Bonnie Mortensen is a Forensic Technician with the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office. She has held that job for a year and four months. She said that her job is to document, photograph, collect, and bag evidence. She does not test evidence.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
She told the court that she went to the campsite where Chris' body was found on November 21, 2012. She said that Detectives Moser and Randall from Siskiyou County Sheriff's, Detective LaRue, and officers from Oregon Search and Rescue were present when she got there.
When she arrived at the campsite, she immediately saw quite a few small, yellow flags stuck into the ground. She said that these flags are placed by the officers on the scene to mark possible evidence that needs to be collected. Her job is to photograph the entire area and then to replace the yellow flags with small, yellow, numbered plastic placards. Then she photographs the evidence where it sits, collects the evidence, and places it in evidence bags. On the outside of the bag, she writes what the evidence is, when and where it was collected, the number of the associated plastic placard, and signs her name. The bag is then sealed with tape.
Mr. Allison presented a large graphic of the campsite. There was a numbered listing of the items that were collected by the investigators along the left side, with a corresponding number on the graphic showing where at the campsite each item was found. Ms. Mortensen identified the graphic as representing the campsite and verified that these were the locations where she found and gathered the evidence. Altogether, Ms. Mortensen said she visited the campsite three different times.
Mr. Allison presented a large graphic of the campsite. There was a numbered listing of the items that were collected by the investigators along the left side, with a corresponding number on the graphic showing where at the campsite each item was found. Ms. Mortensen identified the graphic as representing the campsite and verified that these were the locations where she found and gathered the evidence. Altogether, Ms. Mortensen said she visited the campsite three different times.
Mr. Allison used a particular routine for each item of evidence:
Thursday morning, November 21, 2013
- He would show Ms. Mortensen a sealed evidence bag ask her what was in the bag.
- Reading from the outside of the bag, Ms. Mortensen would describe the item.
- He would ask her to identify where the item had been found.
- Ms. Mortensen would identify the location on the graphic or describe the location if the item was found somewhere else.
- Mr. Allison would ask her who had written the description on the outside of the bag and she would say that she had.
- He would ask her to open the bag, which she would then do.
- He would show her pictures of the item. Typically, there were two: One picture showing the item with a yellow flag that one of the officers had placed near it and another showing the item with the yellow, numbered evidence placard that Ms. Mortensen had placed next to it. Sometimes there were more pictures, usually showing a wider view of the area around the item.
- Ms. Mortensen confirmed that she was the one who had placed the yellow placard and had taken the pictures.
- Once he had worked through this procedure for an item, he would move to have it accepted into evidence.
- He would ask permission of the judge to show the item to the jury.
- He would hold the item up for the jury to see or give the item to the jury for them to pass around.
#47 Some white grit (found at the campsite)
#46 An unidentified piece of metal (found at the campsite)
#41 A pair of rolled up snow pants (found during a search of Patricia's home)
#56 A tent pole and three tent pegs (found in the fire pit at the campsite)
#57 A single tent stake (found at the campsite)
Mr. Allison asked Ms. Mortensen where the evidence bags are kept. She said that there is a special building near the Siskiyou County Courts where all evidence for the county is kept. There are only two people who have keys to the building. Once evidence is turned in, she no longer has access to it.
Ms. Mortensen continued her testimony Thursday morning. It was interrupted at about 11:00 so that Dr. Olson could testify about the autopsy he performed on Chris.
Using the same procedure described above, the following items were accepted into evidence Thursday morning. As before, each item was sealed in an evidence bag and was accompanied by at least two pictures, sometimes more.
#71 A diagram of the campsite area (prepared by the Jackson County Sheriff's Office)
#45 A black pullover (found in the creek near the campsite)
#69 Two bags: an empty, gray tent pole bag and a dark blue tent stake bag with about six tent stakes inside (found at the campsite)
#72 A silver Smith and Wesson .40 caliber shell casing (found at the campsite)
#77 A brass .40 caliber shell casing (found at the campsite)
#75 A silver-colored .40 caliber shell casing (found at the campsite)
#79 A single tent stake (found at the campsite)
#80 A Camel cigarette butt (found at the campsite)
#81 A Camel cigarette butt (found at the campsite)
#78 A silver Smith and Wesson .40 caliber shell casing (found at the campsite)
#74 Eight brass shell casings (recovered from the inside the tent during the autopsy)
#76 Two spent bullets (recovered from the inside of the tent during the autopsy)
#66 Eight Visishot paper targets. Of these, two have purple tape that has handwriting on it--one says Amber, the other says Patricia (found inside the trunk of Patricia's Dodge Stratus)
#49 Chris' Apple iPhone with charger
#67 A wadded up piece of bloody plastic, some sort of packaging (recovered from inside the tent during the autopsy)
Thursday afternoon, November 21, 2013
After Dr. Olson's testimony, Ms. Mortensen resumed the witness stand and the following items were accepted into evidence.
After Dr. Olson's testimony, Ms. Mortensen resumed the witness stand and the following items were accepted into evidence.
#39 A pair of black snow pant
#55 A .45 caliber shell casing (found at the water's edge, near the waterfall during the second search on 11/27/12)
#59 A silver .45 caliber shell casing (found at the bottom of the steep hill near the campsite during the second search on 11/27/12)
#61 Two .40 caliber shell casings (found on the trail leading to the waterfall during the second search on 11/27/12)
#64 Four 9 mm luger shell casings (found on the trail leading to the waterfall during the second search on 11/27/12)
#62 Bullet fragment (recovered from Chris' wrist during the autopsy)
#50 Patricia's Samsung S model Aviator, android phone. A single tent stake (found at the campsite)
#30 A magazine with .40 caliber bullets (received from Detective Moser)
#63 A bullet (recovered from the right shoulder of Chris MacCallum during his autopsy)
#38 A chair bag found inside the tent (recovered during Chris' autopsy)
#40 An empty container for foam earplugs (found in Patricia's Dodge Stratus)
#68 A plastic sack from Sportsmen's Warehouse containing empty boxes of .40 caliber ammunition (found in Patricia's garage)
#44 A purple blouse (from the master bedroom in Patricia's house during a search on December 19, 2012)
#43 An empty box that a red, Coleman lantern came in (found during a search of Patricia's house on November 23, 2012)
#90-98 Photographs taken of Patricia's Dodge Stratus (at the Oregon State Impound Lab on 11/28/12)
#99-104 Photographs of the inside of Patricia's Dodge Stratus before and after it was searched (at the Oregon State Impound Lab on 11/28/12)
#105-108 Photographs from inside the trunk of Patricia's Dodge Stratus before and after it was searched (at the Oregon State Impound Lab on 11/28/12)
#58 An empty Coors beer can (found at the campsite)
#88 and 89 Two photographs of a broken glass bottle (taken at the campsite)
#85, 86, 87 Three photographs of a silver-colored shell casing (taken at the campsite)
#54 A single tent stake (recovered from the campsite)
#67 A piece of clear plastic (recovered from the campsite)
#109-112 and #117 Additional photographs of Patricia's Dodge Stratus, showing an empty package of foam earplugs, paper shooting targets, and wood chips in the trunk (at the Oregon State Impound Lab on 11/28/12)
#48 Black parachute cord that was wrapped around the tent (recovered during Chris' autopsy)
Ms. Mortensen continued her testimony and the following items were accepted into evidence.
#42 A black leather jacket belonging to Chris (found at the Medford St. Vincent de Paul thrift shop)
#60 Three .40 caliber bullets (recovered from the campsite on 11/27/12)
Mr. Allison asked her if she was present during a reenactment at the crime scene on May 15, 2013, where Amber Lubbers walked the detectives through what had happened on November 16, 2012. She said that she was present at the reenactment. Mr. Allison asked her where Amber had indicated that the tent had been set up. Ms. Mortensen said that it was the same place where she found the bullets.
Mr. Duncan's cross examination of Ms. Mortensen
Mr. Duncan asked Ms. Mortensen about her visit to the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store. She said that she went to the thrift store on December 12, 2012, based on the photograph that had been obtained from Sherm's Food 4 Less. She said that she found a black leather jacket, size 42, that looked to be the same that Chris was wearing in the Food 4 Less photograph.
In subsequent testimony during the trial, Amber Lubbers told the court that she had taken her boots and Chris' jacket to the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store to dispose of them. Also later on in the trial, both attorneys stipulated that they would accept the identification of the jacket as belonging to Chris by his mother, Sarah.
Mr. Allison asked her if she had picked up another item at the thrift store. She said that she also found a pair of gray hiking boots, size 9, similar to the ones Amber Lubbers was wearing in the Food 4 Less photograph.
Mr. Duncan asked her if she found anything that appeared to belong to Patricia and she said no, she hadn't.
Mr. Allison's redirect of Ms. Mortensen
Mr. Allison asked Ms. Mortensen to clarify her reason for going to the St. Vincent de Paul's thrift store. Ms. Mortensen said that her decision to go to the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store was based on evidence they had gathered during the investigation.
Mr. Duncan's re-cross of Ms. Mortensen
Mr. Duncan asked Ms. Mortensen about the quality of the picture from Food 4 Less that she used to look for clothing at the St. Vincent de Paul's thrift store. She said that the original photo was of much higher quality than the one that was admitted into evidence.
A note about the numbers, above: These are the exhibit numbers that were assigned to the evidence by Mr. Allison. They are all out of order because this is how they were presented to the court.
A note about the numbers, above: These are the exhibit numbers that were assigned to the evidence by Mr. Allison. They are all out of order because this is how they were presented to the court.
End of Ms. Mortensen's testimony
Last update: 6/11/14 - Return to the Patricia MacCallum trial home page
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