Before Dystiny Myers was killed, she was severely beaten, bound, and loaded up on methamphetamines, according to testimony from a key witness in the ongoing murder trial in San Luis Obispo.
Five defendants on trial for the murder of Myers, a 15-year-old Santa Maria resident, sat before a media circus at a preliminary hearing on Feb. 7 and 8 in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court. The judge ordered the defendants to stand trial.
Jason Adam Greenwell, 21; Frank Jacob York, 19; and Rhonda Maye Wisto, 47, of Nipomo; Ty Michael Hill, 28, of Santa Maria; and Cody Lane Miller, 22, of Fresno, have been charged in Myers’ death. They have all pleaded not guilty to charges.
Prosecutors allege the five were members of a methamphetamine ring who began turning on each other after allegedly killing Myers and burning her body in remote Santa Margarita at the insistence of Wisto, their suspected ringleader.
Sheriff’s detectives recounted during the pretrial the story of what happened the night of the murder as told to them by Greenwell, York, Hill, and Miller. The four suspects told essentially the same story, according to detectives, but details differed, with each suspect de-emphasizing their involvement.
Myers was kicked and beaten with baseball bats and brass knuckles at a residence in Nipomo and was then transported to a remote location in the hills near Santa Margarita, detectives said.
On Feb. 7, Superior Court Judge Barry LaBarbera heard testimony from a number of witnesses, including Detective Stuart MacDonald, an investigator with the SLO Sheriff-Coroner’s office who was part of the team that performed the autopsy on Myers.
MacDonald said the primary cause of death was mechanical asphyxiation, combined with blunt force trauma and methamphetamine intoxication.
Forensic Specialist Kenneth Jones also testified that York’s palm print was recovered from a baseball bat found at the scene, along with blood. He also said traces of blood were found in Wisto’s truck, as well as on shovels, samurai swords, and brass knuckles found at Wisto’s Nipomo home.
However, Jones testified that investigators never checked the shovels, swords, or brass knuckles for fingerprints, nor did they send the blood samples to an outside crime lab for DNA identification. Under cross examination by Hill’s attorney, Raymond Allen, Jones said investigators had “no information” on whose blood it was.
This article appears in Feb 10-17, 2011.