Saw Victim, Witness Says, but Not Defendant Radke

A woman testifying Tuesday in the murder trial of Mark Alan Radke said she is “about 90%” positive she saw Jeffrey Rudiger the night he was killed, but he was with a man other than Radke.

Theresa Hickok testified that she saw the two men in a pickup truck in the industrial complex where she worked, near the site where Rudiger’s body was found. She said the second man in the truck “had real blond, curly hair.”

When asked by defense attorney Douglas C. Brown if Radke was the man in the truck, Hickok said, “I think I could exclude him.”

Radke, 24, is accused of murdering the 16-year-old Rudiger on the night of Jan. 21, 1988, in a Mira Mesa alley near the Chuck E. Cheese restaurant where the two worked.

When shown a picture of Rudiger, Hickok said, “He looks like the fellow I saw that night.”

Hickok said she noticed a pickup truck near her office because she was “very nervous” about the two men inside. She testified that she looked at least three times at the figures inside the cab, which was illuminated by the interior light.

During a hearing outside the presence of the jury, Deputy Dist. Atty. Daniel Lamborn objected to Hickok’s testimony because “we know for a fact it couldn’t have been Jeffrey Rudiger.”

Hickok testified that she arrived at the industrial complex at 7:55 p.m. Lamborn told Superior Court Judge J. Richard Haden that Rudiger’s time card indicated he left work at 8:12 p.m. that night.

“I think for that reason, we’d just end up confusing the jury,” Lamborn said.

Another woman who worked near the murder site testified she had seen a change in the upkeep of the alley for several months before the killing.

Barbara K. Hollingsworth said she roller-skated through the alley daily.

“Starting in November (1987), there was a change in the way the complex looked,” she testified, saying she began seeing beer and liquor bottles, clothes, bright yellow condoms and graffiti “in some kind of code” that she couldn’t read.

Additional testimony came from two experts in blood-stain analysis who disputed previous testimony supporting a theory that two people were involved in the killing.

Richard G. Whalley, a forensic scientist who operates his own laboratory, and V. Parker Bell, an attorney and criminalist, both offered theories of the murder based on physical evidence recovered and observed at the scene.

However, the two investigators said there is not enough evidence to support the theory that two people were involved in the murder.

For the second day, Brown also presented a series of character witnesses who testified that Radke was nonviolent.

Testimony in the trial ended Tuesday, after two days of defense witnesses. Attorneys will present closing arguments to the jury Thursday morning.