Prosecution tries to show similarities in killings
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Wichita
Eagle newspaper:
THURSDAY November 18, 1999
Prosecution tries to show similarities in killings
A detective and a forensic pathologist testify as the prosecution
continues to
build its case against Chester Higgenbotham.
By Deb Gruver
The Wichita Eagle
NEWTON -- Defense attorney Donald Snapp quickly objected Wednesday when
a
Wichita Police Department detective used the terms "sexual sadist" and
"serial
murderer" during Chester Higgenbotham's first-degree murder trial.
Detective Ken Landwehr was testifying that murder victims Jonetta McKown
and
Rhonda Krehbiel bore a "signature of bondage." He said the type of
bondage had
the markings of a sexual sadist or serial killer.
Higgenbotham, 34, is serving a 40-year prison sentence for McKown's 1995
murder
and is accused of killing Krehbiel, a stay-at-home mother, on May 20,
1994.
Landwehr said he believed both murders were sexually motivated. When
Snapp
stressed there was no evidence either woman had been raped or sexually
assaulted, Landwehr, head of homicide investigations in Wichita, said
"just
because there's no sexual activity doesn't mean it's not sexually
motivated."
Kansas Senior Judge John Weckel told jurors to disregard Landwehr's
comments
about a sexual sadist or serial murderer. Snapp has objected several
times
about the mention of the McKown murder itself, arguing that case is not
relevant to Krehbiel's beating death.
The forensic pathologist who conducted autopsies on both women, Dr. Jill
Gould,
also said the way the women were bound was strikingly similar.
The ankles and hands of both women were bound and then tied together
behind
their backs. When Gould used the word "hogtied" to describe what she saw
on her
examining table, Weckel instructed the jury to disregard the term, which
he
earlier had ruled inadmissible.
Harvey County Attorney Mary McDonald asked Gould, who has performed
autopsies
for about 60 Kansas counties, if she'd ever seen a woman bound the way
Krehbiel
had been. Gould answered no.
"Did you ever see one like that again?" McDonald asked.
"Yes, about a year and a half later," when she examined McKown's body,
found in
a ditch in October 1995, the pathologist answered.
Although the materials used to bind the women were different -- navy
blue
pantyhose in the Krehbiel case and black plastic ties and a yellow
plastic rope
in McKown's -- Gould said the style of restraint stood out in her mind
when she
later was asked to conduct McKown's autopsy.
While cross-examining Gould and Landwehr, Snapp hammered at the
differences in
the cases. McKown was a prostitute Higgenbotham had picked up in
Wichita, he
said, and Krehbiel was a homemaker with a "very different lifestyle."
Landwehr didn't budge when Snapp repeatedly stressed that the
detective's
testimony about a sexual motivation and the similarities between the
cases was
based on his opinion, not fact.
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The following appears courtesy of the 11/20/99 online edition of The
Wichita
Eagle newspaper:
SATURDAY November 20, 1999
Family supports defendant's ex-wife
Murder victim Rhonda Krehbiel's family say Chester Higgenbotham's wife
was
deceived and she also is a victim.
By Deb Gruver
The Wichita Eagle
NEWTON -- Vickie Brault's shoulders rose and fell with each deep breath
she
took on the witness stand Friday in her ex-husband's first-degree murder
trial.
Her answers were short; the pauses between them long.
She appeared near tears when Harvey County Attorney Mary McDonald asked
if she
remembered gathering Chester L. Higgenbotham's belongings and putting
them in
storage once she learned police thought he could be a killer.
Brault couldn't answer. She seemed to freeze. McDonald asked if she was
OK.
Judge John Weckel told Brault she only had to answer "yes" or "no."
She said yes.
McDonald didn't keep Brault on the stand long. Neither did defense
attorney
Donald Snapp. Prosecutors put her on the stand to help link her
ex-husband to
the 1994 killing of Rhonda Krehbiel. When she left the courtroom, Brault
broke
into tears, her mother coming to her side.
She also found allies in the family of Krehbiel. They say their slain
loved one
wasn't Higgenbotham's only victim. There's also Brault, a woman who fell
in
love with a man who didn't even tell her his real name.
'She was deceived'
Krehbiel's sister Rochelle Schmidt wrapped her arms around Brault,
thanking her
for testifying and praising her strength.
Bob Schmidt, Krehbiel's father, also gathered around Brault.
Rochelle Schmidt said it's important for her family to support Brault,
whose
marriage to Higgenbotham was annulled Oct. 25, 1995, by a judge. In her
petition for annulment, Brault essentially called her marriage a fraud.
She
knew her husband as Matthew Sean Murphy, she testified.
"She was deceived like many others," Rochelle Schmidt said in the
hallway as
other family members stepped up to comfort Brault. "She thought she
married
Matt Murphy. She could have been a victim. She could have been killed,
too."
Brault found out her husband wasn't Murphy when police investigated
Higgenbotham for the killing of Jonetta McKown. A jury later convicted
Higgenbotham of killing the Wichita woman.
Bob Schmidt said he felt sorry for Brault because "she just feels so
helpless."
Similar sunglasses
Born in Newton, Brault said she was working as a convenience store clerk
when
she met Higgenbotham, who was going by the name of Matthew Murphy.
According to
testimony earlier in the Krehbiel trial, Higgenbotham obtained an
Arizona
driver's license in Murphy's name after Murphy died in an accident.
Brault and Higgenbotham dated about six months before they married, she
testified.
She said her ex-husband frequently wore sunglasses, and she identified
two
pairs introduced into evidence as similar to those Higgenbotham wore.
Police
say they found a pair of sunglasses with teardrop-shaped lenses
underneath
Krehbiel's bed after someone tied her up and beat her to death while her
6-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old playmate were locked in a closet.
Investigators later tested the sunglasses for DNA, and an expert
testified
Friday that there was a one in 5.5 billion chance the DNA was someone
else's.
Earlier in the trial -- now approaching its third week -- a witness
testified
that Brault cried "Oh my God, he had sunglasses like that."
Only a glance
McDonald, the prosecutor, rested her case Friday, ending with DNA
evidence.
The state's case focused on the DNA evidence and a disagreement
Higgenbotham
allegedly had with Krehbiel a few days before her death about a bill at
the
restaurant where he worked.
Higgenbotham's lawyer, Snapp, has rebutted the prosecution by
questioning the
DNA evidence and stressing how it is subject to human error.
The trial continues next week.
Brault, who declined comment, saying that it's hard for her to talk
about her
ex-husband, listened in the courtroom the rest of the day, seated next
to
Krehbiel's sisters.
She glanced at Higgenbotham only momentarily when asked to identify her
ex-husband in court.
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