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LISBON -- Utilizing photos which left some jurors grimacing, Edward Lulla of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations detailed evidence collected along Seigler Road where the body of Quinn Wilson was left in two pieces two years ago, as the jury trial of Danielle Heckathorn continued Wednesday afternoon.
Heckathorn, 30, is charged with complicity to commit murder, conspiracy to commit robbery, complicity to robbery, tampering with evidence and three counts of obstructing justice -- all for her alleged involvement in Wilson's death sometime around March 6, 2015.
Just about two days after investigators had started looking for Wilson, the search came to an end when George Saksa, who lived on Seigler Road, took a walk up the road. He was going to check if the old Ford extended cab he said he saw and heard stop up the road the evening before had dumped something out. Instead he found Wilson's body.
"I kept staring at it for a while," Saksa said, adding he wanted to make sure it was real. "It was cut in half, but there was no gore or blood."
Saksa, a retired wildlife officer, called the county sheriff's office about what he had found.
Lulla was one of the lead investigators from BCI, who had been called into Columbiana County to investigate related crime scenes that Monday and Tuesday and he was then asked to return to collect evidence around the body on Wednesday.
He told the jury about the evidence collected on the hillside and also detailed for the jury the blood evidence collected at Daniel Landsberger's property and inside his SUV on the two previous days.
Lulla explained to the jury the difference between different blood stains found -- blood that had saturated one area, blood that had been spattered and a blood swipe from something bloody being pulled across an area. All three types of blood evidence were found in either the home or the SUV, which Lulla said they believe was used to move Wilson's body.
The evidence collected included that found by Salem police Sgt. John Scheets, who testified he was working with the county homicide task force a day after the investigation began. Scheets explained to the jury that while he was near Landsburger's home talking to neighbors, the dog warden agent was there trying to catch Landsberger's beagle.
Scheets said at one point he found a dog food bag and opened it expecting to grab some food to help lure the dog. Instead the bag contained several bloody items. Lulla testified they had to hang those items out to dry before they could be packaged for the BCI lab because they were so soaked with blood and remained wet.
Lulla and Scheets were two of four investigators who testified at the trial on Wednesday morning as parts of the investigation were detailed.
Investigators wanted to talk to Landsberger's girlfriend, but did not know her identity at the time. East Palestine Sgt. Donny Johnson testified he and then-Salineville Police Chief Andrew Straley, both with the homicide task force, spent March 10 trying to find her identity. They spoke to Landsberger's relatives, friends, an employee at the Night Court bar in Lisbon and Lisbon Sgt. Shar Daub, getting little bits of information but no full name.
Johnson researched on Facebook typing in the name Danielle and Mountaineer, getting the name Danielle Eckhart, later determined to be Danielle Heckathorn. Straley took a driver's license photo Johnson found on the Ohio Law Enforcement Gateway system and texted it to Landsberger's son, Adam, who confirmed she was his father's girlfriend. After hearing several names, Adam Landsberger, who only met her once, confirmed Danielle was her name, but she went by Danny.
Johnson said he, Detective Lt. Andy Sweeney of the sheriff's office and Straley went to Heckathorn's house on Glasgow Road so she could be questioned by detectives at the sheriff's office.
A day prior, on March 9, Johnson testified he was involved in reinterviewing David Brewer, who had been Landsberger's neighbor, but after reporting the possible murder his neighbor committed, Brewer went to stay at a relative's home in Uniontown, between Canton and Akron. On March 11, Johnson said he and others checked the snow-covered pull-off parking areas in the Highlandtown Wildlife Area off Spring Valley Road, looking for any evidence of a possible severe assault, but no evidence was found.
Detective Lt. Brian McLaughlin, director of the county drug task force and a member of the county homicide task force gave the jurors a crash course in drug lingo, how drug dealers primarily operate in this county and how important their phones are when they tend to always move from house to house.
Wilson also was known to McLaughlin before he was murdered. Just prior to his death Wilson had been indicted on a drug-related charge. However, McLaughlin also said it appeared Wilson was a likeable guy and not a typical drug dealer. He worked independently and without threats or "muscle." McLaughlin said he would characterize Wilson as a lower level drug dealer.
But although he was familiar with Wilson, McLaughlin testified he could not recognize him after the body was found because of how badly he was beaten. McLaughlin said Wilson was later identified by his finger prints.
McLaughlin also detailed for jurors how Landsberger met them outside when deputies arrived on Monday, March 9, 2015 to investigate the neighbor's claims from Sunday that Landsberger had killed a man. Landsberger reportedly had four scratches on his neck, which McLaughlin said looked like fingernail scratches to him. While investigators spoke to him, Landsberger kept looking back at the trailer, but said no one was in there. He agreed to let investigators look, which led to McLaughlin and the others discovering the bedroom with a towel rolled up at the bottom of the door, six buckets of snow, the mattress and box springs removed and blood on the walls, floor, dresser and ceiling.
McLaughlin testified he spent March 10 searching the Yellow Creek and Ohio River area looking for the body to no avail. On March 11, investigators went up on King Road near Salem to check a bag someone reported had been dumped there, which also did not turn out to be the body. They began interviewing people who had last worked with Landsberger at Quaker Castings.
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Staff writer Tom Giambroni contributed to this report.
djohnson@mojonews.com