Trial Starts for Navy Corpsman Accused of Balboa Park Slaying

A plan to find a victim in Balboa Park culminated in a fatal stabbing, a prosecutor told jurors Tuesday as the trial started for the Navy corpsman accused of the killing.

Todd Everette Fluette, 19, is charged with conspiracy, murder and a special circumstance of lying in wait in the death of Michael Wayne Hamilton, a 48-year-old El Cajon man who was killed Dec. 8.

Hamilton, who worked as an elementary school counselor, died after his throat was slashed and he was stabbed eight times. His partially buried body was discovered near California 163 just north of the Laurel Street bridge.

Fluette, who prosecutors believe is responsible for the stabbing, is accused of conspiring with another Navy man, David Allen Kring, 23, to commit the murder. Kring pleaded guilty last week to first-degree murder and will be sentenced next month to serve a prison term of 25 years to life.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Gordon Paul Davis said that Kring, who was studying at the Naval School of Health Services in Balboa Park, bragged about the killing to other Navy men.

Davis said they brought another corpsman, William Jay Baker, to the burial site to recover the knife used in the stabbing.

Baker testified Tuesday that he was fitted with an audio transmitter that recorded a conversation with Fluette and Kring. On the tape, played in court, Fluette said he had a plan to cover up their actions.

“We’re not part of the serial killings,” Fluette said. “We only did one, so they can’t trace us back.”

Hamilton was one of three gay men who were found dead in Balboa Park in a five-week period last year.

Fluette, who is being held in lieu of $2-million bail, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of all charges.