Slain Girl Showed No Signs of Rape, Doctor Testifies

Slain Oak View teen Kali Manley had no injuries that indicated she was sexually assaulted before her death, but autopsy results did find trace amounts of drugs and alcohol in her system, the county’s medical examiner testified Wednesday.

The findings by Dr. Ronald O’Halloran undermine a special allegation that the 14-year-old girl was murdered during an attempted rape on Dec. 20, 1998.

The allegation is significant because if proven it would make suspect David Alvarez eligible for the death penalty. The 22-year-old Ojai man is facing charges of murder, attempted rape and making terrorist threats. He has pleaded not guilty.

During the second day of testimony at Alvarez’s preliminary hearing, O’Halloran told a judge that the victim had been strangled.

Scrapes and bruises were found on her neck at the time of autopsy. The medical examiner also observed wounds to her hands and left arm that could have been caused while trying to defend herself, he said.

Manley had small amounts of marijuana and cocaine in her system, as well as a prescription antidepressant, he said. She also had a blood-alcohol level of .03%, a level equivalent to consuming one or two drinks, he said.

As for the allegation of attempted rape, O’Halloran testified that he could find no evidence of sexual trauma or traces of sperm.

The medical examiner was among a dozen witnesses who took the stand Wednesday to testify about the investigation into the slaying of the Nordhoff High School freshman.

Manley was last seen with Alvarez and his friend Robert Miears in the early morning hours of Dec. 20. She left a girlfriend’s house with the two men, whom she did not know, around midnight.

Miears later told Sheriff’s Det. Daniel Thompson that they all went to a nearby Circle K convenience store, where he bought a four-pack of wine coolers, and then to a trailer owned by Alvarez’s family.

During the drive, Miears told the detective, Alvarez asked Manley if she used drugs or wanted to use drugs, and she replied that she did not.

Manley and Alvarez drank some wine coolers and retreated to a bedroom, the detective testified. He said Miears told him the girl went willingly and was not coerced in any way.

Alvarez later came out of the bedroom and said he intended to have sex with Manley, Thompson testified.

Miears fell asleep and woke up later that morning to find both Alvarez and the girl gone, Thompson said. Miears told the detective that he never heard a scream or other sound.

While walking back to downtown Ojai that morning, Miears told the detective, he was picked up by Alvarez and Alvarez’s mother-in-law in her vehicle. Miears said Alvarez appeared to have been drinking and acted like he had also been snorting cocaine.

The two friends left the mother-in-law at her house in Ojai and drove to a liquor store where Alvarez bought a small bottle of vodka, opened it and immediately began drinking, the detective testified.

Alvarez never mentioned Manley that day, but called Miears the next morning to tell him that he had left Manley at the Circle K.

The girl’s body was located in a drainage pipe near Pine Mountain a week later after a massive search of the Ojai back country. It was Alvarez who led authorities to the scene.

Sheriff’s Det. Robert LeMay was riding in the back seat of Dist. Atty. Michael Bradbury’s vehicle as they drove the suspect and his lawyers to the scene on Dec. 26.

LeMay testified Wednesday that Alvarez twice broke into tears during the drive, first as the vehicle turned onto California 33 toward Ojai and later as he and LeMay sat alone during a brief stop for gas.

“Mr. Alvarez turned to me and said, ‘I’m only 22 and she was 14.’ He then added, ‘You know, I have a 3-year-old son . . . “ LeMay testified, saying Alvarez then broke down.

When the group approached the remote spot where the girl’s naked body was recovered, Alvarez was asked to specify the location. According to LeMay, he responded by saying: “I’m not sure, it was dark and I was drunk.”

That remark was one of several incriminating statements offered as evidence during the hearing. Several other detectives testified about comments the defendant allegedly made after Manley was reported missing.

A county jail inmate told one detective that while in custody, Alvarez told him he “was drunk and that he had done . . . something stupid” on the night Manley disappeared.

Authorities intercepted a letter from Alvarez to another jail inmate, Vincent “Ryan” Gatica, who is also awaiting trial on a murder charge. In the letter, a deputy testified, Alvarez wrote in code: “Looks like [I] am [expletive].”

Det. Cheryl Wade testified about a January interview she had with the sister of one of Alvarez’s friends. Britta Appoldt told Wade that her brother, Eric, saw Alvarez later on the morning of Dec. 20.

Alvarez reportedly had blood on his clothes and was acting “crazy,” she said. Britta told Wade that Alvarez admitted to her brother that he had killed someone and could not bury the body because the ground was frozen. Eric Appoldt later denied the statement.

On cross-examination of Wade, defense attorney Robert Schwartz challenged the credibility of Britta’s account. Wade acknowledged that Britta told her she “hated” Alvarez and “wanted him to fry.”

Conflicting testimony was presented regarding threats Alvarez allegedly made to a woman at the convenience store where Alvarez, Miears and Manley stopped on their way to the trailer.

The woman, Kim Schmeltz, told deputies that Alvarez flashed a gun at her in the parking lot and made violent threats before speeding away. Alvarez knew Schmeltz as the mother of some local teens.

Miears, however, told Det. Thompson that he never saw a gun and never heard Alvarez say anything to a woman in another car.

During the hearing Wednesday, Judge James P. Cloninger interrupted testimony to decide whether the defendant’s wife, Brooke Alvarez, could assert her marital privilege to avoid having to testify against her husband.

State prosecutors, who have taken over the case because Bradbury is friends with Alvarez’s parents, contend the marriage should not be legally recognized because the couple have been separated for three years and are in the midst of a divorce.

But Brooke Alvarez told the judge Wednesday that she has since decided to stay in the marriage. When questioned about statements she made in court documents last year accusing her husband of domestic abuse, Brooke Alvarez told lawyers she “exaggerated.”

Although David Alvarez told friends he considered her his ex-wife, Brooke Alvarez told the judge she still considers herself married. She is now living in Idaho with their 3-year-old son, David Luis Alvarez.

Prosecutors fought hard Wednesday to force her to testify, though it was not clear what she would offer to the proceedings. They treated her as a hostile witness, then called two other women to the stand who testified that David Alvarez made sexual advances to them just days before his arrest.

But in the end, Cloninger ruled that since the divorce is not final, Brooke Alvarez maintains her right not to testify.

The preliminary hearing is expected to conclude today.