Testimony begins in west Modesto murder-arson case

A fire investigator on Thursday testified that a fire was intentionally started to conceal a crime at the west Modesto home where Guadalupe Mario Tubera was found dead nearly four years ago.

Ed Sears, the investigator, told a judge that the gasoline-fueled fire was started with an open-flame device, possibly a lighter. His testimony is part of a preliminary hearing that started Thursday for Clinton Curtis Wilson, who is accused of shooting Tubera over stolen marijuana and a laptop computer.

The hearing is expected to conclude Friday, when the judge will determine whether there is enough evidence for Wilson to stand trial in Stanislaus Superior Court.

Wilson and Nicole Marie Pappas are charged with murder and arson in Tubera’s death. The defendants are being prosecuted separately but were scheduled to appear in court together for their preliminary hearing.

But Deputy District Attorney Michael Houston asked the judge to cancel Pappas’ preliminary hearing and allow her to stay in the courtroom with her attorney during Wilson’s hearing. Judge Scott Steffen told Pappas he will reschedule her hearing if necessary. There has been some indication that prosecutors were negotiating a plea deal with Pappas and her attorney, but no resolution has been announced.

Wilson’s preliminary hearing continued Thursday with testimony from Amanda Keith, who said she was with Wilson the day the fire occurred. The blaze started sometime after 1 p.m. on May 4, 2011, at the home in the 1700 block of John Street, three blocks south of Robertson Road.

Keith said she had known Wilson for about six to eight weeks before the incident occurred on John Street. She testified that Wilson had told her about a guy named “Locs” who had stolen a pound of marijuana and a laptop from him.

She said she didn’t know the man’s real name at the time and that Wilson was angry about the theft and wanted to fight “Locs.”

Wilson had been staying at a trailer parked next to the home. He was working there for the property owner, helping to renovate the home. The fire investigator found the single-story house with scattered construction debris and boarded windows. It didn’t have any furnishings or electricity.

At some point, one of Wilson’s friends came to the trailer. Keith testified that the friend told Wilson that “Locs” was on his way. A couple of minutes later, Wilson left the trailer with his friend. Keith stayed inside the trailer.

She said that’s when she heard what sounded like three gunshots coming from nearby. She said she stayed inside and didn’t look outside. Wilson then poked his head into the trailer and told Keith they had to leave, according to her testimony.

She said she gathered her belongings, walked out of the trailer and saw Wilson speaking to someone behind the wheel of a white Ford pickup before the vehicle drove away. She said she never saw Wilson’s friend again and never saw “Locs.”

Wilson and Keith drove to a Modesto motel room. She didn’t ask Wilson what happened at the home.

“I was scared,” Keith said on the witness stand. “I didn’t know what to do ... because I knew he had a problem with that man, and that man had shown up.”

When they arrived at the motel room, she said, Pappas and her boyfriend were there. Keith said that’s when Wilson first said what happened at the house. “I believe he said he shot Locs,” she testified.

She said Wilson didn’t explain a motive for the shooting. Then, another room at the motel was rented, and Wilson, Pappas and Keith moved there. That’s when Wilson said he had tried to start a fire at the house, but that it was possible the fire had gone out, according to Keith.

She said Pappas offered to go back to the house to check it out. Keith testified that Pappas later returned to the motel room, saying the fire was out but that she had lit a paper bag on fire to restart the blaze.

Keith initially didn’t tell investigators everything that happened that day because she said she was afraid of retaliation if she told the truth.

“I didn’t know what to do,” Keith said in court. “I had never been in that kind of situation before.”

This story was originally published April 30, 2015 at 5:33 PM with the headline "Testimony begins in west Modesto murder-arson case."