Wednesday, March 2, 2005

Expert dons robe to illustrate killings

Crime analyst says killer may have worn robe backwards


By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

Portland-based crime scene analyst Rod Englert said he believes the person who killed Alan and Diane Johnson on Sept. 2, 2003, wore a pink bathrobe backwards. He also testified that the killer could have escaped the crime scene without any blood or tissue on him or her. Photo by Willy Cook

An expert who testified in the state's case against Bellevue murder suspect Sarah Johnson on Friday donned a pink bathrobe and raised a rifle to the head of a mannequin to simulate how he believes Diane Johnson was shot and killed in her bed as she slept on Sept. 2, 2003.

The unexpected twist was when the expert put the bathrobe on backwards, with his left arm in the right sleeve and his right arm in the left sleeve.

"The possibilities that I'm going to give you (are) based on the evidence that is on this robe," said Portland-based crime scene analyst Rod Englert. "There are two individuals who are more than 20 feet apart who have donated their blood in the form of high velocity mist to this robe. We know what happened. We know when it happened. We know where it happened. But we don't know how it happened."

Englert, who specializes in analyzing blood spatter, proceeded to explain his preferred theory.

"The wearer of this robe had the robe on, most probably, in the position I last described wearing it: backwards to expose the whole area. Wearing the robe in its proper way, there are areas I can't explain."

In testimony the week before, a DNA analyst said Alan and Diane Johnson and, to a lesser extent, Sarah Johnson left their DNA in various locations on a pink bathrobe that was discovered in a trashcan in front of the Johnsons' Bellevue home. Sarah Johnson's DNA also was discovered inside a latex glove that was wrapped inside the bathrobe.

It is fairly clear that the person who murdered Alan and Diane Johnson wore the pink bathrobe, which Sarah Johnson owned. It is also clear that Sarah Johnson wore the latex glove at some point before it was wrapped in the bathrobe.

Englert was the first of the state's witnesses to testify for an entire day, and in the course of five hours of testimony, he addressed the crime scene from several perspectives. In particular, he discussed why blood may not have stained some walls and ceilings of the room where Diane Johnson was shot while others were very soiled.

"In crimes of violence, there's often bloodshed, and that bloodshed can be interpreted," Englert said. "Bloodstains are about one word. That word is patterns."

Englert said he believes a sheet and a comforter covered Diane Johnson's head at the time of her shooting. The coverings prevented blood and tissue from traveling back toward the shooter, and the blood on the ceiling and walls of the master bedroom in the Johnson home told that story.

"There's a line on the ceiling past which there is no blood, a well defined line with the exception of a few little specks," he said. "Something was blocking the blood from getting there. Otherwise you would have it all over, in 360 degrees."

Englert did not testify about Sarah Johnson or whether she might be involved in the shootings of her parents, but the positioning of the blankets could have underlying importance. If they were positioned as Englert testified they were, that could explain why Sarah Johnson had no blood or tissue in her hair or on her skin when doctors examined her the day of her parents' deaths.

But the other obvious explanation for Sarah's clean skin and hair was that she may not have pulled the trigger.

In his cross-examination of Englert, defense attorney Mark Rader stressed that the quilt from the bed had not been collected as evidence. Therefore, there is no way for Englert to verify that it had a bullet hole in it, as he testified from looking at a photograph of the quilt.

"Is it absolutely a bullet hole? I do not know," Englert responded to Rader's questioning. "Through experience I have verified—you don't need to use the scientific method to verify what you have observed over and over."

Finally, Englert also testified that Alan Johnson did not die immediately after he was shot in the chest. The blood he left behind tells the story of a person who fell in the bathroom just outside the shower and then stumbled into the bedroom where Diane Johnson had already been shot.

Hand prints or brush marks at the end of the bed indicate Alan Johnson paused or fell briefly before making his way toward the head of the bed. A pool of blood underneath the pillow indicates Alan Johnson was reaching under the covers for his wife's body, Englert said.




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