Dog handler testifies at Frederiksen murder trial

WEBSTER CITY - Jurors in the Casey Frederiksen murder and sexual abuse trial are learning how authorities believe they found the spot where someone threw the body of Evelyn Miller into the Cedar River.

Frederiksen, 35, is accused of sexually abusing the five-year-old girl in July of 2005 and then stabbing her to death and throwing her body in the river in Floyd County to hide the crime.

Frederiksen was convicted of the federal crime of possessing child pornography and charged in Evelyn's death years later. He is on trial in Hamilton County on a change of venue.

The evidence presented Friday morning concerns how authorities believe they located the area where the body was placed in the Cedar River.

Carol Lynn Gardiner, a human scene dog handler, was called in with her dog to search a few weeks after Evelyn's body was discovered in the river.

The dog used a known scent of Evelyn Miller from a snowsuit and detected that scent again in a field near the river, about four miles from the apartment where she lived.

Gardiner said the dog gave a very strong reaction to let her know there was a connection.

'Her response was extreme,” Gardiner said. 'In fact, this is the only time I've ever seen this dog do this. She was howling like crazy, jumping on her back feet like a kangaroo and continued like this for a period of time.”

Prosecutors are expected to tell jurors this is important because another human scent dog later found traces of Frederiksen's scent in the same area.

That dog used a scent from one of Frederiksen's jail jumpsuits.

Check back later today for trial updates.