Suspect ‘Normal,’ Officers Say : Fatal stabbing: Two policemen tell of their encounter with Kevin Kolodziej. Woman, 90, was killed at home by a trespasser soon thereafter.

Despite being warned that a trespassing suspect “was psychotic and possibly violent,” two Ventura police officers testified Monday that Kevin Kolodziej appeared normal to them shortly before the fatal stabbing of a 90-year-old woman.

Last January, Kolodziej, who has a history of mental illness, broke restraints and walked out of the Ventura County Medical Center, where he was being treated for self-inflicted stab wounds.

Ventura police officers Alex Marquez and John Snowling testified about their encounter with Kolodziej before Superior Court Judge James M. McNally, who is conducting a non-jury trial.

At about 7:30 a.m. on the day of the stabbing, Marquez said he spotted Kolodziej in a garage not far from the medical center.

Marquez, a nine-year police veteran, said he had heard a police dispatcher’s warning about Kolodziej and that the hospital “wanted him back.”

But for about 10 to 15 minutes, Marquez testified, he and Snowling, with six years police experience, talked to Kolodziej. Both officers testified that the suspect showed no signs of erratic behavior.

“He did not display any bizarre behavior,” Marquez said. “He talked to us in a normal tone of voice.

“We told him to return back to the hospital” and check himself out, Marquez said.

Then, he said, the 25-year-old suspect walked away in the direction of the hospital.

Less than half an hour later, Velasta Johnson was fatally stabbed in the heart. Kolodziej is charged with entering her Agnus Drive residence and stabbing her to death.

McNally ruled Monday that he would personally view the scene of the crime at the victim’s residence on Wednesday.

No testimony will be taken in the house, McNally said. Instead, a district attorney’s investigator will accompany him and point out where the crime took place and related details.

McNally made the decision despite an argument from Public Defender Steve P. Lipson that to go to the crime scene could have an emotional impact on the judge.

Lipson said there is a “disturbed feeling” in the house, which he likened to going “through my father’s clothes when he died.”

But the prosecutor, Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter D. Kossoris, argued that having McNally visit the house might give the jurist an insight into an alleged connection between the homicide and a burglary.

If the homicide occurred during a burglary, the defendant faces a first-degree murder charge which could subject Kolodziej to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Otherwise, he could face a lesser homicide charge.

In the end, McNally reasoned that because of the seriousness of the charge, he should take “utmost care” to gather all information necessary before rendering a verdict.

“I believe the weight falls on the side of seeing the place,” he said.