Ex-Wife Takes the Stand in Von Haden Murder Trial

As courtroom observers sat in heavy silence Wednesday, a woman testified that her former husband once tried to explain why he killed their two young children by saying that “something in me just snapped that day.”

Laurie Liem remained calm as she quietly testified about the demise of her marriage to defendant David Von Haden, who could face the death penalty if convicted of suffocating their 2-year-old daughter, Courtney, and their 4-year-old son, Cody, on Feb. 22, 1996.

Liem, who has remarried and is pregnant with her second child with her current husband, said that when she visited her former husband in jail four months after the slayings, he said to her: “You’re young and you can have more kids.” She testified that he also said, “I know I have to pay for what I’ve done.”

Liem did not look directly at the 37-year-old defendant as she completed her second day of testimony in Orange County Superior Court. Under a lengthy cross-examination by defense attorneys, she was asked to detail the final weeks of her marriage, which broke up in January 1996 when she told Von Haden she wanted a separation.

“I didn’t want to be married to him anymore,” she said. “I was looking for happiness.”

When asked if Von Haden was a good father, Liem said that he was, “probably up until the last few weeks” before the killings. She paused long when asked if he had ever abused the children, and finally answered, “No.”

The prosecution contends that Von Haden killed the children and cleaned out the couple’s bank accounts as a way of exacting revenge against the estranged wife who was leaving him for another man.

But the defense contends that the slayings were the desperate actions of a devoted father and husband who was “clinically depressed” and unable to think beyond his own pain when he killed the children and then shot and injured himself.

The children were found dead in the master bedroom of the couple’s Yorba Linda home less than two weeks before a court hearing was scheduled on child custody and divorce matters.

Deputy Public Defender Jean Wilkinson questioned Liem at length about her relationship with Rick Liem, the man she began dating in the weeks before the slayings and to whom she is now married. She acknowledged that she denied the relationship to Von Haden when he asked her about it in the weeks before the children were killed.

Wilkinson confronted Liem with telephone records which showed that she had paged Rick Liem 52 times during the weeks of their relationship and accused her of telling Rick Liem that she loved him when she talked to him on the telephone in front of the Von Haden children.

Rick Liem testified Wednesday that Laurie had pursued him initially, telling him that her marriage was “on the rocks” and that she was romantically interested in him. He said they then began seeing each other.

Von Haden learned of the relationship and eventually went looking for Rick Liem at the auto dealership where he worked. He hid from Von Haden that day and was in the process of applying for a restraining order when he learned that the children had been killed, he testified.

“I was scared for what might happen,” he said.

He also testified about a series of threatening telephone calls from Von Haden, who allegedly said, “You and me have a score to settle,” and “You better watch your back.”