Jurors Hear Recorded Confession

After two hours of blaming various people for the shotgun slaying of a Simi Valley man in the mountains above Ojai, the accused killer finally admitted being the triggerman in a tape-recorded confession played at his trial Thursday.

Timothy E. Chrestman, 20, spoke matter-of-factly as he told two sheriff’s detectives that his shotgun accidentally discharged and hit Andy Lee Anderson in the back at Middle Lion’s Campground last March. But the Port Hueneme man was heard breaking into sobs as he described shooting Anderson’s dog so he could escape with the dead man’s truck.

“I don’t know why I did that,” Chrestman said when asked by detectives why he shot the dog. “ . . . I was drunk. I don’t know why I did anything.”

Chrestman faces murder, robbery and other charges in the March 4 death of Anderson, 24, who was a customer service representative for a medical insurer. The prosecution claims that Chrestman deliberately killed Anderson and his dog so he could steal the truck.

The defense contends that Chrestman was saddled with the blame by two unidentified gang members after he accidentally witnessed them committing the crime.

Jurors followed along on printed transcripts Thursday as the 2 1/2-hour tape was played in the Superior Court trial. Chrestman sat impassively during the court session, but at times his mother, seated directly behind him, cried uncontrollably.

At other times it was Anderson’s mother who was in tears.

In the taped confession, recorded soon after his arrest, Chrestman began his account to detectives by saying two Latinos, one named Angelo or Angel, shot Anderson and then forced Chrestman to hide the body. Chrestman’s voice broke as he described dragging Anderson’s body to the bushes and covering him with tree branches, an assignment he said upset him because Anderson was still alive.

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Chrestman then claimed he was forced to drive one of the killers to West Hollywood, where he spotted a policeman and tried to get the officer’s attention by making a wide left turn. When the policeman turned on his flashing lights, Chrestman said the killer in the truck told him to ditch the vehicle and run.

Chrestman said he then was able to get away from the killer.

He said he spent the next two days trying to get home on foot, and every time he tried to call home he would spot one of the killers.

When the detectives said they did not believe the story, finding it implausible that the men would kill Anderson and not harm Chrestman, the defendant changed his tale and said the killer was a former schoolmate he happened to run into at the campground.

The second story had much of the same detail as the first, including the forced drive in Anderson’s truck. But it too fell apart when the detectives took a break and telephoned the former schoolmate, who denied any part in the slaying.

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As Anderson embarked on a third version of what happened, Sheriff’s Sgt. Patrick Buckley cut him off.

“You are burying yourself with your lies,” Buckley told him.

After that, Chrestman admitted shooting Anderson but said the gun fired by accident when he picked it up to clean it. He said the incident occurred after he and Anderson, strangers until that day, fished together and Anderson advised him on how to fix his broken pole.

“He was a really, really nice guy,” Chrestman said. “I feel like total (garbage) for what happened.”

The defendant said he killed the dog after he was unable to force the animal out of Anderson’s truck.