PORT ANGELES — On television, homicide investigators can solve mysteries by simply putting some piece of evidence into a machine. Within minutes, a picture of the real killer emerges, and within an hour justice is served.
On Wednesday, the third day of testimony in the murder trial of Robert Gene Covarrubias, 25, in Clallam County Superior Court, some of the most gruesome facts surrounding the last heart-wrenching hours Melissa Leigh Carter’s life were proposed and disputed.
The forensic pathologist Clallam County contracts to perform autopsies, Dr. Daniel Selove of Everett, testified that Carter, 15, was killed at the location where her body was found.
Selove also said she was sexually assaulted, strangled and had been dead at least one day before her body was discovered.
But unlike popular television shows, real life is more complicated.
“‘CSI’ on TV and the old ‘Quincy’ show can spit out answers quite precisely,” Selove said, noting that reality is not so simple.
Selove, who is a witness for Clallam County Prosecutor Deborah Kelly, testified in the morning under her direction.
In the afternoon, Selove was questioned by Covarrubias’ attorney, public defender Ralph Anderson.
Speaking in slow, metered phrases, Selove testified that he looks at the context of a person’s death when he determines how and why he or she died.
