Rafael Aikens, the former Twentynine Palms Marine who is accused of shooting and killing Christy McKissic and Renee Metcalf in their home in Twentynine Palms in 2017, took the stand in his own defense Tuesday. But prior to taking the stand, Aikens’ defense attorney called two San Bernardino County criminalists to the stand. They collected evidence, to include fingerprints and DNA swabs. No DNA from Aikens was found at the women’s home, or in the Toyota 4Runner that the prosecution says Aikens used to drive to and from their home. Managing editor Tami Roleff says that Aikens’ testimony from Tuesday contradicted much of the testimony he gave detectives when he was first arrested…
Rafael Aikens, who is on trial for shooting and killing Christy McKissic and Renee Metcalf in their home in March 2017, looked at the jurors and flat out told them he did not kill Christy McKissic or Renee Metcalf. Aikens testified that the initial call he made to McKissic on the night of her death was a mistake when he meant to call a friend named Christian. He said he could hear breathing, but no one responded to him during phone calls to and from McKissic’s phone. The text messages from her were blank with no message. His texts back to her were an auto response that he had set up earlier in the evening on his phone. He explained that his phone got a virus when he was watching porn on it that wiped out all the history of his calls and text messages. Aikens said he had given his friend his pistol to bring home prior to the murders, not afterward. And, Aikens said his fellow Marines—who described him as being as close as a brother—were just acquaintances who were lying when they said he admitted to the murders to them.
The prosecution intends to call a rebuttal witness this morning. The attorneys are expected to give their closing arguments this afternoon.
Trial Summary Rafael Aikens 8-20
The defense opens its case by questioning a San Bernardino County criminalist from the crime lab, Kirk Garrison. Garrison collected the evidence at the scene, took swabs of items that had potential DNA evidence, such as the Arbor Mist wine bottle and cap, the vape mouthpiece, the partial condom wrapper, condom box, blood on the sunscreen bottle, fired cartridge case, bedroom and bathroom door knobs, hair from the bed, photos of tire tracks outside, swabs of the Toyota 4Runner’s steering wheel and floorboards, and 10 latent fingerprints. Swabs were also taken of blood from paper towels from an unspecified men’s bathroom, unspecified ammunition box, and blood in a sink in an unspecified men’s bathroom sink. These blood samples turned out to be irrelevant to the case.
(Mention was made later of vaginal and rectal swabs from Christy, but Garrison did not say that he collected those samples.)
He said it’s not his job to analyze the samples, or to evaluate their evidentiary relevance, just to take samples of anything he thinks might be relevant. He sends the items that he’s collected to the homicide team who decides what to follow up on.
Under cross examination by the prosecution, Garrison confirms that no condom (or partial condom) was recovered at the scene, and that he does not analyze the results of his evidence collection.
Jennifer Steele, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office scientific investigation division, DNA criminalist
Steele was given swabs from Christy McKissic, including a vaginal swab, external vaginal swab, and rectal swab.
Swabs are divided into two “fractions” one with sperm, one without sperm. In her case, there was no sperm in either fraction. Both fraction samples showed a contribution from two people, but no male DNA was detected in the samples. Based on the DNA detected, Rafael Aikens was excluded as a contributor.
No blood was found in the the Toyota 4Runner’s steering wheel, driver’s seat, or floorboards.
Under cross examination, Garrison talked about transfer DNA, and touch DNA, when a person’s DNA can be left on other objects by touching the object or brushing up against it.
A DNA sample from Aikens was taken from inside his cheek.
The prosecutor, Justin Crocker, asked if Garrison would expect to see male DNA in a vaginal swab if a condom was used. She said that a condom also works as a barrier for DNA, and based on the samples she saw, she could not say if McKissic had sex the night she died.
Sergeant Lisa Guerra, a homicide detective at the time of the murders. She is currently assigned to the West Valley Detention Center.
She spent about 1 ½ hours with McKissic’s daughter on March 24, arriving about 3:56 a.m. The girl’s description was that the suspect was a dark-skinned African American, tall, had a tattoo on his arm (the defense objected to the testimony about his tattoo), a double chin, and was carrying a backpack. He took a red and gray (or possibly red and black) jacket out of his backpack when he entered the girl’s room and put it on. He also took out his cell phone and used it; the girl thought he was texting. He was wearing black boots, but Guerra did not ask her if they were cowboy boots. The daughter thought he had been in the house, but Guerra did not clarify with her whether that was including time before and after the shootings or 30 minutes after the shooting.
Guerra then testified about her interview with Aikens’ roommate, Wenseslao Canela. He said Aikens did not own a backpack, but did say that Aikens stored his gun in Branske’s room. Canela said he also saw McKissic at the AM/PM gas station, and that Aikens did not greet her or introduce them to her.
Calabria took Guerra through her interview with McKissic’s daughter, who said that the shooter came into her bedroom, took out his cell phone, rummaged through clothing in the dresser, and that she asked him if he was one of her mom’s friends, to which he answered yes. The daughter said the shooter was in the house for about 30 minutes, but Guerra never asked her if that time included before the two women were shot or was only afterwards.
Rafael Aikens
Rafael Aikens was called to the stand to testify in his own defense. He started out with his childhood history of being born near Chicago and moving to Sacramento when he was about four years old. His father was a former Marine and worked in law enforcement. His mother married his stepfather, who was also a former Marine and worked at Folsom Prison.
After Aikens saw his teacher cry after the 9/11 terrorist attack, Aikens said he knew he wanted to be a Marine to give back to his nation and serve his community. He said that he turned down offers to become a professional mixed martial arts fighter and turned down an offer from a teacher who said he’d pay for his college.
After graduating high school, he visited a friend named Christian who lived in Canada. They camped, backpacked, and fished for about 4 ½ months. Aikens then returned to the United States and went to Chicago to visit family for about 2 ½ weeks, before he finally went off to boot camp. Aikens graduated boot camp in March 2015. In April 2016, his unit deployed to Iraq for six months. While he was there, his superior officers were so impressed with him that they sent him to Kuwait to learn how to become a section leader. He was a lance corporal at the time; he said section leaders are usually staff sergeants. His unit returned to Twentynine Palms in October 2015.
On March 23, the day that McKissic and Metcalf were killed, Aikens said his unit came back from a field exercise. He said the troops were told that an inspection was going to be made of their barracks, so he asked Branske to hide his pistol in Branske’s vehicle so it wouldn’t be found. If it was found, Aikens said he’d be subject to non-judicial punishment or perhaps a court-martial, as having weapons in the barracks was against the rules. He asked Branske because he knew he lived relatively close to Twentynine Palms.
The group of Marines who were going to Edchada’s later that night started drinking in the afternoon. When Aikens was at Edchada’s, he got a text message from his friend Christian. Aikens said he has discovered it’s not a good idea if he texts when he’s drunk, so he set his phone to send an auto-response to text messages that said, “I’m busy, call back later.”
After they left the bar, they went back to the barracks. A Marine named Skeffington was the designated driver and was driving Mihlbachler’s Toyota 4Runner, but he didn’t know which room was Mihlbachler’s. So Aikens said he’d return the keys to Mihlbachler. He said he went to Mihlbachler’s room and the door was open. Mihlbachler was changing clothes and his roommate was there; Aikens said he shook the keys and threw them on the dresser, then he went to his room.
Aikens testified when he went to his room, Canela wasn’t there yet. Aikens took a shower and when he came out, Canela was passed out in the bed.
Aikens then said that he tried to call Christian back at 9:21 p.m., but accidentally called McKissic instead, whose name and phone number were right below Christian’s. When he called, he got her voice mail. Then he decided to Skype with Christian instead, and they talked for about 45 minutes.
He said that McKissic was on his mind so he tried to call her but he heard only heavy breathing and no one responded when he said “hello” twice, so he hung up. All of the text messages he received from McKissic were blank, with no message in them. He said his phone was still set up for auto-response, and was automatically responding to McKissic’s texts with the message that he’s busy, try later. Then after the last phone call at 11:37, in which again, no one responded, he said he went to bed.
Aikens then answered questions about how he spent the morning of March 24, before his unit was released for a four-day weekend. He said that he did not have a conversation with Kory Brinlee that day, “That is a lie.”
He also said he did not have a conversation with Eric Branske about a missing magazine for his pistol. “That is a lie.”
During the trip to Mammoth, Aikens said that Brinlee never brought up what he said Aikens had said before the trip. Aikens said he was quiet during the trip to Mammoth because he was thinking that he should have gone to visit his family in Sacramento instead of going snowboarding in Mammoth.
Under cross examination by the prosecution, Justin Crocker said that when Aikens was sworn in, he didn’t respond to “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?” with the words, “I do,” like every other witness, but with “So help me God.”
Crocker said that Aikens’ testimony today differs from what he told the detectives back when he was arrested. Aikens responded by saying that Goodwin had already decided he was guilty.
Discrepancies in testimony from interview: he told detectives he had lost the magazine when he and Branske went shooting. He said in court that he did not lose the magazine.
He told detectives he had given his gun to Eric Branske weeks earlier, and that the gun had been stolen from Branske’s home. He did not file a police report because it was too much of a hassle, like filing a police report for a stolen phone. He admitted in court that was a lie and that it had not been stolen.
He said that Kory Brinlee and Eric Branske were more like acquaintances, not brothers, and certainly not close friends. The only Marine he considered a close friend was his roommate, Wenseslao Canelo.
Aikens was asked about his tattoos on his arms.
Aikens said he met McKissic through a dating app, not through Backpage.com, and that he never paid her for sex. He strongly denied telling anyone that he met McKissic through Backpage.com.
He saw her about once a month. He said, contrary to what he told detectives in 2017, that he never went to her home, but that she always rented a motel room where they’d go to have sex. He didn’t know if she lived with her mother, in an apartment or a house, or where she lived.
The last time he saw her was at the AM/PM gas station when he was with Brinlee and Canela.
Aikens said he did not ask Branske to clean his gun.
When detectives asked him in March 2017 for his phone number, he gave them his grandmother’s phone number.
He told detectives that when he went to Edchada’s he was wearing Nikes, not boots.
He told detectives that Canela was already sleeping passed out when Aikens got back from Edchada’s. Aikens said he misspoke.
Aikens told deputies he handed Mihlbachler’s keys to him; in court he said he threw them on the dresser. Aikens doesn’t recall saying that.
He told the detectives that he met Christy at the Virginian Bar, where she worked, whereas in court he said he met her through an online app. If he told the detective that, he was misspoken. He told the detective that when they met, McKissic took her back to her place. Aikens said he meant her motel room.
When asked if he knew where she lived, Aikens said he doesn’t remember her exact address, but knew it’s by the casino.
The detectives asked Aikens about her house, and he remembered she had a dog. Crocker responded that Aikens had been to her house and had seen her dog.
The detective asked Aikens about text messages and phone messages, and he said he didn’t have any because a virus on his phone—which he got from watching porn—wiped his entire phone clean, including text messages and phone numbers. Aikens said he was watching porn in his bathroom after he returned from Edchada’s and that’s when he got the virus. But he never told the detectives that a virus had wiped his phone clean.
Crocker says Aikens lied to detectives—and Aikens admitted lying— about not talking to McKissic the night she was murdered, because he tried calling her phone but no one spoke on the other end—only heavy breathing.
He said Aikens lied about parking the car.
Aikens said Branske was lying when he said that Aikens said “Just know, it’s to the first degree.”
Aikens testified that Canela lied when he said he didn’t see you in the room.
Aikens said that Brinlee lied when he testified that Aikens said things were going to change drastically because he killed two people.
Crocker closed by saying Aikens lied to the detectives about the gun, and himself.
Recess at 4:11 p.m.
