PORT ANGELES — Dennis Marvin Bauer’s triple-murder trial continues at 9 a.m. this morning with an expectation the prosecution’s case will be presented through the Christmas holiday.
Last week, Clallam County Prosecuting Attorneys Michele Devlin and Jesse Espinoza continued laying the foundation of their case against the 53-year-old Lower Elwha Road resident, presenting law enforcement witnesses in a step-by-step run-through of the investigation and emotional testimony from Bauer’s son, Jared.
They wrapped up the third week of proceedings Thursday as a detective sergeant pointed to evidence of a blood spot on the front door of murder victim Darrell Iverson’s Bear Meadow Road house, near where the bullet-riddled bodies of Iverson and his son were discovered New Year’s Eve day, 2018, wrapped in tarps in the driveway.
Testimony has included assertions that, following the shootings on Dec. 26, 2018, Bauer and two accomplices ransacked Iverson’s house, taking guns, jewelry and other items.
The prosecution team also had a semi-automatic rifle found hanging on the wall of an alleged co-conspirator’s trailer displayed to the jury, which also learned of a vehicle dash-camera collected from a neighbor of Iverson’s the same day Sheriff’s Office Detective Sgt. Eric Munger discovered the blood spot.
Jared Bauer, Dennis Bauer’s son, was tearful at times during testimony last week.
He said he did not know where his father was on Dec. 26, 2018, when Iverson, his son and May were gunned down outside Iverson’s home, 16 miles west of where the Bauer and two people convicted for the murders lived.
Jared Bauer worked with his father, a commercial floor cleaner, at North Olympic Peninsula Safeway stores, employed by a company independent of Safeway. He sometimes clocked in using his father’s time card, he said.
“Even if I were asked to be an alibi for my father, I would have refused,” said Bauer, an Oklahoma resident.
“I have no idea where he was, but he wasn’t at Safeway.”
With backing from a State Patrol SWAT team, authorities arrested his father at 8 a.m. Jan. 24, 2019, at his home. Bauer remains in the county jail on $3.5 million bail.
“I haven’t been able to see his face in a long time,” Jared said Wednesday from the witness stand, sobbing.
His father, masked like others in the courtroom due to COVID-19 restrictions, sat about 15 feet away.
Devlin addressed Superior Court Judge Lauren Erickson early Thursday afternoon about an hour before court ended, the jury excused until today.
She said the prosecution will probably, at “a bare minimum,” present its case through the last week of December.
“I didn’t know at what point we wanted to discus that with the jury, because I believe some have tickets and we might have to take a break during the trial,” Devlin said.
Erickson said she would evaluate the trial schedule on Dec. 16.
Port Angeles lawyer Karen Unger, representing Bauer, does not know how long she will present her defense or if she will call Bauer as a witness, she said Friday after testimony.
Bauer, a convicted felon, is charged with three counts of first-degree aggravated murder and 16 weapons counts, including six of possessing guns allegedly stolen from Darrell Iverson’s residence.
Ryan Warren Ward, 40, is serving three life sentences without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty in November 2020 to three counts of first-degree aggravated murder and felony weapons charges in connection with the deaths.
Kallie Ann LeTellier, 37, a prosecution witness and the only eyewitness to the murders to testify, is serving 35 years after she pleaded guilty that same month to second-degree murder for May’s death.
She has testified more than any witness so far.
Under questioning Thursday by Unger, Munger said he interviewed LeTellier on Jan. 27 and Feb. 1.
LeTellier took “full responsibility” for the shooting, Munger said.
LeTellier testified Bauer pointed a gun at her before she shot May twice, which she did not tell Munger at the time, Munger said Thursday.
May’s body was found locked in a shed, allegedly dragged there by Bauer.
“For the death of Tiffany May, she was unequivocal in her description to you wasn’t she?” Unger asked Munger.
“Yes, she was pretty precise, if I recall correctly,” Munger said.
“She said how she picked up the gun, followed [May] outside, and shot her, correct?”
“Correct,” Munger said.
“She took possession or responsibility for the death of Tiffany May.”
On Feb. 1, LeTellier told Munger she had been raped by Darrell and Jordan Iverson, describing the attack in detail including items such as sex toys she said were involved in the assault, Munger said.
LeTellier said the Iversons raped her Dec. 10, 2018, two weeks before the murders, which she said were revenge by Bauer and Ward for the assault.
Unger asked Munger if he found evidence of hostages or women being detained in shipping containers or in outbuildings on Iverson’s property.
“We saw no evidence of that,” Munger said.
Under questioning by Devlin, Munger said he had cursory knowledge of what to look for when investigating human trafficking.
“When you went though the outbuildings at 52 Bear Meadow, did you find any evidence of human trafficking or locking people up or holding them as hostages?”
“No, I did not,” Munger said.
“Who told [LeTellier] to kill Tiffany May?” Devlin asked.
The question was not answered. Erickson sustained Unger’s objection, calling it hearsay.
Munger testified earlier Thursday that on about Jan. 8, he noticed a tiny L-shaped “spot of blood” under the lock of a door to Iverson’s house, using a pointer to identify it in a photo displayed on a screen in the courtroom.
It was one of four photos of the door viewed by the jury. Devlin did not delve into the blood’s origin.
U.S. marshals arrested Ward on Jan. 23 at Lower Elwha Food and Fuel, 4 miles from Bauer’s house.
Bauer was arrested the following day at his home in the 2500 block of Lower Elwha Road, where Ward lived.
Munger described the property as about an acre in size, containing a single-wide mobile home with multiple outbuildings, RV trailers, bumper-pull trailers, and “lots of trash and other various stuff on the property,” he said. “Very cluttered.”
Munger was asked if a search of Bauer’s property turned up any evidence. He cited one item.
“A Ruger 10/22 rifle,” Munger said.
The semi-automatic weapon was mounted on a rack above the door of Ward’s RV trailer on Bauer’s property, he said.
As with jewelry, bullets, bullet casings, a banana clip magazine found near Darrell Iverson’s body and a dented bumper found atop Jordan Iverson’s corpse, the rifle was shown to the jury.
The bumper was displayed earlier Thursday, lugged out and set on a long table by Sheriff’s Office Detective Jeff Waterhouse and retired Port Angeles Police Department Detective Sgt. Tyler Peninger.
Peninger described the search of the 4.84-acre Bear Meadow property by officers who swept the parcel, stretching out in a straight line, marking areas they inspected with spray paint.
Inside the master bedroom of the three-bedroom, 2,000-square-foot mobile home, Peninger said he found long guns and ammunition.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.