May 8, 2017

"I was personally taken aback when she said, "Oh, that's not my daughter."


DCHP Officer Adams testimony took up all afternoon. From going over diagrams to identifying photos, Officer Adams testified about escorting Marci Kitchen at the location where Kiya Kitchen and Faith Tsarnas were found; what Duane Asbach,  the man who called 911 told him about who he saw on Eel River Road in the Jeep in the driver's seat and the vehicle he saw leaving the scene and his assessment of how intoxicated Marci Kitchen was, when he first saw her and later, again at the hospital.

Officer Adams escorted and gave Marci Kitchen a ride to where Jane Doe #1's body was for identification to see if that was her daughter. He said he asked the two males with her to stay behind the roadblock "as to not congest the scene." He identified them as Marci Kitchen's boyfriend Josh Pearlston and Trent Stewart.

Despite his request, Josh Pearlston did not stay behind the roadblock. While he were trying to get clearance from police and medical personnel to see if Marci Kitchen could be escorted to the body under the tarp, he said Stewart got agitated, yelled profanities and attempted to get Kitchen past the roadblock screaming, "Let her see her daughter, let her see her daughter."

"I took him by the black hoodie he was wearing and said, Man you need to calm down, we are trying to get her there as,soon as possible.'

"I noticed she was extremely intoxicated, had unsteady gait, very slurred speech, very strong odor of alcohol, especially when we were in the closed environment of my patrol car."

"Her eyes were very bloodshot and watery. " Officer Adams said he was concerned about Marci Kitchen. "My human reaction was to see if this person was a victim. My initial thought was, "Now I got to deal with this drunk lady who's probably a victim."

Officer Adams said once the tarp was removed from Jane Doe #1 (Faith), Marci Kitchen said, "Wait that's not my daughter and her demeanor completely changed. Best adjective I can use is she went from almost hysteria to almost cavalier attitude. I was personally taken aback when she said, 'Oh, that's not my daughter'."

Officer Adams said Marci Kitchen switched gears again when he asked her if she knew who Jane Doe #1 was and she responded that it was Faith Tsarnas and that she was like a daughter, the same age as her own daughter Kiya, 14, and she was a houseguest, visiting out of town.

At the end of the day, Deputy District Attorney's last questions to Officer Adams were, "Based on your investigation, did you reach any conclusions about what led to the collision" and "Why did you arrive at that conclusion?"

Officer Adams said the primary factor of the collision was driving a vehicle while intoxicated and secondary factor was driving a vehicle at unsafe speed.

Referring to his own interactions with Marci Kitchen he testified to earlier and Duane Ashback placing a woman, matching Marci Kitchen's description at the scene, Adams said his conclusions were based on "Ms. Kitchen driving the Jeep and her numerous signs of alcohol intoxication."

Items strewn about on Eel River Road, including one flip flop and one of the destroyed skateboards thrown on opposite shoulders of the road were found hundreds of feet away from Kiya Kitchen and Faith Tsarnas.

Officer Adams offerred Marci Kitchen a,ride to the hospital, because he was concerned about her safety and the community, "I did not want her to jump behind the wheel and drive to the hospital; she declined my offer. "
He told Jevin Kitchen, who was on the scene, to make sure Marci Kitchen had a ride and Josh Pearlston said he would take her to the hospital.

Officer Adams went to the hospital twice, the first time, couple minutes after Kiya Kitchen was transported to the hospital and was surprised that Marci Kitchen was not there. He was at the hospital for "approximately 30 minutes", and checked again and she was still not there. Jevin Kitchen had to provide informatoin to Officer Adams to positively identify his sister as the second victim. 

Officer Adams returned to the collision scene and then back to the hospital and that time, Marci Kitchen was there.

At the hospital, Adams said Marci Kitchen told him that they would not let her fly on the plane with her daughter because she was drunk and he said to her, "I can tell Marci, you are drunk. I cannot persuade them to let you fly on the plane."

Marci Kitchen told him, "I've only had two drinks all day." Officer Adams testified that Marci Kitchen showed "signs of acute intoxication" which were still present several hours after the incident. These include slurred speech, "the alcohol odor remained consistent, she repeated herself several times and struggled over large words."

Marci Kitchen told Officer Adams the girls left to go skateboarding at 4:30 p.m. and "I believe she said she hadn't seen them anytime after 4:30 p.m."

Jevin Kitchen told Officer Adams, "both girls had left an hour prior to the collision."

There were no signs of braking observed and the based on CHP investigation of the collision it was determined that the vehicle that hit Kiya Kitchen and Faith Tsarnas was travelling at a high speed.





1 comment:

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.