JEFFERSON COUNTY - An expert for Michael Blagg’s defense took the witness stand Monday afternoon and said based on his calculations, the body of the now-55-year-old’s wife was placed into the Mesa County landfill on a different day than trash from Ametek Dixson.
The prosecution argues that sometime during the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2001, Michael Blagg shot his wife Jennifer in the face while she was sleeping, wrapped her body in a tent, loaded her into the family minivan and then threw her into the dumpster at Ametek Dixson, the place where he worked as the operations manager at the time.
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Photos of Michael, Jennifer and Abby Blagg
Jennifer Blagg’s body was pulled from the Mesa County landfill on June 4, 2002 after a 17-day-long search during a memorably hot summer. Witnesses from the prosecution have claimed that she was found amid a “plume” of trash from Ametek Dixson as well as among newspapers dated Nov. 14, 2001 — the day the dumpster at the manufacturing plant was taken to the landfill.
But Neil Bolton, who owns an engineering company that specializes in landfills and was an expert brought to the witness stand by the defense, claimed that based on the fact trash is typically piled on top of each other each day, it was unlikely that the green punch outs that signified the Ametek Dixson trash were deposited with Jennifer Blagg’s body.
The slain 34-year-old was found wrapped in a tent and was tremendously decomposed when investigators spotted her in a bucket of trash. Her leg was found a few feet away, and according to the Mesa County coroner, had been ripped off by one of the compacting machines at the landfill.
In the 120-by-80-feet search area where Ametek Dixson waste was found, Bolton said there were newspapers dated everywhere from Nov. 12 to Nov. 19.
“One of two things was happening: either the waste in this area was placed at this time from the latest date, Nov. 19 or later — or there was some mixing during the excavation process where newspapers from previous dates were mixed with newspapers from more recent dates,” Bolton explained.
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Trash from the Mesa County landfill was placed on what’s known as a “working face” and then pushed down a slope by a compacter and bulldozers. Every night, a tarp was placed over the waste to keep it from blowing away, according to testimony from both Bolton and previous witnesses for the prosecution.
Based on the layers, Bolton says he believes the trash from Ametek Dixson was placed two or three days before Jennifer Blagg’s body and her leg. A prosecution witness, Frank Kochevar, thought otherwise from the GPS data he compiled during the search.
“My opinion is yes, [Jennifer Blagg’s] body was found in Ametek Dixon waste,” he said.
Bolton had a different take on Monday afternoon.
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“I believe [her body] came in subsequent to the Ametek waste,” he said. “It showed up at a higher level.”
The location of Jennifer Blagg’s body in the landfill has been a key point of contention between the prosecution and the defense during what’s become a more than four-week long trial.
Michael Blagg was arrested two days after his wife was first pulled from the landfill and found guilty of her murder in 2004. That conviction was overturned years later after a juror was caught lying on her questionnaire about being the victim of domestic violence.
Now, Michael Blagg is facing a jury once again — this time in Jefferson County, where the case was moved due to its notoriety on the Western Slope.
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The prosecution rested its case on Friday afternoon, and the defense has now called four witnesses to offer testimony in their case, which his that Michael Blagg did not kill his wife and in the 17 years since, has been the victim of a flawed investigation that has been tainted by a false assumption that it’s “always the husband.” They say a child predator is to blame for the murder of his wife and the disappearance of his 6-year-old daughter Abby, who hasn’t found to this day.
The jury didn’t hear from any witnesses until after the lunch break on Monday due to a hearing regarding potential witness Dr. Phil Danielson, who was going to offer evidence that a Colorado Bureau of Investigation agent had left behind DNA on a step in the garage and a pair of gloves found in the Blagg’s quiet two-story home in a subdivision just outside Grand Junction.
This hearing didn’t have much of a resolution due to the fact that Danielson had not provided sufficient information to the prosecution — something Judge Tamara Russell called a “big problem.”
Russell chastised Danielson and ordered him to go home and get the prosecution everything they need by noon on Tuesday. She will then weigh whether or not he will be allowed to testify during the trial after the Mesa County District Attorney’s Office has gotten the time to show his work to their own expert.
“I understand this is very, very inconvenient for everyone, but I need to be very careful in making my analysis,” Russell said.
Testimony in Michael Blagg’s second trial will resume on Tuesday morning. 9NEWS is in the courtroom and will post updates to 9NEWS.com during breaks.
