Witness Tells of Thornton’s Hand-Washing Compulsion : Courts: Ex-girlfriend testifies he became obsessed with scrubbing days after shooting death of Kellie O’Sullivan.

Accused Thousand Oaks murderer Mark Scott Thornton developed an obsession with scrubbing his hands clean in the days after Westlake nurse Kellie O’Sullivan’s shooting death, his ex-girlfriend testified Tuesday.

“He was scratching the skin off them, like they were really dirty,” Stephanie Campbell, 17, told the jury hearing Thornton’s death-penalty trial.

“But it wasn’t dirt above the skin,” she added. “It was below the skin.”

Campbell’s testimony in Ventura County Superior Court came during a contentious cross-examination by Thornton attorney Susan R. Olson, a deputy public defender.

Prosecutors say Campbell was kidnaped by Thornton and held for five days against her will after the defendant had already killed the nurse and stole the woman’s truck.

Campbell first told sheriff’s investigators about the defendant’s hand-cleansing obsession after he was arrested in Reno, Nev., on Sept. 19, 1993.

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In court, Campbell testified that she was unaware of O’Sullivan’s murder at the time and had no idea why Thornton was suddenly so compulsive about his hands.

Unlike her lucid testimony under direct examination a day earlier, Campbell often said she could not remember events about her abduction during four hours of lively cross-examination Tuesday.

Olson sought to show that Thornton loved Campbell at the time of the abduction and would not have done anything to harm her. He had plenty of opportunities to hurt her if he wanted, she suggested, but never did.

Her questions also implied that Campbell never tried to get away from her captor.

Campbell remembered that shortly after her abduction, Thornton shed his shirt and revealed on his shoulder a tattoo displaying her name. Recalling the moment brought tears to Campbell’s eyes and caused a short delay in the trial.

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Later, Deputy Dist. Atty. Peter D. Kossoris asked her why she had cried.

“He has a tattoo with my name on it on his back,” she said. “I feel . . . that he was obsessed with me, and he was very possessive. And that scares me.”

To her knowledge, the tattoo is permanent. “I don’t want it on his body,” she said. “I don’t like the fact that he sees it everyday.”

During the first night of the abduction, the two stayed at a Bakersfield Econo Lodge, where Thornton made her wait in the bathroom with him while he showered, she said.

Olson also pressed the witness about why she never tried to escape at several stops Thornton made as they drove to Northern California, after leaving Bakersfield.

The attorney was also curious as to why Campbell did not tell investigators about those stops at various department stores until just several months ago in August--nearly a year after her abduction.

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Campbell responded that she did not remember exactly what she told investigators when she informed them about making stops at J.C. Penney’s and Kmart.

“That was only two or three months ago, and you don’t remember that conversation?” Olson asked rhetorically.

“No,” Campbell replied.

The exchange was typical of the day’s acrimonious dialogue between Thornton’s attorney and his ex-girlfriend.

Olson also noted some inconsistencies in statements Campbell had made to police and the girl’s court testimony.

Campbell declared she was telling the truth in court. Her statements to police, she said, came soon after Thornton’s arrest, a time in which she was still shaken.

“I was in shock. I was very excited because I got to go home and see my family,” said Campbell, who testified that she has moved from the area with her mother in search of a new start.

At one point, however, Olson asked her if she realized the importance of the trial, that Thornton is fighting for his life. She said she understood that.

Olson honed in on the fourth day of the abduction, when Thornton and Campbell woke up at Patrick’s Point Campground in San Francisco and went to a festival in Arcata. Campbell said that the mood was indeed festive and a lot of people milled around, including police officers. She said, however, that she never felt comfortable trying to alert any of them of her predicament.

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That next day, she said, she did finish her shower at the campground before Thornton finished his, but still did not seek help for fear that he would harm her.

On their fifth day together, the two arrived at the Circus Circus casino in Reno, Nev., where, after two hours, Campbell got help when Thornton “walked away from me.”

She said that the defendant phoned her once from jail after she arrived back home.

“Did he tell you that he loved you?” Olson asked.

“Yes.”

“Was he crying?”

“Yes.”

“Did you tell him that you hated him?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Did you hang up on him?”

“Yes,” Campbell answered.