MOORPARK : Examiner Testifies on Strangulation

Whoever beat and strangled JoAnn Linkenauger early this year took more than a few minutes to accomplish the killing, a Ventura County medical examiner testified Tuesday.

“The whole flavor of the injuries I saw did not suggest a quick strangulation,” said Dr. Fred Walker, the assistant coroner who performed the autopsy on the 39-year-old Moorpark woman.

“These marks very much suggest impact by fingers,” Walker said, pointing to photographs of the victim posted in front of the Ventura County Superior Court jury. “It’s fair to say there’s more than one gripping. There’s probably several.”

The physician was the latest to testify in the murder trial of James Linkenauger, 38, the unemployed mechanic accused of killing his wife in a drunken rage Jan. 17 after she returned home from a weekend in Las Vegas.

Walker listed the time of death as between 8 p.m. Jan. 17 and 8 a.m. the following day. “It’s a wide spread,” he said.

Prosecutors contend that Linkenauger killed his wife around 10 p.m. and then dumped her body in a muddy ravine near Somis.

In other testimony Tuesday, Gary Bichner, a friend of James Linkenauger, said the defendant told him that his cats had knocked over bleach containers onto the living room rug. Prosecutors allege that Linkenauger tried to cover up the blood stains by pouring bleach on his own living room carpet.

Bichner also admitted that he had discussed details of the case with several other trial witnesses as recently as Monday afternoon.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Matthew J. Hardy said he could complete his case as soon as today.