October 3, 2001

Orange County Public Defender’s Office
Attn: Steve Biskar
14 Civic Center Plaza
Santa Ana, CA 92701-2729

Re: People vs. Gerald Johnson

Case:GG00WF0080

Dear Mr. Biskar

I was contacted by Investigator Nicole Eisler to assist you in interpreting the bloodstains and other evidence in the deaths of Jose and Elena Najera. I was sent 44 items including reports, sets of photos, and a videotape on June 20, 2001. After discussing the case with you on July 7, I was sent an additional 4 items, including the testimony of Dr. Halka and additional photographs. I also received one additional photograph on September 28, 2001.

TWO KNIVES THEORY
The Doctor has stated that he thinks there are at least two knives involved. The knives are 6” x 1” and 8” x 1½.“ The slashing on the victims suggests a sharp heavy bladed knife. This does not appear to be consistent with the one used for stabbing. I would expect a chef’s knife or other large knife, bayonet, machete, or sword to be used to inflict such wounds. If the pathologist is certain of two stabbing knives, the larger one may have been the slashing knife or there may be a third knife involved.

ELENA
That the female decedent had retired is indicated by the fact she is wearing pajamas and her bed indicates she had been lying on it.

The blood on the bottoms of her feet indicates she stepped in blood. Whether this was hers or from the male decedent was not determined. Either she had come in after the male decedent had bled on the floor or she was struck on the arm and bled onto the floor.

Her hair is “flared out”(1) indicating she fell backwards to the position she was found. The blood pattern on her side (5) shows she was prone when that wound was delivered. However, her arm was at her side as shown by the blood transfer under her arm (6). The other wounds show smearing (3) but no vertical running indicating she was prone when they were delivered but someone rubbed over these wounds causing the smearing. She did not get up from the prone position after falling. The smears on her hands and forehead (2) indicate she had put her hand to her head after that blow. Her arm stuck the wall (7), probably as she was falling. The cuts on her hand and forearm are “defense” wounds. (4)

The drops on her shirt and legs appear to be from a combination of cast off from the weapon or her hands and spatters caused by striking blood stained areas.

 According to the autopsy report, the injury associated with wound number 5 cut the heart and bled a great deal. The other wounds to the chest do not appear to have bled very much, indicating they may be post mortem.

JOSE
The male decedent has his checkbook in his rear pocket. His shoes are off, but not his socks. He may have been preparing for bed or in the bed. It would seem unusual to keep the checkbook in your pocket when sleeping. The blankets or quilts on the floor between the bodies are probably from this bed and were removed after the victim was bleeding, therefore it cannot be determined if the bed was actually occupied.

The bloodstain patterns start at the head of the bed. There is a large bloodstain on the bottom of the pillow and cast off stains on the walls near the head of the bed. These and other cast off stains on the walls are caused by blood adhering to the knives being cast off or to the blood on the victim’s cut hand casting off blood as he tried to defend himself.

The wounds that bled most are on the arm, the face and the chest. The sequencing of these wounds is not possible. Wounds which did not bleed are usually interpreted as post-mortem as the heart is no longer pumping.

That one of the wounds in the back was delivered while he was upright is indicated by the blood running down his back on to the pants above the checkbook.

 The “arcing” pattern on the wall above the body is most probably from the cut on the arm. The decedent appears to have swung his left arm in an arc.

The blood at the foot of the bed and on the chair shows that the decedent was still able to move as he was bleeding. The principal wound was to the neck/chest cutting the jugular. The blankets were removed from the bed prior to the decedent falling to the floor as indicated by his leg being on top of the blanket. I cannot determine from the photographs if he was lying in bed with blankets on top of him.

WINDOW
There are cloth patterns in the blood on the windowsill and on the wall outside the window. Upon first viewing the window it appears that someone went out the window with considerable blood on them. However, there are a number of discrepancies. First if someone were to exit the window after placing their bloody “gloves” on the sill, it would be difficult to not erase or modify this pattern with the legs.

The pattern to the side of the window is approximately the size of my hand. With the thumb held against the side of the hand, a reasonable hand pattern can be seen. This may have been a bloodstained right hand placed in this location. However, this “hand pattern” may be an artifact caused by the texture of the wall.

The stain in the corner of the window appears to be a left hand smear, sliding down the sill to the edge. The stains are on the sloping side of the sill instead of across the flat area. No stains are found on the inside of the window.

The stain in the middle of the window shows a crosshatch pattern. This pattern is similar to that left by an inexpensive garden glove. However, this may be from a different area of the clothing. The area on the wall directly under this pattern shows a ridged pattern similar to that left by denim cloth. There is a smear across the sill towards the bloodstained corner. This smear also appears to have been made by cloth.

The son claims to have placed the bucket under the window to enable him to get back in the window. The stains do not indicate someone came in the window at a later time. If the bloodstains were wet, the patterns would have been modified. If the bloodstains were dry blood should have been chipped from the stains. The son’s clothing should have shown bloodstains if he, in fact, came in the window.

The bucket had a footprint on it. Was this footprint compared to the son’s shoes? Were the footprints in the backyard identified? Were these footprints sequenced, that is, was the son’s footprints on top of all others? The answers to these questions could confirm or negate the son’s story about entering through the window.

One blind is out the window on the left side. If someone came in the window on the left, to avoid the blood, the blind should have been inside the window.

CAR
The bloodstains in the car are on the driver’s door, the side of the driver’s seat back, the rear driver’s side door, and the back of the driver’s seat. Some of these stains are heavy, but do not extend onto other surfaces in the car. These stains appear to be transfers from a bloody cloth. No bloodstains were indicated as being found on the steering wheel, gearshift, driver’s seat, driver’s seat belt, passenger area front or back, nor on the items located in the back seat.

If a person had gloves and clothing that were as bloodstained as indicated by the blood on the window and got into this car while the blood was wet they should have left blood on the steering wheel, driver’s door handles inside and out, and on the gearshift handle. The stain on both sides of the space occupied by the driver’s seat belt appears inconsistent with the seat belt not being stained.

SKI MASK
DNA on the hair and saliva shows that Gerald Johnson had worn the ski mask at some time. The mask was found “inside out” and the hairs were found on the “inside.” It is not clear what is meant by inside.

The location of the ski mask as it appears in the photos seems unusual. If the male decedent ripped it off the assailant during the attack, I would expect it to be on the bed, in the quilts, or on the floor. It appears that the top end is under the edge of the green pillow. The other end looks in Photo CS#3, 18 (see above) to be behind the boxes. If it were removed prior to the stabbing, then its location is not inconsistent, as it could have been placed here. Of course, it could have been placed here after the attack.

­­­­­­­­ October 3, 2001__________________________

W. Jerry Chisum
Criminalist

NOTE: This report is not presented in it's entirety. The entire report contains formatting, labelling, and instructional guides, including arrows to specific areas of the photographs, not recreated here. However, the text of the report has not been altered.