PORT ANGELES — Accused triple-murderer Dennis Marvin Bauer admitted in recorded conversations that he intended to lie about his whereabouts when three people were shot on Bear Meadow Road the day after Christmas 2018.
The 53-year-old Lower Elwha Road resident was present at the gunshot homicides of trucking company owner Darrell Iverson, 57; his son, Jordan, 27, and Jordan’s girlfriend Tiffany May, 26.
He did not participate in the killings, his lawyer, Karen Unger of Port Angeles, said during her opening arguments four weeks ago.
Bauer, charged with three counts of first-degree aggravated murder and 16 firearms charges, never veers from that assertion during early 2019 phone calls from the Kitsap County Jail that were played Thursday for the jury.
Unger has said Bauer, a 53-year-old commercial floor cleaner and convicted felon, has not decided to testify in a Clallam County Superior Court trial that has seen a month of testimony from numerous prosecution witnesses. Thy
Silent on Thursday and dressed as he has every day in a tie and sport jacket, Bauer might as well have been standing before jurors who heard him on several jailhouse recordings of profanity-laced telephone conversations he had with unidentified individuals.
The calls, which begin with warnings that both parties are being recorded, occurred during the first part of 2019 while Bauer was incarcerated in Kitsap County following his January 2019 arrest.
Bauer’s son Jared has testified that he was cleaning floors at a Safeway store without his father when the murders occurred, having used his father’s ID to clock in. The Iversons and May were shot between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. Dec. 26, according to a probable cause statement.
“I was at work when the [expletive] went down, and the work records should show that,” Bauer told one caller, a claim he repeatedly makes.
“There’s even documented proof that I was at work,” he says in another.
“It shows I was on the clock and I got a paycheck for that [expletive] time, so, that should [expletive] take care of it right there.”
In one exchange, he appears to be talking about a lawyer who is representing him.
“She’s like, but you’ve already told me that you were on the scene,” he says to a woman on the other end of the line.
“I said yes, but, the evidence shows that I was not. That’s what I told you. That’s not what I told any[expletive]body else.
“She says right. I was like, I want you to do your [expletive] job and get me off of this charge, because it shows that I was at work. You need to bring that evidence to light, so that the jury can see it and decide for themselves whether I was there or at work,” Bauer says.
“I know when I go in front of the jury, I’m not going to tell them that I wasn’t there. I was there, but there wasn’t nothing I could do. It was already done.”
Bauer also refer sharply to co-conspirators Kallie LeTellier, 37, who has testified, and Ryan Ward, 40, who refused to testify.
LeTellier is serving 35 years after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in May’s death. Ward, who refers to Bauer as “uncle” according to trial testimony, is serving three life sentences after pleading guilty to three counts of first-degree aggravated murder and 16 firearms charges.
All three were involved in using and dealing methamphetamine, according to court records.
“Those [expletive] drug addicts are the only ones that are even saying anything about me being there or anything else,” Bauer says.
“The fact that I was on the clock, I’m, I’m, I’m, I’m I’m clocked in, and [getting] paid for the time that I was supposed to have been out there [expletive] doing those [expletive],” referring to the victims.
“There’s proof that I was at work, you know what I’m saying. So, somebody[’s] got to be able to do something [to] get me the [expletive] out of this [expletive],” he says, laughing.
In one call, a man and a woman are on the other end.
“There ain’t nothing but him and his little [expletives] [expletive] running their mouth on me,” he said.
“There’s no other evidence.”
Bauer says he was vomiting out the car window as they drove away from Bear Meadow Road.
“You just [expletive, expletive] my whole life, dude,” Bauer says to the man.
“Don’t worry about it, don’t worry about a thing, dude,” he responds. “We’re, we’re out of this.”
“[Expletive] you better hope so,” Bauer responds.
In another conversation, Bauer gives his version of the killings. The Iversons’ bodies were found under tarps in the driveway, and May’s was found in a locked blue shed.
“Anybody who believes I’d give that [expletive] a [expletive] 45 after he just shot three other [expletive] is a [expletive]. All I need is to find a [expletive] hole in the back of my head,” he said
“I was scared that night because when I stepped out that door, he had already plugged Jordan, right, and he turned, and he [expletive] put like five or six in that old man, and then he turned toward me because I was just coming out that [expletive] back door, and he had that gun pointed straight at my [expletive] chest.”
“Right, so he didn’t know who was coming out that door,” the woman on the other end responds.
“Right. I was like, whoa, hey, what the [expletive] are you doing, man. He was like, gee, you [expletive] scared me.
“He was, here, here dude, take this, and he swung it into my hands, and I caught it like a dumb ass.”
At that point, May came running out the door, with LeTellier right behind her, shooting May, Bauer says.
He says Ward came out of the house and shot the Iversons in the head.
“I hated him from that moment on,” Bauer says. “That was the day after Christmas.”
The fourth week of testimony ended Thursday and resumes Monday, with the trial scheduled for six weeks.
Erickson said after testimony ended at 3 p.m. Thursday that given the absence of some jurors during Christmas week, the trial may have to go into recess for those four days.
“There has not been a single day that we have been here until 4:30 p.m.,” said Unger as she raised a concern that the testimony was again ending early.
Trial days are from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, with 90 minutes scheduled for lunch — the jury is due back in 75 minutes — and two maximum half-hour breaks, leaving about 20 hours for testimony in the trial every week.
The prosecution has subpoenaed more than 80 witnesses. Fewer than half have testified.
The prosecution also has 1,000 exhibits, Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michele Devlin said Thursday.
Devlin said her office is doing the best it can with scheduling conflicts and making sure COVID-19 protocols are followed.
Erickson said there should be be backup witnesses to ensure a full day of testimony.
“I think we need to tighten this up a little bit,” she said.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
Port Angeles Police Department Detective Jeff Ordona on Friday displays a knife found in Dennis Bauer’s cabin during testimony at Bauer’s murder trial linking items found at the residence with a triple homicide. (Paul Gottlieb/Peninsula Daily News)