OGDEN -- The killer left quite the crime scene behind, according to testimony, including a pornographic video playing at the feet of the deceased.
Crime scene analysts Tuesday detailed Filiberto Robles Bedolla's apartment the day his body was found Dec. 22, 2009. The testimony came on the second day of trial scheduled to run through the month for the man accused in his death.
The killer wore cloth gloves precluding any fingerprints, but providing a repeated knit pattern in blood smears in Bedolla's apartment. The matching smears and splotches were found on the inside door knob at the front door, plus the dead bolt and light switch there, testified Paul Rimmasch, the Weber County Sheriff's Office Crime Scene Investigation technician who led the examination of Bedolla's apartment.
The same blood smears were found on the remote for the TV-DVD player, sitting on a table at the foot of his bed, found playing porn when police arrived.
The remote was tucked under one side of the corpse, Rimmasch said. The CD case for the video playing at the time was found laying near the body on the bed with the same blood smear patterns, he said.
Neither the prosecution nor the defense have given any indication how they will postulate those circumstances for the jury.
Robert McCullar, 50, is charged with the stabbing death of Bedolla, 49, at 2560 Adams Ave. McCullar has been held without bail in Weber County Jail since his arrest in February 2010.
The trial reconvenes Thursday. It is set to run through July 29 before 2nd District Judge W. Brent West.
More than $3,000 in cash of Bedolla's was missing from the apartment, according to testimony, as well as several gold and brass medallions he was known to wear together around his neck. He had saved the cash planning to buy a car at a repossession auction.
Weber County Attorney Dee Smith told the jury Monday that McCullar has admitted to the killing on audio and video tapes made by police surreptitiously when an informant, one of McCullar's girlfriends, got him to talk about the slaying. But the defense in opening arguments Monday said McCullar was merely bragging to impress the woman. She is scheduled to testify sometime Thursday.
Defense attorney Jim Retallick also said the crime scene evidence does not match his client's admissions.
All the blood that was shed by Bedolla is found in the bedroom, according to testimony, with no signs of struggle found elsewhere in the small apartment. McCullar in the alleged confession said he jumped Bedolla just inside the front door before it closed after he followed him.
The two had just had a confrontation at a convenience store. Bedolla had picked up McCullar's cigarette he'd left burning outside the convenience store while he shopped inside, intending to return quickly to finish the smoke, according to charging documents. The cigarette dispute escalated with Bedolla allegedly calling McCullar a racial slur and spitting on him.
Bedolla was stabbed 14 times about the head, neck and chest, mostly superficial wounds but for a slash to the throat that severed his jugular vein.
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