Dave Wagner, KIRO 7 News
Anchor and investigative reporter
Dave Wagner is an anchor and investigative reporter at KIRO 7.
Dave comes to Seattle from NBC News Channel where he was a correspondent covering some of the nation’s biggest stories, including the Charleston church massacre. He also covered the Olympics in Sochi, London and Vancouver.
Dave has anchored the news in Charlotte, Tampa, Cincinnati, Milwaukee and Lexington, Kentucky. His passion for investigative reporting has been recognized with 36 Emmys and four Edward R. Murrow Awards.
A week after their honeymoon, Dave surprised his wife by going undercover as an inmate. He spent a month in the Fayette County, Kentucky Detention Center investigating overcrowding, the treatment of mentally ill prisoners and an alarming number of suicides.
While working in Tampa, Dave received a tip about Nazi war criminals receiving U.S. Social Security checks overseas. He traveled to Lithuania to confront the accused war criminals about the long-held government secret. His stories led Congress to introduce the Nazi Benefits Termination Act. Dave received the Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative reporting.
After a headline-grabbing case that included murder, rape and an attempt to steal a newborn baby, Dave discovered an innocent man behind bars. As part of his investigation, Dave assembled a nationally-renowned pro-bono defense team and obtained the prison release of a wrongly-accused father serving a 20-year sentence.
Dave’s investigation of U.S. Armed Forces recruiters, lying to attract teenagers to the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, led to retraining.
One of Dave’s most memorable stories started with a phone call to the newsroom from twin sisters Flo and Kay Lyman. After months of conversations, Dave was awestruck by their incredible memories and arranged to have Flo and Kay tested. Doctors revealed they are the world’s only known women to be identical twin autistic savants. Dave produced and directed a documentary about the Lyman sisters for the Discovery network.
If you are channel flipping, you might catch Dave in two movies, “From the Earth to the Moon” with Tom Hanks and“The Waterboy” with Adam Sandler. As Dave will admit, his short performances are less than Oscar-worthy.
While he grew up in Ohio, Dave’s roots run deep in Seattle. His great grandfather, William Weaver, was a prominent businessman and Seattle City Council member. Dave’s grandparents, Walter and Ethel Wagner, were students at the University of Washington and his grandfather taught at the school.
Dave and his wife love being with their two sons and exploring the outdoors. Dave looks forward to meeting you and always welcomes your story ideas.