Jury resumes deliberating in case of woman assaulted, killed in downtown Modesto
Deliberations are set to continue Monday in the case of a Modesto man accused of sexually assaulting a homeless woman, strangling and beating her to death behind a downtown Modesto business complex.
On the morning of May 13, 2019, Christina Hill’s body was found in a driveway on 18th Street behind businesses on G Street. She was naked except for a sock on one foot and a shirt pulled up over her breasts. She had bruises and contusions throughout her 97-pound body, and her face had been beaten beyond recognition, Deputy District Attorney Erin Schwartz said in her opening statements.
Hill, 47, died of asphyxiation due to strangulation and blunt force injuries, according to Dr. Michael Ferenc, a forensic pathologist who conducted her autopsy.
He testified Hill had bruises and abrasions on her chin, knees and the back of her hands and wrists, suggesting she was face down with someone restraining her wrists. The abrasion to her chin was so deep it exposed her bone.
The wounds to the back of Hill’s head were consistent with it being slammed into a wall at the crime scene and possibly the pavement, Ferenc testified.
Joseph Chapman, 40, is charged with one count of murder with enhancements for committing the crime during the commission of sodomy and during the commission of an attempted rape. Schwartz said there is no evidence the two knew each other; it was a random attack.
“You may not know why this happened to Christina Hill, but after you hear the evidence, you will know who did this to her,” Schwartz said during opening statements. “The evidence all points to one person ... Joseph Chapman.”
Chapman’s DNA was found on and inside Hill’s body, and a shirt bearing Backwoods brand name that he was seen wearing prior to the attack had been left at the scene. The shirt was covered in Hill’s blood, primarily on the sleeves.
Chapman’s defense attorney, Willard Bakeman, said in opening arguments that DNA evidence proves Chapman and Hill had sex but not that he killed her. He said there was DNA evidence of a third unknown individual on the “Backwoods” shirt found at the scene.
He said the person who killed Hill had “extreme rage,” while he described his client as a “happy drunk.”
Defendant on surveillance video
Following the discovery of Hill’s body, detectives reviewed video from numerous surveillance systems in the area.
A block from the crime scene, at the Quick Stop at La Loma Avenue, detectives found video that showed Hill inside the store around 12:45 a.m. at the same time as Chapman. He left the store first; exterior cameras show him walking behind Hill as she crossed Burney Street toward G street before both go out of view around 12:50 a.m., according to testimony from several Modesto police detectives. Hill was wearing a backpack, holding a cup of coffee and a grocery bag and was seen on the video putting her cell phone in her pocket before leaving the store.
Her cell phone, the grocery bag and her ATM card would later be found by a passerby on the sidewalk near the crime scene.
Chapman was identified as the suspect after police publicly released the surveillance footage of him inside the Quick Stop and received an anonymous tip.
Chapman was arrested on May 17, 2019, and detectives served a search warrant at his home in west Modesto.
Robert Alias, one of Chapman’s three stepchildren, was home during the search and spoke to police.
Detective Joshua Lawrence testified that he interviewed Alias, who “made it very clear he was not a fan” of Chapman. He said Alias was cooperative and wanted to provide all the information he could.
“He’s a piece of s--- as far as I’m concerned,” Alias told Lawrence. “I will tell you right now he mostly likely committed this crime — 100%.”
But when Alias testified earlier this month, he said his statements to police in 2019 were made in anger.
The police came to his home unannounced and it caused his dogs to fight, he testified.
“I was angry, I just dealt with pulling my dogs off each other because they were trying to kill each other,” Alias said. “I wanted to get everyone one of the house and get back to my life.”
Alias acknowledged he told the detective that Chapman had come home five or six days prior with “very swollen and busted up hands” and wearing new clothing. He also texted his mom that Chapman had bragged about “probably killing people,” according to testimony.
But Alias testified that he actually thought it was Chapman who’d been attacked.
Asked on cross examination by Bakeman about whether he’d seen Chapman in any fights, Alias said, “I have seen him get into fights, but he couldn’t hurt a person.” He paused and smiled at Chapman then said, “I love him.”
Criminologist says killing not sexually motivated
Brent Turvey, a forensic criminologist who testified as a defense witness, said he’d reviewed the evidence in the case and is of the opinion the homicide was not sexually motivated.
Turvey said he did not have an opinion about whether a sexual assault occurred but said, “I can’t put the sexual activity and the homicide together in the same space.”
He said that based on his analysis of the blood spatter at the scene, he believes the victim was clothed when she was killed, then stripped of her clothing and dragged behind a car in the driveway in order to conceal her body.
Some items in the crime scene were free of blood spatter, which Turvey said indicates they had been dumped from Hill’s backpack after she was killed. He said theft could have been a motive but the homicide was also personal.
“This is up close and personal and rageful violence,” he said.
Turvey said the “Backwoods” shirt found in the scene and worn by Chapman earlier in the evening was not worn by the killer. While the sleeves of the shirt were heavily soaked in Hill’s blood, Turvey said he would expect to see spatter from the beating on the chest of the shirt if it had been worn during the attack.
A senior criminalist for the Department of Justice testified that the “Backwoods” shirt contained DNA from Chapman, Hill and a third unidentified person.
The sample from the unidentified person had a more complete profile than Chapman’s but it didn’t contain enough information to meet the standards to enter into the FBI’s database for DNA, according to the criminalist.
Despite the late hour at which the crime occurred, Turvey said the area was “teeming with activity” because of the 24-hour store.
People saw, heard things, but no one called 911
In fact, several people saw and heard things coming from the driveway that night but no one called police until Hill’s body was found lifeless in the driveway around 11 a.m.
A man who lived in a house right next to the driveway testified his wife woke him up around 11 p.m. to tell him people were having sex in the driveway. He said he never saw the people having sex but heard a woman saying things like “Please don’t do that” and “No, you don’t have to do this.”
He said the noises stopped around 1 a.m. He testified he never called police because he assumed the woman was having a phone conversation.
Samuel Jones testified and surveillance cameras showed that he and a woman named Jessica Chisum went to the Quick Stop a little over an hour before Hill did. He testified that he knew Hill from the neighborhood and had sold her drugs but he didn’t see her that night.
Jones and Chisum walked back from the Quick Stop to his house on 14th Street. After arriving, Chisum realized she’d left her phone at the Quick Stop so Jones got on his bicycle and rode back to get it.
He arrived at the Quick Stop around 1:45 a.m. and then began riding back home but stopped on 18th Street, several yards from the crime scene, where he saw items strewn on the sidewalk, according to his testimony.
The items included a grocery bag, cell phone and ATM card. Jones testified that while he saw the name Christina on the ATM card, it didn’t register to him that it was the Christina Hill he knew, so he took the items home.
Jones testified he heard a sound like a cry, and as he passed by the driveway on 18th Street, he saw a shirtless man with tattoos slumped over in the driveway.
Shown a picture of Chapman and asked if he looks like the man he saw that night Jones said, “Very much so.”
Jones testified he’s “seen drunks before in similar situations” so he didn’t think much of what he saw at the time. He said he never saw Hill in the driveway.
Another witness, Kelly Doorneweerd, testified he was collecting recyclables in the area when he saw two people having sex in the driveway.
“As I passed by, I heard like a gurgling sound from the woman,” Doorneweerd said. “It appears the gentleman was hitting her chest with his hand.”
He testified that he crossed the street away from them. “It got really eerie right there and I got scared,” Doorneweerd said.
After that, he ran into a friend and the two were talking when a man came running around the corner from the crime scene yelling for someone to call 911. He said he didn’t know if it was the same man he saw in the driveway because he couldn’t see his face. Doorneweerd said he told the man he didn’t have a phone and to go to the Quick Stop.
He said he was later confronted by an aggressive man yelling at him and calling him “homeboy.” He testified he pretended to have a gun to get him to go away. He said it was dark so he couldn’t be certain it was the same person he saw in the driveway or who ran around the corner yelling for someone to call 911.
Two detectives testified that Chapman reappears on the surveillance cameras around 3:22 a.m. walking on Burney. It appears as if he is yelling at another man and is throwing his arms in the air as if he is in an argument.
The trial, which began April 6, concluded Thursday and jurors began deliberating around 10:30 a.m.
This story was originally published April 21, 2022 at 1:57 PM.
