Lindberg: Murder Letter Brag, Not Fact

Defendant Gunner Lindberg admitted writing a letter claiming responsibility for killing an in-line skater, but insisted that he didn’t commit the murder and boasted about it only as a way to get attention, according to a tape of a police interrogation.

The tape played Tuesday at Lindberg’s murder trial brought the family of victim Thien Minh Ly, 24, to tears as they sat in the back row of the courtroom, listening to a Tustin detective read graphic excerpts from the letter that Lindberg sent to his cousin, detailing the slaying.

“I wrote the whole letter,” Lindberg told detectives. But he insisted “it’s just a letter boasting.”

Since it is unlikely that Lindberg will take the stand in his own defense, the tape could be the Orange County Superior Court jury’s only opportunity to hear Lindberg’s version of events the day Ly was killed on a tennis court at Tustin High School.

A graduate of UCLA and Georgetown University, Ly was attacked in 1996 as he went to the high school to practice skating.

Lindberg insisted during the interview that what he knew about the murder was from news accounts.

He said that on the day of the murder he had watched some of the Super Bowl, got high on marijuana and played video games. He denied ever having been at the tennis court or having anything to do with the murder, according to the taped interrogation.

The letter, sent to Lindberg’s cousin, Walter Ray Dulaney, was turned over to authorities by Dulaney’s wife and led police to Lindberg.

The cousin testified in recent days about having received the letter and having had a follow-up conversation with Lindberg, in which the defendant again admitted to killing Ly and claimed to have enjoyed it.

Also Tuesday, a DNA expert for the Orange County Crime Lab said that blood found on a black leather glove in Lindberg’s bedroom was consistent with Ly’s blood. Other DNA evidence revealed blood consistent with a mixture of Ly’s and Lindberg’s blood.

During cross-examination, defense attorney David Zimmerman tried to show that the DNA evidence is not conclusive.