Opinion ID: 2602047
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Evans's Murder[3]

Text: On September 27, 1994, the same day defendant assaulted Pamela B., he installed flooring at Marie Powell Evans's new townhouse in Laguna Hills. On October 13, Evans went to the home of her daughter and son-in-law, Christine and John Hougan, to bring her son-in-law a birthday present. Evans had a dark leather purse with her. Evans left their home around 8:30 p.m. Around 11:00 a.m. the next morning, Christine received a phone call from Evans's boss, who told her that her mother had not shown up for work that morning, which was highly unusual. The Hougans worked for the City of Newport Beach Police Department, Christine as a police dispatcher and John as a police officer. Christine called someone from work and requested her mother's license plate be run to see if there had been a reported traffic accident. Upon discovering that there was no report of an accident involving Christine's mother, the Hougans went to Evans's house. They entered Evans's patio area and saw that the window screen was off the kitchen window. John Hougan noticed that dust on the windowsill had been disturbed and a plant had been knocked over into the sink leading him to think someone had crawled in through the window. Upon closer inspection, he observed a large amount of blood and a pillowcase on the kitchen floor. He took his wife back to the car and had her wait while he retrieved his gun and returned to the house. John entered the house through the front door, which was closed, but unlocked. There was a bloody bare footprint on the entryway throw rug that was facing downward toward the stairs. John then went downstairs and, when halfway down, saw Evans's seminaked body on the floor of the bathroom. After checking the other bedrooms to see if anyone was in the house, he phoned 911. A rear sliding glass door leading into the master bedroom was found open with the screen door closed; the screen had a cut from top to bottom, leaving an opening large enough for a person to walk through. There was blood on the bed in the master bedroom and signs of a struggle, including a porcelain clock that had been knocked over. In the bathroom next to the master bedroom, Evans was lying on her back with her robe pulled up over her chest. There was blood on the bathroom door, floor, and wall. There was a bloody footprint next to the body and a wet towel, a television, and a pillow on top of Evans's head. The television's cord was plugged into a socket in the master bedroom and the television was still on. There was a bloody footprint in the kitchen and another at the top of the stairs facing downwards, along with some potting soil. In the living room, there were shelves holding several glass decanters. On one of the shelves, there was a ring-shaped impression in the dust as if something had been taken. On the kitchen counter there was a notepad with the name Eric (the same as defendant's first name) and a phone number, later determined to be defendant's, written on it. Missing from the house were Evans's purse and a glass decanter. An autopsy showed Evans had suffered multiple major injuries. The autopsy determined she died as a result of bruising to her brain due to blunt force trauma. There were pattern marks on her face between the left eye and ear consistent with a blow from a heavy, patterned object. There were multiple skull fractures and tears in Evans's scalp. Her hands had skin breakage, lacerations, swelling and discoloration, which may have been from an attempt to ward off a blow. There were also marks in Evans's vaginal area that could have been injuries. A sexual assault examination recovered sperm from Evans's anal, perianal, and perivaginal areas as well as her vagina. Sperm was also found on the bedsheets in the master bedroom. DNA was extracted from the sperm.