By Roger Harnack
The Chronicle
 
     OKANOGAN – Testimony Thursday in the case against two people charged in the slaying of Michelle L. Kitterman weaved a web of drugs and loose relationships between defendants and their friends.
     Law enforcement officers and friends with information on the alleged whereabouts of “Tonasket” Tansy Fay-Arwen Mathis, 30, and David Eugene Richards, 34, took the stand throughout the day.
     Mathis and Richards, 34, both from Spokane, are on trial for aggravated first-degree murder or, in the alternative, first-degree murder with premeditation, first-degree manslaughter of an unborn child, tampering with evidence and first-degree kidnapping. Mathis is a former Okanogan County resident.
     Brent Lane “Hollywood” Phillips, 29, and Lacey Kae Hirst-Pavek, 34 of Crumbacher, have also been implicated in the March 1, 2009, slaying of 25-year-old Kitterman, who was about 11 weeks pregnant when she was taken to remote Stalder Road, about 14.5 miles southwest of Tonasket. Authorities say Kitterman was stabbed to death with a suspected ice pick at that location.
     Phillips pleaded guilty March 29 to reduced charges of first-degree murder-premeditated murder, first-degree manslaughter of an unborn child, tampering with evidence and first-degree kidnapping. He will be sentenced May 11. Hirst-Pavek faces trial May 4.
     During testimony Thursday, witness after witness talked about the relationships between the two defendants, “Hollywood,” Hirst-Pavek and friends in Ellisforde, Tonasket, Riverside and Republic.
     According to testimony, Hirst-Pavek had rented a vehicle for Mathis, allegedly to help Mathis move from Spokane to either Chelan or Bellingham.
     During the time Mathis had the vehicle, several people had interacted with her, including Michael G. Felton, Steve Pena and Theresa April Bertrang, all of Republic; Adolfo Moreno Palomaros of Riverside and Connie D. Gallas of Ellisforde.
     Taking the stand, Felton told the jury that Mathis had been staying in a back bedroom of his house with former boyfriend Steve Pena. He also described how Pena cleaned the rental Chevy Trailblazer in the days following the slaying of Kitterman.
     Bertrang affirmed his testimony, saying that Mathis and Pena were in the back bedroom of the house a day or two after the slaying.
     She also noted that “Hollywood” was in the living room of the Felton’s Republic home and how he was wearing sunglasses at night and acting “weird.”
     Bertrang noted that the “friends” often stayed together at Felton’s home.
     On the stand Thursday, Gallas told jurors how she participated in helping Hirst-Pavek get and return the rental vehicle Mathis had been driving at the time of Kitterman’s death. She also told the jury she cared for Mathis’ daughter overnight about the time of the killing.
     Okanogan Sheriff’s Office detective Mike Murray, who was on the stand previously, was called back as a witness to put the pieces together for the jury.
     Murray provided details, based on interviews with witnesses and defendants, how Hirst-Pavek rented the vehicle for Mathis as well as how Mathis became a person of interest in the slaying. He noted that during various interviews, some of the witnesses were “high” or “tweaking.”
     None of those witnesses connected Richards to the murder. But three Spokane police officers who testified Thursday attempted to show the connection.
     The officers – Eric M. Kannberg, detective Kip Hollenbeck, and Sgt. Joe Peterson – detailed their interactions between Richards, witness Brian George Hohman and others.
     During testimony Wednesday, Hohman had testified Mathis told him how Phillips stabbed Kitterman to death with an ice pick. He also testified that he had met Richards while trying to get methamphetamine from Mathis.
     Testifying Thursday, the officers laid the groundwork linking Richards to the slaying of Kitterman.
     But defense attorney Steve Graham blasted the testimony, essentially accusing Hollenbeck of coercing Hohman through a good cop, bad cop routine. “In this roll, you were the bad cop,” Graham said. “You did try to get him to say things. You told him, ‘Admit it. You were there and you were present at the scene.’”
     Hollenbeck denied the accusations, saying his interrogation was intended only to determine if Hohman was telling the truth about Hollywood and the connection to Richards.
     Kannberg’s testimony raised a doubt in the case against Richards.
     Previous testimony this week suggested Kitterman was stabbed to death with a three-sided file.
     According to Kannberg, he had taken an “ice pick” off Richards during a previous incident in Spokane.
     Police reports had indicated Kitterman died from multiple stab wounds caused by an “ice pick.”
     Kannberg described the ice pick as round with an hour glass-shaped handle, rather than the three-sided murder weapon described earlier this week.
     Richards had previously told investigators that his ice pick had been stolen about a week before Kitterman was killed and after the day he met Kannberg following an altercation with another man in Spokane.
     Law enforcement officials initially withheld information on an ice pick so they could weed out people who actually had information on the killing.
     Thursday afternoon testimony included the autopsy report.
     Testimony continues today, Friday, in the case.
     Chelan County Superior Court Judge T.W. “Chip” Small is presiding.