LEBANON — Jennifer Crew, a former manager at an Iowa gentlemen’s club, is the mystery witness in the third Ryan Widmer bathtub murder trial.
The prosecution told jurors during opening statements Wednesday that Widmer was intoxicated one night and admitted to Crew he killed his wife, Sarah Widmer.
Prosecutors said Crew will testify Widmer confessed the crime to her, told her what triggered the attack and admitted he staged the 911 tape that some previous jurors found suspect in the two past trials.
The defense said Crew is addicted to pain pills and has a crime record, including fraud, theft and burglary convictions. They said Crew lied and made up the confession to prosecutors.
The defense claims Widmer expressed his love for his wife to Crew and she made up conversations by memorizing an episode on NBC’s “Dateline” about the case.
The prosecution began its case describing to the jury the 911 call Widmer gave and the scene emergency medical technicians found when they arrived to the home. They said a young, healthy woman like Sarah Widmer would not have drowned without being forced under water.
Widmer, 30, is accused of drowning her in August 2008 in the two-story home, which is located in a small subdivision in Hamilton Twp. just down the road from Little Miami High School.
Sarah Widmer was an Edgewood High School graduate.
Today is the start of the sensational murder trial that has captured regional and national attention. A jury of six women and six men was chosen Jan. 19. The judge today asked the jury if it will consider hearing testimony Saturday. That would be discussed by the jury over lunch.
In the first trial in 2009, a conviction was thrown out and the second trial ended in a hung jury last June.
Jury members were given instructions by Judge Neal Bronson on what they would be looking at in the home during a tour by bailiffs. He said they would look at the stairway, a door to the master suite, the distance from the bedroom to bathroom, the bathroom floor, the tub and the location of the toilet.
Bronson allowed a Cincinnati Enquirer reporter to retrace the jurors’ steps after they left, serving as a “pool reporter” and later sharing observations with other news reporters.
This is how the reporter described the home:
• The staircase leading to upstairs is only a few feet from the front door. There are seven steps that end at a landing, then a turn and five more steps to get to the top of the stairs, where one turns a corner to get to the master suite.
• The master bedroom is connected to the bathroom where Sarah Widmer drowned in the tub. There is a shower next to the tub.
• In the bathroom, it is only about eight steps from the doorway to the far wall. The width from the bathtub to nearby cabinets is only about three feet.
• It would be difficult for two adults to stand shoulder to shoulder in that space. The bathroom is small, but looks larger in photos.
• Tub fixtures were removed by order of the court because they had been changed since new owners moved into the house.
On Tuesday, the defense filed court documents asking the judge to exclude the alleged phone call confession from Widmer to Crew and to let them introduce evidence of her past criminal convictions in Iowa for theft, burglary and fraud among other infractions.
The judge denied that request today.
The filings state that Widmer never met the woman, but she contacted him after the NBC “Dateline” piece about the case aired in September 2009. The pair communicated on a number of occasions via cell phone, but the defense contends the alleged phone call confession cannot be authenticated and is thus inadmissible.
Crew’s identity was not released until today because she claimed in an affidavit that Widmer threatened her and the prosecution asked for her identity to remain shielded.
Some legal experts have said the Crew’s testimony might prompt Widmer to testify during the trial. His mother Jill Widmer, after the first trial and before she along with everyone else connected to the case was muted by a gag order, said her son wanted to take the stand to tell his side.
The only words anyone has heard Widmer utter were when he was found guilty by the first jury. “I love my wife, I wouldn’t hurt her,” he told Judge Neal Bronson.
After the second jury was deadlocked he left the courthouse saying “I should have been found not guilty.”
However, Ian Friedman, past president of the Ohio Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, said it is premature to expect Widmer to raise his right hand and swear to tell the truth.
“A jury trial is a living breathing process that changes sometimes by the moment. While a trial lawyer goes into the courtroom with a well thought out strategy, we all know that there will be ups and downs. Although prepared, you still have to improvise and make split second decisions,” he said. “That is the nature of the courtroom. The decision as to whether he will testify will be made likely after the state has presented its case.”
The trial is expected to last three to four weeks.
The case, which has spanned two-and-a-half years, has involved 13 trial and appellate attorneys who have made 73 docketed motions.
The Widmer family has spent almost $500,000 defending their son and the taxpayers have shelled out $51,924 for the first two trials. That amount does not include the time for the assistant prosecutors who have worked on the case.
Widmer remains free on a $400,000 bond.
The defense notified the judge on Tuesday that Dr. Werner Spitz choked on a chicken bone on Christmas Eve and will be unavailable to testify in the trial.
Spitz, a renown forensic pathologist, autopsied Sarah Widmer after the county coroner and declared she drowned but said her manner of death was undeterminable by anyone.
The defense asked the court to approve a $15,000 payment for Spitz after declaring Widmer indigent. The judge did not allow the payment.
Friedman said with Spitz unavailable the defense can now introduce his testimony from the past two trials.
“The judge now has the ability with a ruling declaring Dr. Spitz unavailable, to ensure that Mr. Widmer receives a fair trial without having to dig into the pockets of the taxpayers,” he said.
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