Opinion ID: 1296847
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Count 1 Mary Ann Pohlreich

Text: On Friday, June 22, 1990, Mary Ann Pohlreich went to Papagayo's, a Bellevue nightclub, with two friends. The three drove in Pohlreich's car. Her two friends left Pohlreich at Papagayo's at approximately 9:30 p.m. Early the next morning, Pohlreich's body was found partially inside the dumpster corral area in the parking lot behind the Black Angus restaurant, about a mile from Papagayo's. Pohlreich's body was unclothed, but she was wearing two pieces of jewelry. There was a Frito Lay dip container lid over her right eye and forehead, her arms were folded over her stomach, her legs were extended and crossed at the ankles, and she had a pinecone in one of her hands. Though there were a number of significant injuries, the King County medical examiner determined that the most likely cause of death was manual strangulation. Pohlreich's skull fracture and numerous facial injuries appeared to have been inflicted by a fist. Pohlreich's liver had two widely separated lacerations, and she had a distinct anal tear that the medical examiner opined was caused by a solid, nonhuman object. Pohlreich had a blood alcohol level of .14 percent at the time of her death. Pohlreich's purse, sweater, and car were found at Papagayo's. The police discovered that on the evening of Pohlreich's death George Russell went to Papagayo's with his friend Smith McLain to have dinner. Once there, Russell and another friend talked to Pohlreich. After dinner, Russell borrowed the keys to McLain's truck, explaining that he had to change into a shirt with a collar as required on Papagayo's dance floor. Russell had a duffle bag in the truck. A Bellevue police officer was working off duty that night as a doorman at Papagayo's. He often spoke with Russell, a frequent patron of the nightclub. That night he saw Russell twice: once shortly after he began his shift at 10:30 p.m. and again approximately an hour later. On the second occasion, Russell told the officer that he was going to take this girl over to her place to get something. Verbatim Report on Appeal, at 4042, 4052. The officer did not see the woman well enough to identify her; however, he described her size as being similar to Pohlreich's, and he noticed that the woman seemed very intoxicated. Russell did not return to Papagayo's that evening with the truck. McLain was upset and spent the rest of the evening waiting for him at the Overlake Denny's where it was customary for Papagayo's patrons to go after closing. At around 5:30 a.m., McLain found a ride home. On the morning that Pohlreich's body was discovered, Russell telephoned the McLain residence. Russell said that he had been out looking for McLain all night. At approximately 6 a.m., McClain's sister, Shawn Calvo, saw Russell return in her brother's truck. Russell told her that he had borrowed the truck to drive a friend home and then could not find McLain. During this conversation Calvo noticed a reddish-orange stain on the passenger seat of the truck. Russell explained that his friend had vomited clam chowder in the truck. Russell declined Calvo's offer of a ride home and walked away with his duffle bag. McLain woke up after Russell had left and went out to inspect his truck. He smelled a strong offensive odor that reminded him of vomit or the smell of a deer gutted after a hunting kill. Russell called McLain that morning and told him that he had thrown up in the truck after drinking too much. Russell informed McLain that he had driven a woman home in the truck because he did not want to be seen in the woman's Porsche. Russell had spoken previously about the woman with the Porsche. That woman was Tamara Francis. Francis testified that she knew Russell but had never left Papagayo's with him. The police also discovered that Russell had been a regular customer at the Black Angus, where Pohlreich's body was discovered, from 1989 until March 1990, when he was banned from the restaurant. Russell was very angry about that decision. On October 11, 1990, almost 3 1/2 months after Pohlreich's murder, the police removed the interior of Smith McLain's truck. While the interior had been cleaned and detailed during the summer, the floormats had not. McLain had removed the floormats, which were made from house carpet remnants, from his truck and had put them in the garage because they smelled so bad. The upholstery in McLain's truck reacted positively for blood and HO and A antigens which matched the HO and A antigens in the vaginal swab taken at the Pohlreich autopsy. Both antigens could have been contributed by Pohlreich herself who was a type A secretor. Russell was type O; although he could have been the source of the HO antigens, he could not have contributed the A antigens. The State also sent the vaginal swab and upholstery samples for DNA testing. Because of the poor quality of the samples, the laboratory conducted a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. The PCR test results indicated that neither Russell nor McLain could have been the source of the blood in McLain's truck, but that Pohlreich could have been. The testing also revealed that only Russell, of all the comparison samples, could have been the donor of the sperm. In addition to the sperm and blood samples, one negroid hair, consistent with Russell's, was found in the debris on the sheet in which Pohlreich's body was wrapped. Five fibers found in the pubic combings were consistent with the truck carpet as was one fiber from the sheet debris. Another fiber in the sheet debris was consistent with the truck's upholstery.