Dead woman's parents pursue Mt. Lebanon man
Christopher Nabors had a bright future in February 1995 when he dropped by a New Orleans bar.
The Louisiana State University medical student, a Mt. Lebanon native who already had a dental degree from the University of Pittsburgh, was about to make the biggest mistake of his life.
Later that night, his car plunged into a bayou and sank in the dark, frigid waters. Nabors, drunk, escaped through the sunroof of the Eagle Talon, but his passenger, Michelle Haensel, 25, a woman he had just met, couldn't unfasten the seat belt and drowned.
Nabors spent nearly eight years in prison for vehicular homicide. Now, he just wants to practice medicine.
But William and Cookie Haensel have not forgotten -- and they have not forgiven the man responsible for their daughter's death.
They are doing everything in their "power to ensure that justice here on Earth is brought as far as it can go," Cookie Haensel said.
Their effort started during Nabors' sentencing in 1996, when they urged friends and relatives to write letters, 150 of them, to Judge Dennis Waldron. Nabors got 15 years -- the longest sentence for vehicular homicide in Louisiana history. He was released in March 2003 for good behavior.
This fall, the couple intervened in Nabors' job search, preventing him from being hired at a hospital in Santa Fe, N.M.
When William Haensel's Internet search revealed that Nabors was going to be a resident in family medicine at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, he contacted the hospital and the local media to foment a storm of publicity.
"This man is going to do some good in the world," said Dr. Mario Pacheco, who was going to hire Nabors. "He was very sincere in wanting to atone to the extent that he could."
After meeting Nabors in April, along with his wife and baby daughter, Pacheco said he quickly became convinced Nabors "deserved a second chance."
Haensel's parents thought otherwise, and the university apparently agreed.
Nabors didn't get the job.
"Our position is that a person should finish his sentence before he becomes a doctor or whatever he wants to be," William said.
As far as Haensel is concerned, Nabors should still be at the Washington Correctional Institution in Angie, La.
Nabors, now 39, married a nurse after his release from prison. The couple and their daughter live in Mt. Lebanon, where Nabors' parents and brother, a dentist, also live.
Nabors declined to comment for this story.
One of his lawyers calls Nabors "a brilliant young man."
"If he is given the chance, he will spend the rest of his life helping people," said Robert McClenahan, of Pittsburgh.
Said Herbert Larson, Nabors' lawyer in New Orleans: "When you've done everything that the state has asked of you, you are entitled to have your life back."
Maybe in 2010, the Haensels say -- when Nabors' sentence would have been up. Even then, they might not be satisfied.
"My daughter doesn't get out in 2010," Cookie Haensel said.
"We've been sentenced to life," her husband said. "We're not normal people anymore. We're like damaged merchandise."
The Haensels said pursuing Nabors is one way to honor the memory of their daughter, who was six credits short of completing an English degree at the University of New Orleans.
"Justice isn't always just what is in the law," William Haensel said.
McClenahan said the Haensels are harassing his client.
"In a civilized country, we take the right to punish others out of the hands of the individuals and give it to the state," Larson said.
The Haensels say they believe Nabors intentionally killed their daughter. William Haensel is writing a book about what they think really happened.
"Things would have been different had he attempted to save her life," Cookie Haensel said. "He wanted her dead."
Exasperated, Larson said, "This was an accident."
Said McClenahan: "I don't think there is a day that goes by that (Nabors) doesn't have active remorse for what happened."
But the Haensels "don't have to forgive," Cookie Haensel said. "That's God's job."
