Blood pattern expert testifying in Fort Dodge murder trial

UPDATE: A detective who wrote the book on how blood patterns can solve homicides is testifying at the murder trial of a woman charged with killing her neighbor in 2001.

Investigators hired consultant Rod Englert to reconstruct the scene in Tracey Richter's bedroom where she shot and killed Dustin Wehde in Early, a small town in northwest Iowa.

Englert, former chief sheriff's deputy in Multnomah County, Ore., is noted for expertise on crime scene reconstruction and blood pattern analysis. He wrote "Blood Secrets: Chronicles of a Crime Scene Reconstructionist," which was published last year.

Some jurors seemed amazed as Englert put fake blood on a white board to illustrate different blood patterns and what causes them. He says the Richter case is about "high-velocity" impact patterns and will elaborate Tuesday afternoon.

Prosecutor Scott Bandstra said he expects to finish questioning his witnesses by Tuesday afternoon. Richter's attorneys will then get a chance to call witnesses. She faces life in prison if convicted.

Earlier today, Wehde's mother broke down in tears on the witness stand Tuesday as she was grilled about his history of mental health and behavioral issues.

Mona Wehde began crying during questioning by Richter's defense attorney. Wehde acknowledged her son had anger management problems, was depressed and once punched a hole in the wall and threatened his father with a BB gun in a dispute over his dog.

After Mona Wehde's emotional outburst, Judge Kurt Wilke called a break in the trial to allow her to compose herself.

Richter claims Wehde and another man broke into her home in Early while she was watching her three children - ages 11, 3, and 1 - and assaulted her before she was able to break free, unlock a gun safe and shoot Wehde nine times with two guns, causing the other man to flee. Her defense lawyers have painted Wehde as the aggressor.

Prosecutors say the home invasion was made up and there was no second intruder. They say Richter lured Wehde to her home and had him write a fake journal in a pink notebook, claiming that her ex-husband had hired him to kill her and her son. Then, they say, she killed him to keep him quiet about his role in her plot to frame her ex-husband and planted the notebook in his car, where it was discovered after the shooting.

Mona Wehde testified Monday afternoon that Richter had called her the day before the shooting in December 2001 and asked her to have her son come over to make copies for Richter's family-owned computer business. Mona Wehde said her son was not the best worker, but Richter said that was okay because his work would be "on a trial basis."

Mona Wehde, who now lives in Hutchinson, Minn., recalled taking her son to the University of Nebraska in 1998 for treatment for behavior problems that included aggression and, at times, violence. She testified that months before the shooting, she had him go see a doctor after he said he was depressed.

Richter's defense has suggested the second intruder could be a man with whom Mona Wehde was having an affair. That man, Jeremy Collins, a frozen food delivery driver who later developed speech and memory problems after serving two tours of duty in Iraq, testified last week and denied having anything to do with a home invasion or shooting.

Mona Wehde said she thought it was suspicious that Collins broke up with her hours after the shooting and told an investigator two weeks later that he could have been the second intruder if one existed. But she also said she was throwing out all possibilities to try to help them solve the crime.

"I did not believe Jeremy was the second intruder," she said.

She also testified about two strange post-it notes found in her son's room in his writing after the shooting. One of them said "money in November." The other had a telephone number of a West Des Moines hotel where Collins stayed the month before the shooting during a date with Mona Wehde.

Richter's defense lawyer Scott Bandstra has tried to use other circumstantial evidence to argue Collins was somehow involved. Collins quit his job at Schwan's and paid off his truck days before the shooting, and he once boasted that he was linked to the mob and was there when someone was killed. Collins denied any mob ties last week, said he quit his job because he did not like it and did not remember the details of his truck's financing.

Mona Wehde said she also once wondered whether Richter tried to have Collins distract her so she could lure Dustin Wehde to her home. She said she got a phone call at home from Collins hours before the shooting, even though Collins knew she was in Sioux City buying Christmas presents. She testified Tuesday she wasn't sure but thought he must have dialed the wrong number.

Mona Wehde and her husband, Brett Wehde, divorced after their son died. Brett Wehde killed himself at Dustin Wehde's grave site 11 months after the shooting.