Testimony continues in murder trial

The trial of a former Thompson Falls woman continues this week at the Sanders County Courthouse. Danielle Wood has been charged with one count of deliberate homicide in the death of 51-year-old Matthew LaFriniere, a lifelong Thompson Falls resident who was found dead at his home in May 2018. Wood, 56, has been awaiting trial since her arrest in March of 2019.

The trial began last Tuesday in 20th District Judicial Court with Judge Deborah "Kim" Christopher presiding. Prosecutors Daniel Guyzinski, Prosecution Services Bureau Chief with the state Attorney General's Office, and Stephanie Robles, Assistant Attorney General, continued to call witnesses early this week, including employees of Ace-Empire Builders in Thompson Falls, where LaFriniere worked.

Ace owner Kim Roberts testified that he went to LaFriniere's residence on Airport Road just east of Thompson Falls the morning of May 3, 2018, to check on LaFriniere, who had not shown up for work that day. Roberts did not see LaFriniere. Employee Theresa Sink testified that she went to check on LaFriniere later that morning. As she she searched LaFriniere's property, she found her coworker's body under a pile of wood and called 911. She stated that she also saw a pool of blood and a cellphone that appeared to have been run over.

Attorneys, including defense attorneys Greg Rapkoch and Keenan Gallagher, also questioned Tiffany Broyhill, a dispatcher with the Sanders County Sheriff's Office, who was working the evening of May 2, 2018, when the murder allegedly took place. Prosecutors played the audio of a 911 call received on May 2 in the courtroom last Wednesday. Though the words were difficult to hear, the jury members were given a printed transcript of the call. Broyhill testified that she received a call at 7:26 p.m. A female reported a big boom and several people in a truck leaving a driveway and yelling. Broyhill testified the caller said it was west of Thompson Falls near the Belknap Store. She stated the caller said she pulled over on Golf Street in Thompson Falls and made the call. According to Broyhill, "after handling that call, it was my thought that it was someone trying to get law enforcement out of a certain area."

Prosecutors have also called to testify law enforcement officers, including Thompson Falls Police Chief Chris Nichols, who was the first law enforcement officer on the scene after Sink called 911, and Sanders County Sheriff Tom Rummel. The officers testified about what they saw at the crime scene. Nichols said that he and Detective Martin Spring discovered a bullet wound on LaFriniere's body. When they mentioned this to the sheriff, who was on the phone with the state Division of Criminal Investigations (DCI), the DCI agent asked the officers to leave the crime scene. State DCI officers testified that they arrived at the scene later in the evening of May 3. Rummel also testified that he notified Wood, LaFriniere's ex-girlfriend with whom he shared a child, of LaFriniere's passing. During the testimony last Wednesday, Wood became emotional and reached for a tissue.

Wood was living in Thompson Falls at the time of the murder, but later moved to Polson, where she was living when she was arrested.

The state DCI agents who have testified in the trial, including Kevin McCarvel, Mark Strangio and Mark Hilyard, have described the types of evidence they gathered in the investigation. Hilyard said last Thursday in court that when DCI agents arrived at the scene after 9 p.m. on May 3, he realized they had a "who done it" on their hands, which he described as death case where the killer was not present, and so he believed the situation had become far more dangerous. "Someone could do it again," Hilyard said in court Thursday, adding that it was "quite a danger to the community." Hilyard, who is no longer with DCI, also talked about how they documented the crime scene, taking hundreds of photographs to preserve it. He also mentioned that they are "essentially working for the prosecution and the defense," explaining how they use an unbiased approach in their investigation.

The prosecutors displayed over 70 photographs of the crime scene to the court, each narrated by Hilyard. He also detailed that DCI exercised a warrant and searched Wood's residence and vehicle. Agent Strangio testified that DCI, in their investigation, found two cellphones at Wood's residence and a receipt for a gun purchased in Ronan. Rob Olson, who works at the store in Ronan, testified that Wood purchased the firearm, a .38 special revolver, legally in March 2018. The defense attorneys challenged Olson's testimony, including the time of day the gun was purchased.

According to charging documents filed earlier in District Court, Wood stated she did not have the gun anymore. Investigators testified that the murder weapon has not been found.

The DCI agents described how they discovered an unknown cellphone with the number ending 0063 had sent text messages to both Wood's and LaFriniere's cellphones around the time of the murder. McCarvel narrated text message that were pulled from information gathered from LaFriniere's and Wood's phones. On Wood's phone, McCarvel read the text between Wood's phone and the phone ending in 0063. The 0063 number texted on May 2, 2018, "Don't you get it? Quit calling them." McCarvel said Wood did not respond, then the 0063 number texted "Held up in Trout Creek. Just hang on to [LaFriniere's and Wood's daughter]. I'll call when I head back to town. Matt." McCarvel said Wood later responded to the text, "I am not sure what is going on. But it is way past bedtime. We'll snuggle on the couch and wait for your call. Hope I am doing the right thing. Danielle." McCarvel said that seconds later, Wood sent the same text to LaFriniere's phone.

Dr. Sunil Prashar works as a medical examiner with the Montana Crime Lab in Missoula. Last Friday, Prashar testified that he performed the autopsy on LaFriniere, discovering four bullet wounds, two with entry wounds to the chest and one to the back. A fourth entry wound was found on LaFriniere's right hand and a bullet was recovered. The bullet was displayed in the courtroom.

Prashar testified that there was no sign that the bullets were fired in close proximity. Prosecutors asked Prashar his opinion of whether LaFriniere had been able to walk after sustaining the wounds. "I don't think any of the wounds he sustained were immediately fatal. So yes, I believe he could have walked," Prashar answered. Stacey Wilson also works for the state crime lab in Missoula. Wilson testified last Friday that gunshot residue tests came back positive on the tests of Wood's vehicle, including on the driver and passenger doors and the steering wheel. Under questioning from the defense, Wilson stated that the residue can stay on a surface for very long periods of time and can be transferred from one surface to another.

Finally on Friday, Lynette Lancon with the Montana Crime Lab testified that the bullet recovered from LaFriniere's body was determined to be a .38 caliber. She gave investigators a list of possible firearms that could have discharged the bullet, which was consistent with having been fired from a revolver.

Agent McCarvel, with DCI, began his testimony on Friday and continued through Monday. The DCI agent stated that no bullets were found at the crime scene. McCarvel said they searched for many hours and found nothing. "I've been to a lot of crime scenes where we were unable to find a bullet," he stated, explaining that the fact they were unable to find other bullets was not unusual, especially in an outdoor environment as the crime scene was.

Also testifying on Monday were employees from Google and Verizon, who testified to the validity of cellphone data. Sy Ray is the owner of ZetX Corporation, a company that processes data from cellphones. Ray testified in court Monday that information gathered can accurately pinpoint the location of movements of cellphones within one-tenth of a mile. According to Ray, his company was contracted to look at data for two phones, Wood's and the number ending in 0063 that made the 911 call on the evening LaFriniere was murdered and which had sent texts to both Wood and LaFriniere. Ray stated that the two phones (Wood's and the one ending in 0063) would have been in very close proximity for the length of the activation and use of the 0063 number.

"We hit a point where it was mathematically impossible for these two phones to be separate from each other in this case," Ray said, referring to data correlation between the two phones that he said made it very likely they may have been carried around by the same person. Michael Fagely, with ZetX, on Tuesday walked the jury through data from the cellphones.

The trial is scheduled to continue through this week. A jury of eight women and four men is hearing the case. The number of spectators is limited in the courtroom, but the trial can be viewed online through Zoom. Go to http://www.scledger.net for more information on how to view the trial.