Direct Exam: John Arnold

She graduated from the police academy in 1985 and has been in law enforcement for 25 years starting in her hometown of Waynesville, Ohio.   She’s been with Hamilton Twp for 12 years and has worked at the jail, has been a DARE instructor, worked with the Warren Co SWAT team , was a deputy sheriff and is a Sgt. with road patrol.  She explained that in the police academy she received basic CPR classes and took an EMT course twice, but has let both courses expire. She is currently certified in CPR, however.

Elliott was on duty the night Sarah died along with two other officers, Bedwell and Short.   She received the call about 10:49 p.m. when it showed up on the screen in her car as a “possible drowning”. She was about 4.5 to 5 miles away from the Widmer home.   She responded to the call with lights and sirens, taking about 5 to 6 minutes to arrive.  She was the last vehicle on the scene and went directly into the house and upstairs. Two other officers went inside just in front of her.

She went into the bedroom and directly to the victim's feet.   She saw a nude, white female lying on the floor and Officer Bishop was doing chest compressions while another EMT was at her head and another on her right side. She got the bag valve mask from the EMT’s bag and then moved away from Sarah as the EMTs applied the defibrillator pads and prepared to shock Sarah. She noticed that the EMTs didn’t have to dry her off before applying the pads. Sarah’s hand moved slightly as chest compressions were continued and Elliott noticed there was no pruning on Sarah’s finger tips or toes.   It was her understanding that Sarah had been in water for 20 to 30 minutes.    She thought there were six people in the bedroom at that point. The victim, officers Bedwell and Bishop, another medic, herself and Ryan who was standing in the doorway watching as the medics prepared to give Sarah the electric shock.   She did not talk to Ryan but motioned for another officer to remove him from the bedroom because a scene like that is upsetting for family members to watch.

Bedwell and Ryan went into the hall and she later followed them outside and saw Ryan standing in the yard talking on his cell phone and he appeared upset.    She asked him if he wanted to ride in the ambulance to the hospital.   When she approached him, she noticed the smell of alcohol and asked him if he had been drinking. The smell wasn't “knock-you-over “strong, but you could smell it without difficulty. He said he had about four beers. He got in the front seat of the ambulance and buckled up and she shut the door and headed back upstairs to see if medics had left anything behind.

She recalled Ryan was wearing a T-shirt and shorts. His clothes didn't appear wet and she didn't notice any blood on him. As Sarah was taken from the house, he didn't say anything to her or the medics. He didn’t ask about Sarah, her condition, or if she'd be OK. He never offered to help remove her from the house and did not express any concerns while on the scene. She did not see him try to kiss Sarah goodbye. When she returned upstairs she observed the bathtub and did not see any droplets of water in the tub. She also didn't see any water on the floor and the towels didn’t appear wet. Arnold posted a photo of the tub with clothing balled up on the corner. She said the clothing appeared dry and there were magazines sitting on the corner of the tub that also appeared dry. After her bathroom observations, she went back into the master bedroom, knelt down on the carpet where Sarah’s torso had been, and felt to see if it was wet. She did not have gloves on and the carpet felt dry. At that time she called Lt. Jeff Braley to come to the house to investigate.

Before Braley arrived she looked around for any indication about how Sarah died. She looked for weapons or for a break-in that could have contributed to her death.   She said it’s a general walk-thru, no opening of drawers, but they did check all the closets in case someone was hiding.   She also inspected the outside of the house, looking for a possible forced entry but didn’t find anything.

When Braley arrived to collect evidence, Elliott taped off the residence.   She then asked Dep. Bishop to make a log of everyone who was on the scene but she completed the Fire and EMS log, because Bishop didn't know everyone’s names. Elliott also spoke with neighbors who were standing outside and asked for their statements. She did not recover evidence, but helped carry it out. She didn't remember what time she left the home.   Nothing further.

Cross Exam: Lindsey Gutierrez

Gutierrez began by asking Elliott about looking through closets.     She said officers checked the closets inside the home for other people. She didn't do all of them personally but knew they all were searched.    She again said that she didn't notice any wet towels but then said she wasn't looking for them.

Gutierrez then directed the line of questioning in regards to Ryan's reactions and demeanor.   "He was upset, however, wasn't he?"   Elliot replied, "He was just standing in the doorway; he wasn't doing anything."   In regards to seeing Ryan outside, Elliott said he was speaking loudly into the phone and making hand gestures that made him appear upset, and he did want to ride in the squad with Sarah when she asked him.   Asked about Elliot's position when standing by Sarah, Elliott said that at one point her right leg was between Sarah's feet and her left leg was near Sarah’s right foot.   That's when she noticed there was no pruning on her toes. She could see the bottoms of Sarah’s feet but didn’t notice her pedicure or what color nail polish was on her toes. She also said she didn't notice Sarah's French Manicure on her fingernails when she noticed there was no pruning on her fingertips.

Gutierrez asked where Ryan was and Elliott replied that he was in the doorway, leaning up against it and that’s when she saw him in T-shirt and shorts.   When she approached him outside, she said he had changed clothes and she detected an odor of alcohol.   When she questioned Ryan, he did not lie about drinking beer, he said he had four beers.

After she put him in the ambulance, she went back inside and was the only one in the master bathroom and bedroom for a few minutes.   Gutierrez placed a photo on the screen of the doorway between the bathroom and bedroom looking straight into the bathroom. Gutierrez told Elliott that she just testified that the floor was "dry" -- not "fairly dry".   Gutierrez explained the difference between dry and fairly dry, and then read Elliott’s testimony from the second trial when she testified that the bathroom appeared "fairly dry." Elliott agreed that was her testimony.   The towels and rugs on the floor were dark brown and Elliot agreed.   She said she did not look at them closely or touch them to determine if they were dry.   She also looked behind the door in the bathroom but didn’t touch any of the towels that were hanging on the back of the door.   Elliott said she felt the spot on the bedroom carpet.   While avoiding the blood, she used the palm of her hand and rubbed the carpet to feel for moisture.  The area that she touched would have been between the upper and lower back.

After checking the bathroom and rubbing the carpet, she called Detective Braley because she thought something was suspicious. All officers were outside before Braley arrived and she didn’t recall if the life squad had left before Braley arrived. She didn’t go upstairs with Braley but took part in clearing the home, which is making sure there were no weapons or people inside and putting up crime scene tape.

Elliott said she did not take any of the photos because she is not a trained evidence technician. She was aware that Ryan gave the police a signed waiver to search for evidence that night but she wasn’t aware if evidence was collected, or when.

Gutierrez asked her what Chris Wong’s role was that night and Elliott replied that he just showed up and asked if he could help. To her knowledge he didn’t go inside the home.

Elliott said she helped carry some of the evidence bags out of the home to Braley's car and she recalled listening to the 911 call recording with other officers but can't remember if it was at the Widmer home.

When Gutierrez asked her about the turned over trash can in the bathroom Elliott replied she didn’t recall if Deputy Bishop told her he'd emptied it. She recognized the photo of the bathroom showing the emptied trash can but didn’t remember if that's how it looked when she observed the bathroom. She didn’t notice any signs of a struggle in the bathroom or anything knocked off the wall.

Gutierrez asked her if Braley, the lead investigator of the case, is still a detective and Elliott replied, “Not to my knowledge. “   When asked if he’s currently on road patrol, she replied she wasn’t sure.

Nothing further and no Re-direct by John Arnold.