which is in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's jurisdiction. Morgan claimed self-defense — but Las Vegas police didn't buy it.
Investigators say Morgan's account shifted repeatedly, contradicting himself about whether he had or saw a knife that night, even after officers found two in his truck.
Faced with those inconsistencies, LVMPD arrested him, and he later took a plea deal — admitting to attempted battery causing substantial bodily harm in exchange for probation.
Fast forward to Boulder City. Records show Morgan again changed his story multiple times after admitting to shooting Dingman to death. But unlike LVMPD, the experts and police records show Boulder City police didn't challenge those contradictions, didn't follow up — and Morgan walked free.
"What level of confidence do you have in this reopened investigation?" I asked Seekatz.
"None, at this point," Seekatz said.
Conflict of interest concerns
Seekatz, Borden and Ashley Dingman have been sounding the alarm on a conflict of interest within the Boulder City Police Department that they believe has resulted in Morgan getting favorable treatment — specifically, his relationship with Officer Scott Pastore.
Body camera footage showed Pastore acknowledging his relationship with Morgan:
- "Trying to keep my hands off on this because I know him personally."
- "He works for me. At the courthouse. Yeah, that's why I'm trying to...so there's no bias on evidence or anything."
- "I know everybody in this house. That's the problem. That's why I'm trying to stay out here."
But Pastore did not stay outside. In fact, Borden, who was retained by the Dingman family, points to newly reviewed body camera footage from other officers showing Pastore was inside Morgan's house, alone.
"There's a gun inside, so I'm just trying to get this...Nobody else is in there?" Sgt. Jeanette Woolsey said on body camera footage.
"Scott (Pastore) is in there..." another officer says.
But investigators don't know for sure what he did in there.
"We have no body-worn camera footage from Officer Pastore for the entire evening," Seekatz said.
13 Investigates has repeatedly asked Boulder City why its public records release did not include any body camera footage from Pastore. The city has not answered. Morgan even talked about his relationship with Pastore that night while at the Boulder City police station.
OFFICER KENNY CALZADA: You ride horses?
JP MORGAN: Yeah.
CALZADA: I work with (Scott) Pastore on the mounted unit, so we...
MORGAN: Pastore and I are very effing close. He's gonna lose his s— over this one.
"Should he have ever been on that crime scene to begin with?" I asked Seekatz.
"No. It's tragic. And it should have been addressed immediately," Seekatz said.
Deeper department relationships
13 Investigates recently discovered that Morgan's relationship with the department goes deeper than Scott Pastore, as evidenced by a conversation the continuing review of body camera footage revealed from the night of Scott Dingman's death, when Det. Mark Dubois and Lt. Thomas Healing tried to work out which gun belonged to which person.
"And Det. Dubois tells a story that he knows that the .40 caliber belongs to JP," Seekatz said.
DET. MARK DUBOIS (on body camera footage): I think he has an XD, because I picked it up off the road one day.
LT. THOMAS HEALING: Oh, s—.
DUBOIS: Well, he went out to the lake partying and got drunk...Somehow, I found out that it was his. Called him up and asked him if he was missing a gun. He went, 'Oh, s—," went and looked at his truck, and he goes, 'Yearh.' So, he set it down on the bumper of his truck; he made it all the way from Lake Mead to that overpass heading towards Henderson before it fell off.
HEALING: Really? Wow.
"If you find a gun on the side of the road, a case number should be drawn, the gun should be collected, and it should be booked into evidence and a report taken," Seekatz said.
I asked Boulder City police why Dubois returned the gun to Morgan without documenting it, and whether that followed proper protocol. Once again, the department did not answer, stating, "The City does not comment regarding open investigations or personnel matters."
Failure to render aid
Seekatz's concern about police procedure deepened because of something that didn't happen at the crime scene, as evidenced by body camera footage.
Officer Kenny Calzada explained to Det. Dubois why he moved Dingman's gun.
DET. MARK DUBOIS: And you just picked it up and moved it?
OFFICER KENNY CALZADA: Hey, I put a glove on. I picked it up and moved it to where...
DUBOIS: You did not clear it?
CALZADA: I did not clear it, just because I just wanted to move it, just in case he woke up and he started shooting...again...we didn't know if he was dead or alive then.
"The first thing they should have done once the scene was safe was immediately check Scott for signs of life and render aid if there were any signs of life. That's not what happened," Seekatz said.
Body camera footage doesn't show anyone taking Dingman's pulse or even checking to see if he was breathing.
"There's seven minutes and seven seconds that pass before the first person even checks Scott for signs of life," Seekatz said.
"Sir! Sir! Sir! I'm not getting any response," Sgt. Woolsey said on body camera footage as she stood, leaning over Scott.
While officers walk around taking pictures, "Scott was laying in the road, presumably bleeding to death," Seekatz said.
Once again, 13 Investigates asked Boulder City police about that, and once again, they declined to answer.
Current charges
As reported in our initial investigation, after police reopened the investigation, they served a search warrant that led to felony drug charges against Morgan after discovering cocaine, baggies and a digital scale in his home. That case is currently pending in Boulder City Court.
"What's missing from that arrest and those charges?" I asked Seekatz.
"I was informed by Deputy Chief Aaron Johnson that they also seized numerous weapons from him, but there is not a single weapons-related charge associated with the drugs. When you have that amount of drugs with intent to sell them, each weapon that you have is a separate charge for prohibited possessor," Seekatz said.
Whether Morgan will be charged with anything else remains to be seen. His attorney did not respond to requests for comment for this story, but has previously declined due to the open criminal investigation.
The Dingman family has repeatedly asked for the FBI to get involved. The federal agency said it cannot confirm or deny the existence of any investigation.
Morgan's drug case is set for a status check in February, with the preliminary hearing scheduled for March 10, 2026.