The prosecution laid out its case against accused killer Keith Rossberg of Annandale during the first week of testimony that began with opening statements Monday, March 18, in Wright County’s 10th Judicial District Court in Buffalo.
In front of a jury of nine men and six women, County Attorney Tom Kelly outlined the state’s case against Rossberg, who is accused of fatally shooting his neighbor and Vietnam combat veteran, DeVan Hawkinson, in the back of the head six times in March 2011 at his home in the Eastview Mobile Home Park. He then allegedly set Hawkinson on fire to cover it up.
Rossberg’s trial continues this week with the prosecution wrapping up its presentation of evidence almost two years to the day of when Hawkinson was found dead on March 27, 2011. Kelly and assistant county attorney Brian Lutes took turns questioning witnesses all week that included several experts as well as a number of friends, acquaintances and neighbors of Rossberg and Hawkinson. Members of both Hawkinson’s family as well as Rossberg’s were among those in the courtroom audience and 10th Judicial District Court Judge Elizabeth Strand presided over the trial.
The first week of questioning in the trial started with lengthy testimony from Annandale police chief Jeff Herr, and ended with testimony from Diane (Skobi) Turman, the woman that the prosecution claims was at the center of a love triangle gone wrong between her, Rossberg and Hawkinson.
The crime scene
Crime scene photos of Hawkinson’s charred living room and body slumped in some type of recliner chair, were shown in court as Herr described in detail what he and Annandale firefighters saw when they responded to the fire call reported by Hawkinson’s brother-in-law Thad Ashwill at about 3:40 p.m. on March 27.
Ashwill contacted police after receiving a call from one of Hawkinson’s close friends, Pat Robasse, who stopped over to have coffee with Hawkinson earlier. Upon arrival, Robasse told Ashwill that he noticed black soot around the door and was concerned that his friend was not responding. There was also a strong smell of natural gas emanating from the home. Ashwill said he and his wife Diana Ashwill, Hawkinson’s sister, had gone to Hawkinson’s home to see if everything was ok but became further concerned when they too saw extensive soot on the door, smelled gas and heard smoke detectors going off.
During the first and second days of testimony, Herr described in detail how the condition of Hawkinson’s body, coupled with the small size of bullets used to shoot him – a 22-caliber Sturm Ruger automatic pistol – made it difficult to tell whether Hawkinson died as a result of the fire or from some other cause upon initial inspection of the home. There was small amount of blood spatter on the north wall of the mobile home but it wasn’t until Herr attended the autopsy in Anoka County that he knew what he had. A CT scan showed five of the six bullets that were still lodged in Hawkinson’s head and a sixth bullet exited through his face, underneath his eye. Herr said that when Chief Medical Examiner Angelique Quinn Strobl showed him the scan, she said, "It looks like you have yourself a homicide."
According to Herr, the small amount of blood found at the scene was likely because of the fact that all but one of the bullets remained lodged in Hawkinson’s head.
Other items found in Hawkinson’s home that were presented as important pieces of evidence included two threatening notes found in Hawkinson’s kitchen drawer, six bullet casings consistent with a 22-caliber Sturm Ruger pistol and a notebook believed to belong to Rossberg that had a noticeable water stain that permeated all of its pages. The notes found in Hawkinson’s kitchen drawer had similar stains and said, "I’ll get you! Bye," and "You’re dead! Bye."
Also testifying as expert witnesses in the first two days of testimony were Strobl and investigator Casey Stotts from the state fire marshal’s office. Strobl maintains that her autopsy revealed evidence that Hawkinson died before the fire started because there was no indication that he breathed in smoke as is typical of people who die from smoke inhalation.
Stotts explained in detail, the "V" pattern that is typically at the scene of any fire because it shows how and where the fire traveled, which is important in determining the origin of a blaze. In Hawkinson’s case, it appeared that loose newspaper or other paper products were ignited at the foot of Hawkinson’s already dead body and no other accelerant was used. The fire eventually put itself out but not before killing Hawkinson’s two pet cats who were found in one of the home’s bedrooms. According to Stotts, the fire most likely stalled because of fire resistant material in Hawkinson’s furniture.
"The chair the victim was found in most likely had been treated with flame retardant which burns very slow," Stotts said. "The fire (retardant) didn’t allow the fire to get underneath the chair because Mr. Hawkinson was sitting in it. Areas not ‘seen’ by a fire will not burn. We call it the line of demarcation because there is a line of burned and unburned areas. Fire spreads out and moves down."
On cross examination, one of Rossberg’s attorneys, Tom Richards, suggested other possible sources for the fire including Hawkinson falling asleep in the chair while smoking or while lighting a cigarette. His blood alcohol limit was .10 and Richards said that Hawkinson had started a fire that same way on a different occasion. He talked with Stotts about two lighters found in Hawkinson’s home, one under the couch and another Scripto long lighter in the kitchen area.
"Isn’t it true that Mr. Hawkinson had fallen asleep and lit his trailer home on fire one other time," Richardson said. But Kelly fired back on redirect by asking Stotts, "If DeVan Hawkinson was already dead before any fire started (as the medical examiner testified), he could not be the source of ignition, could he?"
Stotts replied by saying, "No."
Love triangle
According to the prosecution’s case, Turman was "playing" both men which resulted in a growing animosity between the neighbors who previously considered each other "friends." Turman and Hawkinson were good friends and she eventually began renting a room from him on Honeysuckle Lane. It was Hawkinson who introduced Turman to Rossberg sometime in 2008.
"DeVan told me Keith (Rossberg) was a really nice guy and he said, ‘If you want to have an intimate relationship with someone, maybe you should go out with Keith because I think he likes you,’" Turman said in court. Turman, who broke down in tears at times during the questioning, admitted that she and Hawkinson were alcoholics who enjoyed partying with a small group of friends that routinely gathered at Hawkinson’s trailer home to play pool, cards, watch movies and talk by a campfire pit.
The relationship between Rossberg and Turman grew more serious and in the fall of 2008, she moved from Hawkinson’s to Rossberg’s home on Smith Lane – a street located adjacent to Honeysuckle Lane. However, Rossberg, who Turman said occasionally worked odd jobs, did not have a steady income and therefore utilities would often get shut off because of non-payment. Turman said she grew tired of living that "lifestyle" and decided to move back in with Hawkinson but she maintained her romantic relationship with Rossberg.
It is when Turman moved back into Hawkinson’s home that his feelings for her grew into more than a friendship, and, on at least two occasions, Turman acknowledged there were intimate encounters between them that was described as "touchy, feely," in court. Rossberg saw one of these physical encounters between Hawkinson and Turman through a window outside of Hawkinson’s home. He forced his way into Hawkinson’s home and punched him in the face.
"Keith looked in the window and got mad because he thought DeVan was raping me," Turman said. "It was a ‘joking thing’ but when we realized (Rossberg) was upset, we stopped."
Turman indicated that while there was tension between the three of them, she did not consider herself part of a "love triangle." She also did not comprehend the extent of the growing animosity between Hawkinson and Rossberg despite Hawkinson’s pleas for Rossberg not to come over to his house any more. Hawkinson had even resorted to posting notes on his door instructing Rossberg to stay away, but Rossberg would tear them down and continued harassing Hawkinson by coming over, pounding on the door and yelling obscenities. Neighbors and friends who were questioned by prosecutors, said their shouting matches were so common, that they thought little of it when they witnessed the same thing on the weekend Hawkinson was killed.
On one of the occasions when Rossberg was shouting outside his door, Hawkinson contacted police to make Rossberg "go away" and he cautioned them that Rossberg was known to have guns and that he was scared of being hurt by Rossberg. However, Hawkinson did not want to press charges against Rossberg nor did he file a restraining order so the harassment continued. Turman admitted that Rossberg knew where Hawkinson hid his spare key outside the trailer home because he was with her several times when she retrieved it from its hiding place.
Finally, the prosecution suggested that the mounting problems between the trio was further complicated when Turman reconnected with her first husband Dan Sheridan Sr., formerly of Annandale and also a Vietnam era veteran – something he had in common with Hawkinson. Sheridan also testified in the trial that he wanted to reconnect with his ex-wife because they were "first loves" and he never stopped loving her or thinking about her through the more than 20 years they were apart.
Together, Sheridan and Turman have a son, Dan Sheridan Jr., and had previously lived in Florida in the early days of their marriage in the 1970s. After their divorce, Turman married a man named Scott Turman in Florida but eventually divorced him too and moved back to Annandale. She lived with her mother in the Eastview Mobile Home Park before moving in with Hawkinson.
Sheridan testified that the alcoholism and lifestyle Turman had been living at Hawkinson’s was one he wanted to take her away from and he hoped to start a new life with her in Clara City, where he worked full-time. Sheridan said he and Hawkinson got along well – so well, that when he and Turman and Sheridan decided to try living together again, he asked Hawkinson that if things did not work out, would Turman be allowed to return to Eastview and live with him again. Hawkinson told the couple that Turman would always be welcomed at his home.
"I didn’t want her to be homeless or anything if things didn’t work out with us," Sheridan said, adding that he was never threatened by Turman’s close relationship with Hawkinson which she maintained by phone even while living with Sheridan in Clara City.
Everything came to a head when Sheridan and Turman began having problems stemming from finances and Turman’s ongoing alcoholism. During an argument in the week leading up to Hawkinson’s murder, he told her to go back to Annandale and live with Hawkinson because he feared it would not improve. Turman called Hawkinson to ask if she could come back and Hawkinson was said to be extremely happy about her prospective return. That was on March 21 and it was the last time Turman said she spoke to Hawkinson before his death. After their conversation, Hawkinson shared his excitement about her moving back in with him to his circle of friends. When Rossberg heard the news, several people – including Rossberg’s cousin Eric Rossberg – said Keith was extremely upset and angry.
On March 25, Keith Rossberg reported his 22-caliber Sturm Ruger automatic pistol stolen. When a sheriff’s deputy who responded to Rossberg’s complaint attempted to collect evidence at his home, Rossberg asked her a question she described as "unusual." He asked Deputy Jessica Miller if a crime was committed with his gun by the person who stole it, could he be held liable.
"At first I wasn’t sure what he was asking so then he said, ‘if anyone was hurt or robbed with his gun, would he be held responsible,’" Miller testified in court. "I thought it was odd because no one had ever asked me anything like that before in a stolen firearms case."
Rossberg also suggested to Miller that a man named Roderick "Ricky" Bollman was most likely the person who took it. Rossberg’s pistol and the murder weapon used on Hawkinson were never recovered despite extensive ground and aerial searches of the Eastview Mobile Home Park and surrounding wooded area.
The defense
Rossberg’s defense team of Forest Larson and Tom Richards, is expected to counter the prosecution’s case this week by presenting a different scenario that suggests the murder was committed by multiple assailants during a burglary. In his opening statement, Larson said to the jury, "I know you just heard and emotional story about a love triangle. But besides the evidence that is there, I want you to pay attention to the evidence that is not there. There are no eye witnesses to the crime – no gun, no DNA, and no fingerprint evidence will be presented."
Instead, Larson continued by acknowledging that while there may have been some sort of love triangle between Rossberg, Turman and Hawkinson, at one time, the timeline of when there were issues between them, does not match the timeframe in which Hawkinson was killed.
"There was no love triangle at the time the fire happened," Larson said. He added that he will question witnesses who will testify that there were three other men who had been talking with others about their involvement in shooting and killing someone during a burglary. At the end of his presentation to jurors, Larson concluded by saying, "Every piece of evidence is important and law enforcement did a good job, but I think you will find that they did not find enough evidence."
If convicted, Rossberg faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole.