Suspect Calls Shooting Accidental : Port Hueneme: Grand jury report says Timothy Edward Chrestman gave several accounts of how Andy Lee Anderson died at a remote campground.

The alleged killer of a Simi Valley man gave police a half-dozen accounts of the March slaying, saying first that he witnessed the crime and finally insisting that he accidentally shot Andy Lee Anderson, according to grand jury testimony made public Monday.

In his final account, Timothy Edward Chrestman told investigators he was about to clean his shotgun at a remote Rose Valley campground when he accidentally pulled the trigger, striking Anderson from about 60 feet away, according to a transcript of the grand jury hearing.

Chrestman, of Port Hueneme, said he then purposely shot Anderson’s Australian shepherd, Sheila, because the dog tried to bite him as he opened the door of Anderson’s truck to drive away.

Chrestman’s statements were summarized during four days of testimony last month before the Ventura County grand jury. The proceeding led to an indictment charging Chrestman with murder, robbery, cruelty to an animal and a special circumstance that could send him to the gas chamber.

In Chrestman’s first account of the shooting, he told detectives he was fishing and heard a loud shot, then saw “two male Hispanics” standing near Anderson’s car. In a second version, Chrestman said a high school acquaintance had killed Anderson after having words with him.

Finally, Chrestman told detectives he shot Anderson by accident. But he still gave several versions that included details about going shooting and fishing with Anderson.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Frawley, who is prosecuting the case, told the grand jury that Chrestman was a depressed, habitual liar who killed the 24-year-old Anderson to steal his truck.

“There is no other motive but robbery,” Frawley told grand jurors.

“A guy who is supposedly freaked out after accidentally killing someone . . . is that same person going to shoot a dog just because he thinks the dog might bite him?” he asked.

Chrestman’s father, Edward, told the grand jurors his son had been anxious to leave Oxnard and go to Florida or San Diego to find work in sportfishing. The day before he left to go camping, Chrestman had broken into his parents’ home and stolen a pair of binoculars, which he later sold to a pawnshop.

Chrestman is scheduled to be arraigned in Superior Court on June 21.

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Other witnesses who appeared before the grand jury last month testified about ballistics evidence linking an expended shotgun shell to Chrestman’s shotgun. The shell was found at the Middle Lions campground, where Anderson’s body was dumped in some foliage and where Chrestman had been camping.

And, witnesses said, tests showed the shot was fired from a distance of 144 feet.

Frawley said if the shooting had truly been an accident, Chrestman would not have manually ejected the shell in order to load another one into the gun.

Anderson died after being struck once in the back. Fragments of the slug punctured his heart and severed his aorta. Anderson’s dog was shot four times inside the truck cab.

Authorities identified Chrestman as a suspect after Anderson’s blue truck was found abandoned in West Hollywood in the early hours of March 6. On the seat inside lay Chrestman’s wallet with identification.

Later that day, Chrestman called his father to ask him to come pick him up on Pacific Coast Highway. Sheriff’s detectives were at the house during the call and followed Edward Chrestman until he spotted his son walking near Zuma Beach.