Opinion ID: 1254168
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Law Enforcement Investigation Evidence.

Text: Garcia described appellant's false imprisonment of her and the two murders to Special Agent Over of the Santa Cruz Office of the FBI when she and her brother-in-law met with him on March 10, 1982. He notified Santa Cruz County law enforcement personnel. Sheriffs Investigator Henard, who had investigated the discovery of MacVicar's skull on February 20, met Garcia and Geiger at the FBI office the same day. Garcia told him about the murders and led Henard and other officers to the location of the bodies, which were disinterred the following day. On the same day, Henard participated in the first interrogation of appellant, who had been arrested at the Santa Cruz Holiday Inn after Garcia reported the murders and the assault on her, and retrieved a packet of cocaine appellant discarded in the interview room. Appellant made a taped statement to investigating officers in which he refused to answer questions, was evasive, and claimed to have no knowledge of the murders in which he denied participation. He claimed he was not in California at the time of the murders. At the time of his arrest appellant's blood had traces of Quaaludes. His urine indicated that he had taken cocaine as well as Quaaludes within the previous 24 hours. A March 11, 1982, search of appellant's hotel room turned up cocaine, $7,020 in cash, and a set of handcuffs. Numerous small snippets of paper were strewn around the room. A March 11, 1982, search of the Johnsons' apartment turned up a box containing a Datonic firearm, a silencer, silencer parts, and a gun barrel. Other firearms and narcotics were also seized. The Datonic Firearms company had no record of the two Datonic firearms, which had consecutive serial numbers. This suggested that the weapons had been taken in an unauthorized manner, such as theft or embezzlement. Edward Peterson, an agent of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, examined the .45-caliber slug taken from the skull of MacVicar, another slug found nearby, the items in the box seized in the Johnson residence, the two Datonic firearms, a .45-caliber Colt Commander pistol, a .45-caliber barrel with silencer adapter, and two silencers. He testified that the slug taken from MacVicar's skull had the general class characteristics of the Colt barrel type, but the surface was so abraded as to make comparison to any individual firearm impossible. The other slug was in better condition and also displayed rifling class characteristics of the Colt barrel type. Both silencers had gunshot residue in them. The Datonics and the Colt were in operating condition. Peterson substituted the barrel with the silencer adapter on each of the three firearms, mounted the silencer, and test-fired all three weapons, but could not match the projectiles to any of the three weapons.