MOORPARK : Evidence of 3 Beatings Cited at Murder Trial

A Moorpark woman was beaten in at least three separate attacks before being choked to death last January, according to two crime experts who testified Monday about bloodstains spattered against the walls of her home.

Ventura County Sheriff’s Department criminalists Michael Parigian and John Houde said that by examining the remnants of blood in the home, they could detail the minimum numbers of “blood-spattering events” prior to her death.

“We can figure out by measuring the diameter (of the stains) and calculate back what the angle that hit that target was,” said Houde, who estimated JoAnn Linkenauger was beaten from a minimum of four different places inside the home.

Parigian said that he could cite at least three separate beatings after examining the evidence.

James Linkenauger, a 38-year-old unemployed mechanic who moved to Ventura County from West Virginia in 1990, is standing trial for the Jan. 17 murder of his wife. Although she died of asphyxiation, she had been severely beaten over much of her body, according to trial testimony.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Matthew J. Hardy said the jury needs to hear details about the number of beatings JoAnn Linkenauger suffered in order to render an informed verdict.

“We want to lay a sufficient foundation so the jurors can understand the full extent of the beating,” he said.

But defense attorney Louis B. Samonsky Jr. said the daylong testimony did no damage to his client, who has maintained that he slept through the attack after drinking for two days.

“Mr. Linkenauger told the police from the very beginning he did not do this (crime),” Samonsky said. “So if it happened in the house, it was done by someone else.”

Testimony in the case will continue today.