CSI TRIAL BIOLOGY

Pasadena City College Crime Laboratory

Case Number: F052788

Pasadena City College Crime Laboratory

Case Number: F052788

Case History:

On Monday, February 26, 2001, Los Angeles County Sherriff’s Department Lost Hills Station responded to a 911 emergency call at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Patrick Johnston near the end of Wagon road in Agoura Hills at 23:15. When police arrived on scene they found Mrs. Shelly Johnston face down in the backyard swimming pool of the Johnston’s home. First responders noted that a few bubbles were coming from Mrs. Johnston’s mouth. CPR was performed and Mrs. Johnston was transported to Los Robles and Medical Center located in Thousand Oaks Hospital.

She was pronounced DOA at 01:32 on February 27, 2001.

Items were collected near the koi pond and pool by investigators, including one small shoe, too small to be the victim’s shoe, and a small rock with a stain on it.

File photograph of Johnston’s backyard Koi pond.

Initial Interview with Patrick Johnston, male, Caucasian, 32 years old:

Mr. Johnston reported returning home from work at 21:45. He stated talked to his wife about the Koi fish in the pond that the family had built in the backyard. He then let the family dog outside, a large yellow Labrador, and went upstairs to take a shower. Mr. Johnston stated that their marriage of two years was extremely stable, and that his wife enjoyed her job as a personal nutritionist and fitness expert. He stated that his wife had been injured at work several weeks ago. He also noted she had several well-known celebrity clients and was an avid world traveler.

The police initially treated this as an accidental death pending autopsy report.

Autopsy Findings:

Victim was identified as 28 year-old Caucasian female, Shelly Johnston, 5’11” and 125 lbs. The victim was fully clothed and appeared to be dressed for bed. The clothing included a bathrobe, a night shirt and matching pants, underwear, and a single slipper. The victim was reportedly in a work accident three weeks prior to her death in which the victim’s right foot had been broken. The coroner found that she had elevated levels of amylase in her saliva.

External Examination:

The body appeared to have multiple contusions in various stages of healing. The victim’s body showed slight signs of rigor mortis in the fingers and jaw. Livor mortis was present at the time of autopsy examination however there is evidence of blanching. The x-rays of the victim’s right foot showed healing consistent with an injury that occurred two weeks prior to death and an injury that appeared to be self inflicted. The injury found on the victim’s foot was not consistent with the injury reported to police.

Internal Examination:

The victim’s body showed multiple fractures in various stages of healing consistent with prolonged physical abuse. The victim’s hyoid bone was fractured and her throat indicated recent trauma possibly an attempted asphyxiation. An organism was collected from the victim’s intestines. Fluids were found in the victim’s lungs. Samples of the victim’s lung contents were collected. The victim’s body showed recent signs of consensual sexual activity.

Secondary Interview with Patrick Johnston:

Confronted with the autopsy findings Mr. Johnston admitted that his wife had been in an abusive relationship a few years prior to their marriage. He also shared that he was suspicious that his wife had started seeing her ex-boyfriend again. He stated that her behavior and mental health seemed to decline in the weeks prior to her death. Mr. Johnston disclosed that he did have two life insurance policies on his wife that totaled $200,000 in the event of her death. Mr. Johnston was adamant that his wife had been alive when he returned home from work and that their relationship was secure.

Interview with Consuela Suarez, female, Hispanic, 56 years old:

Ms. Suarez is the Johnston’s housekeeper. She had just returned to the Johnston home the day before, and therefore was in Mexico when Mrs. Johnston died.

She is very nervous talking to the police. She finally states that Mr. Johnston often had women over to the house when Mrs. Johnston was out. When asked if she had ever seen Mr. Johnston act in a violent way, she states Mr. Johnston once hit Mrs. Johnston and sometimes kicked the family’s black cat, Smoky. She states Mr. Johnston was a good boss though and gave her the time off to go visit her family in Mexico.

Interview with Grace Stevenson, female, Caucasian, 57 years old:

Mrs. Grace Stevenson, victim’s mother, reported that her daughter was attempting to leave her husband, Patrick Johnston. Mrs. Stevenson phoned the victim’s home at 22:04 and hung up when the answering machine picked up the call. Mrs. Stevenson indicated that her daughter had left twice due to the physical abuse she was sustaining at the hands of Mr. Johnston. However, the victim was determined to make her marriage work because she was in love with her husband and returned home both times at the encouragement of her brother-in-law Peter Johnston. Mrs. Stevenson revealed that her daughter was officially leaving her husband and had planned on returning to her parent’s home on February 27, 2001. Mrs. Stevenson stated that Mr. Johnston was fully aware of his wife’s plan to divorce him. Mrs. Stevenson also stated that her daughter was independently wealthy and had a net worth of $2.5 million. She informed police that her daughter’s husband struggled with money and had lost his family business. Due to strains in the marriage Shelly Johnston did not share any of her income with her husband and put it into a separate account to which only Shelly and her parents had access.

Interview with Peter Johnston, male, Caucasian, 35 years old:

Mr. Peter Johnston is Patrick Johnston’s older brother and former business partner. When asked about his brother’s relationship with his wife Shelly, he states that his brother is a loving husband. He was upset with Shelly, he stated she threatened to leave his brother when their waterscape business was struggling and finances became tight. He expressed that she was very demanding of Patrick, and wanted him to keep up a certain “image” and disapproved of him doing “blue collar” work. He stated that he finally bought his brother out of the business 6 months ago so that Shelly would be happy. He installed a Koi pond for the couple in October as part of his deal to buy Patrick out and to put the business solely in his name. County records confirm the business change of ownership.

Interview with Rose Stevenson, female, Caucasian, 24 years old:

Miss Rose Stevenson, victim’s younger sister, revealed that she and her sister were extremely close. Rose divulged that her sister had recently been in contact with her ex-boyfriend and was planning on getting back together with him once she divorced her husband. Rose also stated that Shelly had discovered that Patrick had been cheating on her with various women, one of which was stalking Shelly and had threatened to kill her. The last time she had lunch with Shelly, she said she seemed paranoid and kept looking around. Unfortunately, Shelly never told Rose the woman’s name - only that she was a dog walker.

Interview with Joshua Rojas, male, Hispanic, 29 years old:

Mr. Joshua Rojas, victim’s ex-boyfriend, indicated that he had last talked to the victim at 20:02 on February 26, 2001. He indicated that he and the victim were in the process of reconciling their relationship. He indicated that Shelly was terribly regretful for marrying Patrick. He stated that Shelly had told him of how Patrick had physically abused her while trying to get money out of her. He also indicated that Shelly’s mental state was perfectly normal in the weeks prior to her death, however she was seeing a psychologist to help deal with the stress of her failing marriage.

Interview with Dr. Kelly Marx, male, German-American, 50 years old:

Dr. Kelly Marx, victim’s psychologist, stated that he had been treating Shelly for three years. He disclosed that he had advised Shelly against her marriage to Patrick because he had been abusive towards her while they were dating. He also indicated that he had advised the victim against getting back together with her ex-boyfriend Joshua because he had a problem with abusing marijuana and was using the victim for her money to fuel his drug habit. Dr. Marx also affirmed that the victim was in fact leaving her husband and that she was being was stalked by one of Patrick’s lovers.

Interview with Jennifer Branch, female, Caucasian, 37 years old:

Ms. Branch, victim’s insurance agent, indicated that the victim had four life insurance policies, two of which previously named Patrick Johnston as the beneficiary. The policies totaled $1 million dollars. The other two policies previously named Joshua Rojas as the beneficiary which totaled $1.5 million. Ms. Branch informed the police that she last spoke with the victim on February 26, 2001 at 21:00 and that Shelly had changed the beneficiaries of all her policies to her mother, Mrs. Grace Stevenson. Ms. Branch also informed police that Mrs. Johnston’s policies had a suicide clause and paid no money in the event of a suicide.

Interview with Sam Kang, male, Asian-American, 42 years old:

Mr. Kang was the Johnston’s closest neighbor. On the night of her death, he reports that their dog was barking insistently from about 10:00 PM till the time he heard the sirens of the ambulance. He stated this was not normal and he was about to call the Johnston’s to complain when the ambulance arrived. He also complained that a lot of cars seemed to come and go from the Johnston’s home, sometimes at speed. He had started a petition to add speed bumps to street as the speed cars sometimes spooked the horses on his and other neighbor’s ranches and was dangerous for pedestrians. He also reported that he had seen Mrs. Johnston in a verbal altercation with another woman in a white BMW near the end the Johnston’s driveway about two weeks prior to her death. He was unable to remember what the woman looked like, only that she wore sunglasses and had a large dog in her backseat.

Interview with Sandra Amaya, female, Hispanic, 31 years old:

Ms. Amaya was avid triathlete and the sole owner and employee of a pet sitting and dog walking service. She had several clients in the neighborhood of the Johnston’s and in August of 2000 had pet sit for the Johnston’s while they vacationed in Aruba. She denied having an affair or relationship at all with Patrick Johnston. She stated that she had offered to walk the Johnston’s dog for free while Mrs. Johnston was recovering from her foot injury, but Mrs. Johnston declined her offer. Several neighbors mentioned that they often saw Ms. Amaya walking dogs in the neighborhood.

Additional Evidence Analysis

Several key pieces of evidence were analyzed using an SEM.

CSI x.1 – Found in victim’s hair

Image #1

Image #1 – 910x magnification

CSI x.3 - found on victim’s pajamas

Image #2

Elemental Analysis of Image #2

Element Number	Element Symbol	Element Name	Confidence	Concentration	Error
8	O	Oxygen	Manual	60.0	1.4
6	C	Carbon	100.0	7.8	1.6
14	Si	Silicon	100.0	9.6	2.8
7	N	Nitrogen	Manual	5.7	4.1
13	Al	Aluminium	Manual	2.8	5.9
11	Na	Sodium	Manual	3.3	7.2
12	Mg	Magnesium	Manual	1.7	9.0
9	F	Fluorine	Manual	3.2	10.9
19	K	Potassium	Manual	3.0	14.8
34	Se	Selenium	Manual	1.0	19.2
17	Cl	Chlorine	Manual	0.7	31.7
16	S	Sulfur	Manual	0.3	46.8
79	Au	Gold	Manual	0.7	74.1
15	P	Phosphorus	Manual	0.2	76.3