Direct Exam: Jay Clark

She had several management positions with other companies but was the executive director for the Warren County Convention and Visitor's Bureau since 1999, retiring in 2009. The bureau was established to promote travel to Warren County. Clark asked if she recognized Ryan in the courtroom. She pointed him out at the defense table and replied, "It's Ryan, a lot thinner, but it's Ryan. He's lost about 40 lbs. since he worked with me."   She hired Ryan as an intern in 2004, to do research on what kind of events could be booked for the newly formed sports marketing department.   She never heard any complaints about Ryan but heard a lot of praise about him.

When the bureau decided to hire a full time person, Ryan approached her and asked if he would be qualified, so he was hired as Sports Marketing Manager. When they had events he helped with organizing them, promoting them and interacting with hotels to secure rooms. They brought in the Senior Olympics, AAU girls basketball events, martial arts events, baseball, soccer, etc., any youth events that would bring families to the area. "Ryan had great potential", she said, and she believed he would continue to move up in his career. Since this was his first full-time job, she wanted him to have some additional training so he signed up for a Dale Carnegie sales training course, which covered various topics related to sales. She attended his final class and he received a citation for "most improved" through the training process. He was promoted to Sales Manager of Sporting Events in Nov. 2007. This position had more responsibilities and he took on accounts and managed them on his own, researching accounts and making presentations.

She said his last day of work was Monday, Aug. 11, 2008, "the day Sarah died." Ryan was not fired, but was placed on unpaid administrative leave and has never returned to work, and she would rehire Ryan any time, she said, while John Arnold kept objecting.

She worked with him for four years and since the office was small, the employees ate lunch together every day and got to know each other very well. She also got to know him outside the office when they had various social events and employees would bring their spouses. Ryan brought Sarah to a Reds game, Christmas parties and a picnic. She never saw any hostile behavior between Ryan and Sarah and she never saw him drunk or intoxicated. "They were very loving toward each other", she said, and was never verbally abusive to Sarah.   " He was not that kind of person."

Clark asked about the times that Ryan took food to his sick grandmother in the middle of the day, but Arnold objected/sustained. She was allowed to say that he never was disciplined for leaving work. When Ryan's boss left the bureau ,Ryan asked if he would be qualified for the job but she told him she would consider him sometime in the future when he was more experienced. He was very understanding and she never had any personnel issues with him.

She never saw him lose his temper or be out of control. One time he brought a concern to her about someone else being promoted to a position he was interested in, but he was very professional. He just wanted to understand why he wasn't chosen.

He had health benefits and life insurance, which was $20,000. When he and Sarah were dating, he made her the beneficiary. She said there was a lot of joking and teasing in the office when Ryan told them he was learning the waltz for their wedding dance, but he laughed and handled it very well. He never got angry or yelled at anyone. Asked if anything ever changed her opinion of Ryan and how he treated Sarah she replied, "No, he was always very caring toward Sarah." She said the whole office went to the wedding and Ryan and Sarah were very cute when they did their dance. Clark put a photo of their dance on the screen and she identified it.

She said he worked on the Saturday and Sunday that Sarah went to St. Louis with her mother. It was a special event; she thought it could have been the Senior Olympics and the work was very physical involving setting up tents, tables, chairs, etc.

One or two police officers and Det. Braley came to the office about 7 to 10 days after Sarah died. Braley conducted interviews with her and all the staff. They came back several times and each time it was Braley and a couple other officers. The second time they came with a search warrant for Ryan's office. He interviewed her twice, but never asked if she was aware of Sarah's medical problems. She signed a receipt for the items they took from Ryan's office which included files and event booklets but she couldn't remember what else they took. Ryan had a laptop but she didn't remember if they took that. She thought it might have been at Ryan's house.

Clark clarified that according to Ryan's life insurance policy, if he died, the money would go to Sarah. Asked if Ryan had a policy through the company on Sarah as his wife, she replied no, the policy was only for company employees.   Nothing further.

Cross Exam: John Arnold

Arnold asked when Ryan changed his life insurance policy and she said she couldn't remember, but it was before he and Sarah were married. She agreed that she knew Ryan and Sarah bought a house together in 2007.

Referring to the Dale Carnegie course, she said she didn't know if the class included public speaking, but she knew it included how to present a sales presentation about the benefits of your product. It was a beginner's course. "And it included how to pitch your product?" Arnold asked, but she said it was about how to show the benefits of your product.

Asked if she ever heard Ryan call Sarah names, she said "no". When Arnold asked, "Names so bad that Sarah's mother couldn't repeat them in court", Clark objected/sustained.

Arnold asked if Sarah ever complained about medical problems anytime she saw her. Bonekemper replied she only saw Sarah in group settings;   she didn't have a one-on-one conversation with her. "So you didn't know Sarah very well, then?" Arnold asked, and she replied "No". Nothing further.