Former Marine machine-gunner Rafael Aikens is on trial in Joshua Tree Superior Court. The 24-year-old is accused of the 2017 mother/daughter double homicide of Renee Metcalf, 62, and Christy McKissic, 32, in Twentynine Palms. Aikens had been in a romantic relationship with McKissic for about a year. Reporter Mike Lipsitz was in the court room and files this report…
A jury of four men and eight women yesterday heard opening statements from the prosecutor and Aikens’ defense attorney followed by testimony from six witnesses including three sheriff’s deputies, a 9-1-1 dispatcher, a former Marine who had been with Aikens’ the night of the murders, and the then 10-year-old daughter of Christy McKissic, who was at home at the time of the murders.
McKissic’s daughter, now 13 and going into the eighth grade in Chapel Hill, North Carolina where she now lives with an aunt and uncle, entered the court room with a chaperone, and Dozier, a large black Lab, one of two therapy dogs owned by the San Bernardino District Attorney’s Office.
The young witness identified Rafael Aikens as the man who in March 2017, just moments after the murders, pointed the gun at her saying, “shut up and go to sleep.” She said she told him she was only six so he would think she was too young to call 911. Then she said she pretended to go to sleep but could see him through squinted eyes as he shuffled through their belongings.
She brought tears to the courtroom when she testified that she saw blood “squirt” after her grandmother was shot and that she hoped her mother and grandmother weren’t dead. Testimony continues today. If found guilty Aikens could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.
August 12, 2019
JOSHUA TREE SUPERIOR COURT: RAFAEL AIKENS MURDER TRIAL
DAY 1
Judge Rodney Cortez Presiding
OPENING STATEMENT – PROSECUTOR: Rafael Aikens is a trained killer and evidence will show the victims were executed. He said Aikens put a gun in the face of a 10-year-old child (Z107.7 is not identifying the girl to protect her privacy) and told her to “shut up and go to sleep.” After gunman left, the girl hid in a closet and called 911.
Christy McKissic’s cell phone was missing but records show it was taken to the Marine base and thrown into a dumpster outside Aikens’ quarters. Aikens knows a lot about firearms. Records show Aikens purchased a gun in January 2017 and picked it up in February. Bullets recovered at the scene match that gun—a Rock Island 1911 semi-automatic .45-caliber pistol. He used that gun to commit first degree murder.
OPENING STATEMENT – DEFENSE ATTORNEY, DONALD CALABRIA:
Much DNA was analyzed, however no DNA of Lance Corporal Rafael Aikens was found. Said Aikens was not seen leaving or returning to the Marine base.
Evidence will show Aikens was elsewhere on March 23 and 24. Said there is no direct evidence against Aikens in the case and asked the jury to carefully consider circumstantial evidence as true or false.
WITNESS TESTIMONY
WITNESS 1: Thomas Mihlbachler, currently in his fourth month of training at the Denver Police Academy. In March 2017 he was in the weapons platoon with Aikens and had been deployed with Aikens to Middle East and was described as a “very close friend” to Aikens. Mihlbachler described Aikens as being “a well-respected machine gunner.”
Mihlbachler owned a 2006 Toyota 4 Runner. On the evening of March 23, four Marines went to Edchadas with a designated driver operating the 4 Runner. Four Marines—Thomas Mihlbachler, Kory Brinlee, Rafael Aikens, and the driver—were at Edchadas for two or three hours then returned to base. Aikens insisted on parking the car with the driver and would then return the key to Mihlbachler. Mihlbachler woke up and found the key back in his dorm room but doesn’t know who put it there, or when.
WITNESS 2: Deputy Wayne Greer San Bernardino County Deputy Sheriff. Greer was on patrol for Twentynine Palms. Took the call at 12:05 a.m. and arrived on scene at 12:09 a.m. As Greer entered residence he was approached by a little girl. Greer quickly steered the little girl to his partner, Deputy Jaime Maestas, while he checked the house for suspects. He found the two women’s bodies: Renee Metcalf in the entrance to her daughter’s bedroom, and Christy McKissic, who was naked from the waist down lying on her back on her bed in her bedroom. There was no one else the house and he then called for homicide detectives to come.
WITNESS 3: Deputy Jaime Maestas took the girl and shielded her from looking into the house. After Greer cleared the house, Maestas put the girl into her patrol car and drove her to the Sheriff’s station in Joshua Tree while waiting for homicide detectives. Maestas said the child described the man she saw in house as dark skinned like her but darker than her. The girl also said he was tall, like a basketball player. Maestas described the child as a “lighter skinned African American.” These statements were made back at the Sheriff Station.
WITNESS 4: San Bernardino County Deputy Sheriff Christopher Bingham was on patrol in Twentynine Palms. Bingham is also a firearms expert as he has worked in gun stores from age 16 to 18, then entered Marine Corps where he received a near-perfect score in marksmanship. He’s had more than a hundred firearms courses. Testified as a firearms expert multiple times.
Bingham entered residence to help clear it along with Deputy Greer. Then he moved vehicles to block off the area and stayed there for about 15 hours. Owns “0-three Tactical, LLC,” a firearms store on the highway across from Jack-in-the-Box in Twentynine Palms. He sold Aikens a Rock Island 1911 semi-automatic .45-caliber handgun that holds eight to nine rounds. Aikens picked up the gun Feb. 7, 2017, just a few weeks prior to the murders.
WITNESS 5: Blaine Torres, Sheriff Department emergency dispatcher based out of Hesperia. Torres said he takes around 50 calls on average per shift. This call stuck out in the dispatcher’s memory. Also during this call the Communications Center “Comm Center” was brought on the line since paramedics were needed.
A recording of the 911 call of 12:03 a.m. on March 24, 2017, was played for the jury:
(Christy McKissic’s daughter’s name has been withheld to protect her privacy.)
DISPATCHER: This is 911. What is your emergency?
DAUGHTER: My mom and grandma’s dead.
DISPATCHER: What is your address?
DAUGHTER: 7780 Bedouin Ave. Help!
Child is twice asked to repeat street number and spell street name.
DISPATCHER: What city are you in?
DAUGHTER: Twentynine Palms.
DISPATCHER: Okay, what is going on exactly?
DAUGHTER: My mom and grandma’s dead.
DISPATCHER: What do you mean? You killed her or what?
DAUGHTER: No, I found her dead. This guy with a gun.
DISPATCHER: Are you with her right now?
DAUGHTER: Yes.
DISPATCHER: And it’s your Mom and your Grandma?
DAUGHTER: Yes, (starts to cry) please come fast!
DISPATCHER: Is there anybody else there right now?
DAUGHTER: No, he left.
DISPATCHER: Stay on the line with me while I call the paramedics okay?
DAUGHTER: I’m so scared. He killed both of them!
UNINTELLIGIBLE BETWEEN DISPATCHER AND COMM CENTER.
COMM CENTER: The address again for confirmation.
DISPATCHER: 7780 Bedouin Ave.
DISPATCHER: She says her mom and grandma are unresponsive.
COMM CENTER: Is that a house or an apartment?
DISPATCHER: I’m not sure.
DAUGHTER: House! It’s a house!
COMM CENTER: Okay, you’re in Twentynine Palms. What’s the phone number you’re calling from? SILENCE Hello?
DAUGHTER: Oh, me? 9-1-1. UNINTELLIGIBLE
COMM CENTER: Okay, take a deep breath. What’s the phone number you’re calling from?
DAUGHTER: 9-1-1
COMM CENTER: No, that’s the number you’re calling. What number are you calling from?
DAUGHTER: Oh, 760-819-####
COMM CENTER: Okay now, tell me exactly what happened.
DAUGHTER: Okay, my grandma jumped out of bed and then (unintelligible) at the door and she’s on the ground dead right now and my mom is in the room and naked, dead.
COMM CENTER: And this is your mom?
DAUGHTER: And my grandmom! Hurry!
COMM CENTER: I’ve already called and they’re going to get there as fast as they can. Now I’m going to ask you a few questions. You said you got up and found them both on the floor?
DAUGHTER: I got up and my mom, and this man, he started shooting people. I don’t know, and now he’s gone.
COMM CENTER: Okay, did somebody hurt them?
DAUGHTER: Yeeeesssss! And there’s blood. (Crying)
COMM CENTER: Okay, um, is there any wounds?
DAUGHTER: Yeeesss, there’s blood.
COMM CENTER: Okay honey, now take a deep breath because you’re very upset and it’s making it hard for me to understand.
DAUGHTER: I’m so sorry (crying).
COMM CENTER: That’s okay, I just want to make sure we’ve got the right stuff going for you. Okay, so you woke up and what did you find?
DAUGHTER: Um, yes, there’s two people hurt.
COMM CENTER: Okay, did you see anybody hurt them?
DAUGHTER: They’re shot.
COMM CENTER: Okay, one second. Have you talked to the, um
DAUGHTER: Have I talked to the what?
COMM CENTER: Have you talked to the Police Department?
DISPATCHER: They are on the way.
COMM CENTER: Hold on one second.
DAUGHTER: Oh my gosh … Mom?
COMM CENTER: It’s okay Hun. I just talked to the dispatcher that handles your area okay. I just wanted to make sure they’re informed okay?
DAUGHTER: Okay.
COMM CENTER: Okay, and how old are they?
DAUGHTER: One is 62 and one is 31.
COMM CENTER: Okay, now what happened to the other one?
DAUGHTER: What other one?
COMM CENTER: You said there were two people that were hurt. So how old is the other one.
DAUGHTER: Okay, 31 is the age of one, and the other is 62.
COMM CENTER: Are they awake?
DAUGHTER: No! They are dead. (crying, unintelligible)
COMM CENTER: They are driving there; I just talked to them and they’re about two minutes away.
DAUGHTER: Okay, so they almost will be here?
DISPATCHER: I think they are there. Is your front door unlocked?
DAUGHTER: Yes, (crying heard over voice of arriving deputy). Please help.
END
WITNESS 6: The daughter entered court with a chaperone, and Dozier, a large black male Labrador Retriever, one of two therapy dogs owned by the San Bernardino District Attorney’s Office. The daughter said she is going into the 8th grade, is 13 years old and has been living in Chapel Hill, North Carolina with Aunt Nicole and Uncle Frank for almost three years.
When asked what bedroom she usually slept in at the house, the girl sobbed. Judge Cortez asked her if she wanted to take a break and she nodded yes. The girl, her chaperone, and Dozier, were escorted into the hall returning in less than ten minutes.
She mostly slept with her grandma but sometimes with her mom. She had been watching television with grandma that night. They were watching ID Channel in bed and the girl said she fell asleep at some point. She was awakened when her grandma jumped up and went running to her mom’s room.
“I was yelling, ‘Grandma,’” she said.
She said she couldn’t see her grandma and started hearing bangs and then she saw blood on the door “like it squirted and I was thinking to myself, ‘Don’t let them be dead,’”
“I asked myself, ‘Am I dreaming?’ Then someone came into the room… He had brown skin and eyes and a Marine face look, like, really serious. His hair was short.”
When asked, she said his race was black. “He pointed the gun at me. It was black and small.”
“He was at my grandma’s door and I was by the bed.” She indicated 15 to 20 feet away. She begins to sob again and turns to Dozier.
“He said ‘shut up’ and I said, ‘Are you my mom’s friend?’ He said ‘yeah’ and I said something else and he said ‘Shut up and go to sleep.’”
The girl said, “He was shuffling through my clothes in the dresser drawer. I pretended to go to sleep and saw him shuffling through my clothes. I squinted my eyes so it looked like I was going to sleep. … My doggie ran to me and he was shaking really hard.”
PROSECUTOR: Was he carrying a bag?
DAUGHTER: “Maybe, I kind of remember a backpack or something…. after he pointed the gun at me he brought it back down.”
PROSECUTOR: Describes a clip falling from the bottom of the gun which she said the assailant picked up.
PROSECUTOR: How long was he in the room?
DAUGHTER: Quite a while. I also remember once he pointed the gun at me I said ‘I’m only six’ so he would think I’m younger and I wouldn’t call 911.”
PROSECUTOR: How old were you then?
DAUGHTER: Ten
“He left out of my room and I remember being happy because I saw a light like when a car leaves or comes. Every time a car went by we’d see a light in the window.”
DAUGHTER: “After he left I went to go look and see what happened. The first thing I seen .. (she begins to sob. Judge Cortez offers to give her a break and she goes into the hall again with the chaperone and Dozier.)
The girl lived in Twentynine Palms her whole life … ten years.
DAUGHTER: “First I went to my mom; I didn’t know she was dead because I’ve never seen someone dead before. Her eyes were open so I didn’t know my mom was dead at first. Then I went into the closet and called 911.”
PROSECUTOR: When the deputies got there that night what did you do?
DAUGHTER: “He picked me up and took me to the car and someone got my dog and Holly peed in the car.”
PROSECUTOR: Had you ever seen the man that you saw in the room that night before?
DAUGHTER: No
PROSECUTOR: Do you remember what the man looked like?
DAUGHTER: Yes
PROSECUTOR: Do you see him in the court now?
DAUGHTER: Yes (she indicates Aikens).
DEFENSE CROSS EXAMINATION: You remember the man rummaging through things. Did he find anything?
DAUGHTER: I don’t know.
DEFENSE: Asked if the lights she saw could have been a car on the street.
DAUGHTER: “And I also heard the door; I knew that he left.”
DEFENSE: What woke you up?
DAUGHTER: “Grandma getting up; it was like the fastest she ever got up before.”
DEFENSE: Did you hear your mother talking in the other room before your grandmother got up?
DAUGHTER: No, I was asleep.
DEFENSE: Did your mother have a lot of boyfriends?
PROSECUTOR: Objection
CORTEZ: Sustained
DEFENSE: After the man left, did you go check on your grandma?
DAUGHTER: Yes
DEFENSE: Then what did you do.
DAUGHTER: I went to my grandma’s room and got her phone and went into the closet. Then I checked on my mom and got really scared.
END OF QUESTIONING
