Investigator found victim ‘lying in a pool of blood’

Dramatic testimony continues on Day 6 of the trial of Kristofer Michael Williams

On the sixth formal day of the Solano County Superior Court murder trial of Kristofer Michael Williams, a Sheriff’s deputy testified that he saw the victim, Jonathan “Jonny” Russell, “lying in a pool of blood” upon arrival at the crime scene, outside a rural Vacaville home, in 2018.

During the early afternoon session Tuesday in Department 11, Detective Eduardo Borrego told defense attorney Daniel Russo that he responded to a dispatch call in the early evening hours on Oct. 23 to the home in the 5800 block of Fry Road. There, he found Russell, 30, of San Francisco, “lying on the ground” and, essentially, bleeding out from a neck wound caused by a stabbing.

Borrego said he was told by a friend of Russell’s, Jonathan McCommon, that the suspect at the time, Williams, 35, of Vacaville, seated at the defense table in a light blue shirt and tie, had fled 15 minutes earlier after trying to wrest control of the 9-year-old daughter of Gary Nofuentes, whom investigators also believe William stabbed in the stomach but survived his wound.

Deputy District Attorney Ilana Shapiro, who leads the prosecution, called another witness to the stand, Angela Cunha, an identification supervisor with the Sheriff’s Office in Fairfield.

Cunha testified that she also was called to the Fry Road home, arriving in the late evening hours and staying until the early morning hours of Oct. 24.

Cunha told Shapiro that she saw open alcohol containers in the home but no drugs and also saw blood stains outside the home.

Shapiro then showed a series of photos projected on a large video monitor that the 14 jurors, including two alternates, could easily see across the courtroom in the Justice Center in Fairfield. The photos included a “blood trail,” pancake-sized blood pools, on the ground outside the home.

Cunha then traveled to a home on Roscommon Drive in Vacaville, where Williams lived and was directed to look for clothing there, she said.

Cunha told Shapiro that no one was at the home at the time and she did not find the murder weapon there.

Upon cross-examination, Russo asked Cunha if she found any open liquor and beer container in the house and she did.

“Did that cause you any concern with a child in the house?” the defense attorney asked.

“No,” replied Cunha, adding, upon further questioning, that there was food outside the refrigerator.

Cunha testified that she took no photos of blood in the home. She also told Russo there was alcohol outside the house but did not find drugs inside, adding, “There was nothing in plain view.”

Russo’s questions about alcohol consumption — how much and what? — and the ability to remember details — what happened when and where? — continue to be, as they were Thursday, the threads of his defense of Williams.

Also on Thursday Nofuentes, the father of the young girl and her contested custody status that goes to the heart of the case against Williams testified that he had “three or four beers and a couple of whiskeys” during an afterfuneral reception for a deceased friend on Oct. 23 in Vacaville.

Nofuentes, 34, told Shapiro that he returned to his home afterward, where Williams later confronted his housemate and longtime friend, Russell, in an attempt to wrest the girl from Russell’s arms, allegedly stabbing Russell in the neck.

But before Russell suffered a wound that would later prove fatal, Williams is believed to have faced off with Nofuentes inside the home “punching” him in the stomach, but Nofuentes, drunk according to previous witness accounts, could not recall being punched or Williams even being inside the home.

He told Shapiro that he remembered “a large figure” in the house but did not identify that person as Williams. Nofuentes told Shapiro that he felt “a sharp pain” in his stomach and was later taken to Kaiser Permanente Vacaville Medical Center later in the evening, where he underwent surgery for a knife wound and spent 10 days in recovery.

Still on the witness stand at the outset of the afternoon session, Nofuentes characterized Williams as being “angry” in the house and that’s when “I felt the sharp pain in my side.”

“Did you see Mr. Williams with a knife?” asked Shapiro.

“No, I did not,” replied Nofuentes.

Nofuentes suspected he had been stabbed and testified that he awoke in the hospital but did not know, he told Shapiro, that Russell had been stabbed or where his daughter was. Russell died some days after Oct. 23 after being taken off life support.

Also on Thursday Dr. Arnold Josselson, a forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy on Russell, testified that Russell died of a “stab wound to the right side of the neck.”

Alluding to a question from Shapiro, that, on a scale of 1 to 10, his level of intoxication was “a 6,” Russo, on cross-examination, asked Nofuentes, “Is it possible you were more intoxicated that you thought?”

“No,” replied Nofuentes. At that point, Russo focused on Nofuentes’ actions and questioned his level of intoxication, asking if he was able to care for his daughter, showed photos of liquor bottles atop a refrigerator in the home and a beer carton or beer containers in another location in the same photo.

The defense attorney further questioned Nofuentes about his food purchases that day (none), when he last bought food (no recollection), and whether he had “any concern” about his daughter seeing him “at level 6” of intoxication (no).

Court records indicate Solano County Sheriff’s investigators said Williams was disturbed by an ongoing child custody battle and believed Nofuentes’ daughter belonged with her mother, Kailyn Scarlett Gibson, who at the time was a friend of Williams and was seeking to gain custody rights in Solano County Family Court. Williams traveled to the Fry Road home in an attempt to get the girl.

Thursday’s proceedings followed equally dramatic testimony on Wednesday, when a witness told Shapiro that he heard Williams, who was 32 at the time, allegedly tell Russell, “Do you want to be shot or stabbed?”

And on Sept. 30 Solano County Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Demarest, the first witness of the trial, testified during cross-examination by Russo, that a young, frightened girl inside the home told him the men there were “drunk and crazy.”

Judge William J. Pendergast previously severed the trials of people connected to the crime.

Gibson, 32, was initially charged with dissuading a witness; cruelty to a child by inflicting injury; and eavesdropping by recording confidential information. After her arrest on Nov. 16, 2018, she posted a $75,000 bond and was released from custody. She is represented by Fairfield criminal defense attorney Denis Honeychurch. If convicted at trial, Gibson, who returns to court at 8:30 a.m. Dec. 8 to set a preliminary hearing, may face as much as three years in prison.

Also charged in the case is Jessica Anne Weirich, 30, who reportedly drove Williams to the Fry Road home, just south of Elmira. She was initially accused of being an accessory after the fact. After her arrest, also on Nov. 16, she posted a $25,000 bond and was released from custody. She is represented by defense attorney Barry K. Newman. If convicted at trial, Weirich, who also returns to court on Dec. 8 for the same proceedings, likewise may face as much as three years in prison.

In addition to the murder charge, Williams faces four related felony charges. They include kidnapping of a minor under 14; assault with a deadly weapon; child endangerment; and burglary of an inhabited dwelling. He remains without bail in the Stanton Correctional Facility in Fairfield.

During a held-to-answer arraignment in late October 2019, Williams pleaded not guilty to all charges. If found guilty of them all at trial, however, he may face more than 50 years in state prison.

The trial resumes at 10 a.m. Thursday in Department 11 in the Justice Center in Fairfield.