A breakdown of the evidence against 9 defendants

A more than 3-year long investigation into the death of a Turlock man culminated Friday with the arrests of nine people. The arrest warrants were signed by a judge Thursday and were accompanied by more than 300 pages detailing evidence against the suspects. The Modesto Bee summarized the following evidence against each suspect as presented in the arrest affidavit:

Frank Carson, prominent defense attorney and former candidate for Stanislaus County District Attorney

Carson is accused of orchestrating the killing of Korey Kauffman because he was stealing from his Turlock property.

Robert Lee Woody told investigators that he and brothers Daljit Atwal and Baljit Athwal were ordered by Carson to watch over his Ninth Street property in Turlock and make an example out of anyone who trespassed.

On the night of his disappearance, Kauffman left the home of friends Mike and Rickey Cooley to steal irrigation pipes from Carson’s property. The brothers’ home was adjacent to Carson’s property.

Mike Cooley said he believes the pipes were put there to lure him or other thieves to the property.

Rickey Cooley said he went outside 10 minutes after Kauffman left and saw three men on Carson’s property, one of whom had a shotgun.

As far back as 2010, Carson was taking personal action against people he believed were stealing from his property, despite being told by investigators he needed to make a police report and not investigate the thefts himself. He would confront people he thought were involved and attempt to disguise his identity by saying he was a private investigator.

An inmate told investigators he was asked by Carson, a year before Kauffman’s death, to beat up the Cooley brothers for stealing from his property. Carson wanted to “send a message not to f--- with my sh--.”

Cooley said Carson told him, “If I f---ing catch you … or any of your f----ing friends over on my property I will f----ing kill you.”

Georgia Geanette DeFilippo, Carson’s wife and Christina Anne DeFilippo, Carson’s stepdaughter

After investigators began questioning the suspects in June, telephone conversations were intercepted between Christina DeFilippo and her mother.

Christina DeFilippo said investigators were asking a lot of questions. “I think someone fingered like Frank for having aggression issues or something,” she said.

Georgia DeFilippo told her daughter to pass the information on to Carson and “don’t do anything about it, just do what you’ve been doing. … Don’t worry Christi there is certainly no dead body over there.”

Robert Lee Woody, worked at Pop-N-Cork

Woody told investigators that he knew Daljit Atwal and Baljit Athwal for about nine years, and Daljit Atwal paid for Woody’s bail on an unrelated stolen property charge. Investigators said Woody and Baljit Athwal were asked to deal with the theft problem occurring at Carson’s property.

Daljit Athwal and Woody checked in at the In-Shape gym together on the day of the murder. Woody previously told investigators he was out of state when Kauffman disappeared.

Daljit Singh Atwal and Baljit Singh Athwal, Owners of Pop-N-Cork liquors in Turlock, which Kauffman frequented

Carson represented Baljit Athwal in criminal and civil cases in 2008.

According to witnesses, Baljit Atwal and Robert Woody drove up to Kauffman’s home two days before his disappearance and yelled, “Your ass is grass.” Kauffman told another witness Woody and a relative of Daljit Atwal threatened to kill him if he didn’t stay off Carson’s property.

A month after Kauffman’s murder, Baljit Athwal reported his pickup was stolen from his home in Ceres. Later that day it was found burned in an orchard.

Woody told investigators he helped Athwal burn the truck for insurance money.

Records indicate Baljit Athwal’s cellphone was in Mariposa County on June 26, 2012, three months after Kauffman is believed to have been killed. His cellphone registered on towers within 8 miles of where Kauffman’s body was located.

The trip to Mariposa County occurred one day after Athwal, his brother and Woody were first contacted by law enforcement about Kauffman’s disappearance.

Walter Westley Wells, an officer with the California Highway Patrol’s Merced office at the time of the investigation

Investigators say Wells was friends with Daljit Atwal and Baljit Athwal and “invested” $10,000 into their business.

After Kauffman was believed to have been murdered on March 30, 2012, his cellphone connected with a tower that covers Wells’ residence. Wells’ phone also connected with the tower; authorities said they believe Wells had both phones at the time.

Scott McFarlane, an officer with the California Highway Patrol’s Merced office

He lived next door to Kauffman.

He told Daljit Atwal, Baljit Athwal, Woody and Quintanar that Kauffman was a thief and “had to go.”

In an intercepted phone conversation with Dajit Atwal, McFarlane said he wanted to make “sure you weren’t talking” to authorities.

Eduardo Quintanar Jr., an officer with the California Highway Patrol Office’s Merced and Modesto offices

In a recorded phone conversation with Daljit Atwal in July 2012, Quintanar gave him advice about how to avoid having a tracking device put on his car. He told Daljit Atwal to park behind the fenced area of his business and check the car every day. Quintanar also told Daljit Atwal to buy a mirror and have Woody check under the car.

Quintanar advised Daljit Atwal to use different cars and vary his route to work.

This story was originally published August 14, 2015 at 7:51 PM with the headline "A breakdown of the evidence against 9 defendants."