Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Testimony Continues In Trial Of Joe Dansby; Juror Dropped (cont)

On May 18, he said, he and Morman went to the first scene to look for evidence. The two rode ATVs during their search, combing the area between the two scenes looking for clothing and other evidence.

The clothing was deemed important as Clark's body was found nude, except for a pair of black socks and one tennis shoe. The clothing she was wearing when she was killed has never been found.

Thomas said he noticed bicycle tracks in the middle of the road, weaving as if the rider had been going slow. These tracks, he said, were first seen between the first scene and a creek bottom, being noticed on other occasions during the search, but not seen in the Upchurch community.

Thomas said he was on hand helping man the grid lines when divers searched for the rifle in the bar pit on Jan 25, 1994, but did not handle the weapon once it was recovered.

On cross examination, Thomas said he was familiar with the region because of drug eradication work done there on a number of occasions.

He said to his knowledge no photos were taken of the bike tracks and nothing was done to preserve them as possible evidence. However, he said, the tracks were fresh. This was evident as they had been there since the last rain.

Thomas was unable to tell if anyone had written a report on finding the tracks. He made a report on the search with Morman, but told the court he hadn't seen it since making it.

He said they had covered the area on ATVs in a couple of hours because they were riding slowly. He also said he could probably ride the distance on a bicycle in about an hour and a quarter during daylight, but it would take longer in the dark, and even longer if carrying anything.

Lundy, a physical scientist with the FBI, followed. Aside from having a BS degree in metallurgy from Penn State, her training had mostly come from work on the job, she said.

She told the court the process used in testing the metals in the whole bullets sent to her at the FBI, and how the casings were not tested by her, because spent shells are not her area of expertise.

Her testing, she told the court, was able to identify the fragments found in the bodies of Lewis and Clark, as well as a bullet taken from Lewis' truck.

Two different tests were performed, she said, on these shells. The two from Clark's head, she told the court, were from the same batch. A bullet taken from Clark's body, and two from Lewis' head were also from the same batch, but not from the batch as the ones from Clark's head.

Lundy was able to match the lead content from some of the bullets from Clark's body to the shells taken from the Marlin .22 rifle found in the bar pit.

The PMC cartridges, she said, were manufactured in Korea. Lundy was unable to tell the court how ammunition is made outside the U.S., or what PMC's source of lead is.

The court had some laughs when Thelma Eunice Plumley took the stand next, as she told the prosecution how to ask questions.

She told of living on CR 290 for nearly 42 years, and being there in 1992 when the murders were committed.

Plumley told the court she saw a dark pickup truck drive by her home around 4:30 p.m. May 16, being able to recall the time because her late husband, James, liked to eat early. Following supper, they would sit out on the porch.

She told the court about the dark truck with an ATV in the back passing, but was unable to see who was inside because the windows were dark (tinted).

At the time it passed her home, she said, there was no damage to it. Later, she said, officers came to her house with photos, but they showed the truck had been in some sort of accident.

Plumley said they had gone to bed around 9 p.m., with her getting up sometime after 11 p.m. to chase some dogs away from the house. These dogs had been bothering their puppy, who had barked and awaken her.

Between the time she got up in the night and again the next morning, it had rained, she said. Plumley couldn't give an exact time for the rain shower as she had been asleep when it occurred.

After getting her husband breakfast Sunday morning, she prepared to go to Bluff City and get a newspaper, leaving her house around 7 a.m. and saw the bike tracks.

"I thought it was odd," she said, "someone would pass by before daylight."

She told the court she had seen no one pass by in the night when she was up, nor around 6 when she got up again.

The tracks, she said, were coming from CR 290 toward her house. She could tell because of the way the dirt was pushed by the front wheel of the bike.

Morman returned to the stand once again. He told the court he had spoken with Jackie Dansby about it in his office Sept. 21, 1993.

According to Morman, the younger Dansby said his father had told him the rifle came up missing after the murders, and not before, but didn't say how long after.

Morman said Jackie told him the gun had been stolen following the killings. He also testified the son informed him the rifle had been buried or thrown into a creek or river.

While the former sheriff said he remembered having the discussion, it was transcribed from messages to himself from a tape recorder.

Bramblett asked if the recorder was something used often in Morman's line of work, being told yes, as it aided with what happened while working in the field and was handy for interviews in the office.

However, this particular recording didn't have Jackie Dansby's voice, only Morman's. Bramblett pointed out while there were recorders at the NCSO, none was used to tape the interview between Morman and Dansby's son. Morman, the attorney said, relied on his own memorandum.

Morman also said he had talked with Jackie about picking up .22 shells from his father's yard, but the son wouldn't comply. But, on redirect from Rodgers, he said the son told him there were any number of .22 shells in the yard which could be picked up, though none were ever brought to the NCSO.

Hillery testified as to the call leading to the recovery of the bicycle.

He said a call came into the NCSO from Jackie Dansby, who told him his father was trying to get him to get a bike he (Joe) had left in the woods by the airport near the projects.

According to Hillery, Dansby's son said he wasn't familiar enough with the area to find the bike and wanted the deputy to go get it.

Hillery said Dansby told him his father had "ridden" the bike from his house (at the time in the Upchurch community) and had hidden it in the woods before going to the apartment of Betty Jean Dansby, his wife.

Along with a trusty, James Duke, Hillery went to the area and recovered the bike. He said it was in a wooded area by a barbed wire fence.

He said the bike looked as if it had been pieced together from two or three others, and was not a factory job.

The bike, he said, was a red 10-speed with aqua cables. It was placed in a locked room at the NCSO.