PORT ANGELES — Prosecutors displayed grisly photographs and a bloody tarp from a triple-murder scene Monday as Dennis Marvin Bauer’s trial entered its second week.
Bauer, 53, is on trial for the Dec. 26, 2018, killings of Darrell Iverson, 57, Jordan Iverson, 27, and Tiffany May, 26.
Defense attorney Karen Unger concluded Monday a three-day cross-examination of a key eyewitness before prosecutors called State Patrol investigators to describe the cluttered crime scene at 52 Bear Meadow Road.
The bodies of the victims were found on New Year’s Eve 2018. Each had been shot multiple times.
Johan Schoeman, a forensic scientist with the State Patrol crime lab and lead investigator in the case, displayed for the jury a bloody tarp that was used to conceal Jordan Iverson’s body on the driveway.
The brown-and-gray tarp was pinned to the body by the front bumper of a Kenworth log truck, Schoeman told the 10-woman, six-man jury panel Monday.
Darrell Iverson’s body also was found under a tarp in the driveway. May’s body was found in a folded position in a shed on the property.
Investigators said the murders grew out of a plot by Bauer, Ryan Warren Ward, 40, and Kallie Ann LeTellier, 37, to rob the Iversons, with whom they were acquainted.
After the slayings, the trio took guns, drugs, tools, jewelry and other personal effects from Darrell Iverson’s residence to Bauer’s ranch off Lower Elwha Road, prosecutors have said.
Ward pleaded guilty last November to three counts of first-degree aggravated murder and a host of weapons charges. He is serving three life sentences without the possibility of parole.
LeTellier pleaded guilty last November to second-degree murder for May’s death. She agreed to testify against Bauer and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Bauer is charged with three counts of first-degree aggravated murder, eight counts of illegally possessing firearms and six counts of possessing stolen firearms. His trial began Nov. 15 and is scheduled to run through December.
LeTellier testified that Bauer told her to “take care” of May and ordered her at gunpoint to shoot May as she fled the residence.
Unger attempted to discredit LeTellier on cross-examination, pointing to inconsistencies in statements she made to law enforcement and attorneys.
“You told us that Dennis had his gun pointed at you, and Ryan yelled f——— shoot her!’ Is that what you told us?” Unger asked LeTellier on Monday.
“Yep,” LeTellier said.
“Now, you had never told that to law enforcement, had you?” Unger continued, “and you didn’t tell it to the judge, and you didn’t tell it to the prosecutor until September of 2021, correct?”
“Correct,” LeTellier said.
LeTellier had previously testified that she was raped by the Iversons about two weeks before the murders and that Ward and Bauer were angry about the assault. LeTellier has said she was unaware of the murder plot.
Unger questioned LeTellier about alleged statements she made to a friend about the Iversons raping other women.
“Do you remember telling (your friend) that there were three other girls buried on the Iversons’ property who did not survive the sexual tortures?” Unger asked LeTellier.
“No,” LeTellier said.
Michele Devlin, Clallam County chief criminal deputy prosecuting attorney, objected for hearsay, saying Unger was veering “outside the scope of direct” examination.
Unger said she was laying a foundation for possible testimony later in the trial.
“The fact that this witness didn’t say it to law enforcement doesn’t mean she can’t be impeached with it,” Unger said.
Superior Court Judge Lauren Erickson overruled Devlin’s objection as Unger concluded her cross examination.
Prosecutors then called to the stand State Patrol Detective Michael Welander, who produced drone images of the crime scene used for forensic mapping.
The aerial photographs showed the debris-strewn front yard and driveway of the Iverson residence and shed where the bodies were found.
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Rob Ollikainen is a freelance reporter.