LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Thursday several current and former sheriff's deputies testified to responding to the scene of a 2007 stabbing in which a man allegedly killed his neighbor because he mistakenly had concluded that he was a child molester.
Ivan Garcia Oliver, 34, is charged with murder, burglary, elder abuse and several special allegations for the killing of 67-year-old Michael Dodele on Nov. 20, 2007.
Oliver is alleged to have stabbed Dodele 60 times in his trailer at Western Hills Mobile Home Park in Lakeport, where Dodele had moved a short time before after being released from serving about 20 years in prison for raping a woman.
The prosecution alleges that Oliver misunderstood Dodele's sex offender registration information on the state's Megan's Law Web site and believed Dodele had served prison time for child molestation.
Oliver's defense attorney, Stephen Carter, has argued that Oliver was concerned about his 4-year-old son, and when he went to confront Dodele on that November morning a fight ensued and Dodele died as a result.
First on the stand on Thursday was Tom Andrews, who at the time was a deputy sheriff with more than 20 years' experience.
Andrews was dispatched to the mobile home park on the report of suspicious circumstances, with a male with bleeding hands said to be near space 19, Dodele's trailer. He was the first to arrive on scene, and he encountered Oliver near his own home, across from Dodele’s.
According to his testimony, Andrews asked Oliver the location of space 19. Oliver told him it was at the back of the park, but Andrews noticed that the space to his right was marked 19. When he pointed that out to Oliver, Oliver said the spaces were incorrectly marked. Oliver's hands did not appear to be covered with blood, Andrews said.
Andrews drove around the park, concluded he originally had been at the right place and went back to the trailer. He could see the trailer's sliding glass door was open, and so he went to the yard gate and announced himself.
He went to the door, pushed the blinds aside, and noticed what appeared to be blood on the floor, leading from the living room area to the left toward the kitchen, and down the hallway to the back of the trailer.
Andrews said he waited until Deputy Cynthia Radoumis arrived to cover him, and then they made their way down the hallway, following a blood trail that went into the bathroom, the door of which was closed.
Rather than go into the bathroom, Andrews said he continued into the back bedroom, where he could see a body on the floor, at the foot of a bed.
Dodele was found lying on his right side, in the fetal position, fully dressed. Andrews said he had no pulse but was warm to the touch. Paramedics arrived and confirmed he was dead. Andrews then requested that the sheriff's detectives bureau respond.
Andrews interviewed Israel Bojorquez, who had seen Oliver coming out of Dodele's trailer and reported being assaulted by Oliver earlier that morning.
When Andrews went to Oliver's home, he saw blood smears on the front of the residence and on a vehicle parked directly in front of it. A short time later, then-Sgt. Chris Macedo and several investigators arrived and took over the crime scene.
Deputies did a forced entry on Oliver’s home. Andrews followed several other deputies into the home, guns drawn, and took Oliver into custody.
Paramedic Jonelle Grandi also briefly testified about responding to the scene and finding Dodele with no pulse or heart activity.
She recalled that “there was blood all over the place.”
The investigation at the scene
Brian Martin, a former Lake County Sheriff’s lieutenant, arrived at the scene after Andrews did and participated in the forced entry at Oliver’s home.
Initially, deputies handcuffed both Oliver and his girlfriend. Martin said Oliver had blood on him, and Martin said deputies didn’t know if the couple were injured or involved with the murder.
“They were handcuffed for their safety and for our safety,” Martin said.
He said deputies searched Oliver’s bedroom and found a cell phone between the box spring and mattress. Martin contacted Dodele’s sister, who gave Martin her brother’s cell phone number. When he dialed the number, the cell phone that had been found under the mattress rang, and showed Martin’s phone number.
“That convinced us at that time that it was his cell phone,” Martin said.
Det. Corey Paulich, the case’s lead investigator, had found the window screen in Oliver’s bathroom pushed out and blood on the window sill. Paulich then asked Martin to search on the east side of Oliver’s residence, and in the backyard Martin found two folding knives – one silver and one black.
In an interview with Martin, Oliver’s girlfriend identified the silver knife as Oliver’s but couldn’t identify the second knife as his. She said he had three knives altogether.
Martin took Oliver to Sutter Lakeside for a blood test in order to collect DNA and to test for drugs. Later he checked the Megan’s Law Web site and printed out Dodele’s entry.
Another witness on Thursday was Lt. Brian Kenner, who was a detective at the time of the murder, and assisted with the forced entry into Oliver’s residence.
He said he saw blood on Oliver’s hands and on the floor of his home. After they went into the residence, he saw Oliver lying on his kitchen floor, handcuffed and secured. Kenner stood by to keep an eye on Oliver, who he said appeared agitated.
“He was asking us why we came into his house, what we were doing there,” Kenner said.
While Kenner was there with him, Oliver spontaneously said, “I just got to tell you, I did this shit.”
Oliver told Kenner that he was minding his own business, and alleged that Dodele tried to hurt his son.
Kenner recalled Oliver having a cut on his right hand, in the web between the thumb and index finger.
He went with Oliver when he was transported to Sutter Lakeside Hospital for treatment of his hand injury. A doctor asked Oliver several times how he hurt his hand. Each time Oliver told the doctor he did it while shaving, Kenner said.
While he was at the scene, Kenner prepared a diagram of the home, which included documentation of what investigators believed was blood spatter on the bedroom wall. He also removed a hot water knob covered with blood from Dodele’s bathroom and cut out some bathroom flooring to preserve a footprint.
The trial resumes at 9 a.m. Friday in Lake County Superior Court Department 3.
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