This is the third day of the trial of Laron Carlton Graham. Read about Day 1 and Day 2 here.
Editor’s Note: Graphic details of the killings could be offensive or disturbing to some readers.
A police detective who responded to an emergency call for a double murder in Douglas in November 2015 testified Thursday, showing the jury graphic images of the crime scene.
Sgt. Sterling Salisbury gave explanations for a series of police photos, starting from the parking lot of the Admiralty Condos and working inward, past a porch littered with soda cans and granola bar wrappers, and into a cluttered and poorly lit apartment where Elizabeth K. Tonsmeire, 34, and Robert H. Meireis, 36, were found dead.
“That dark stain there, that would be blood,” Salisbury said, pointing to a photo. Jurors saw a photograph of Meireis’ body, but not of Tonsmeire.
He testified that two 10mm casings were recovered from the scene, as well as two 10mm rounds, which were sent to a crime lab for testing.
In this file photo from November 2015, Juneau Police Department officers are shown entering a first floor unit at the Admiralty Condos in the 2700 block of Rogers Street in Douglas. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)
The testimony came on the third day of the jury trial of Laron Carlton Graham, 42, who is facing two counts of first-degree murder for the slayings. Tonsmeire and Meireis were fatally shot in the head.
Other photos showed Meireis’ — whom other witnesses have identified as a drug dealer — wallet, which contained the driver’s license used to identify him, and more than $200.
“It was a large sum of money,” Salisbury said, specifying he didn’t know the total sum.
[Victim’s father in double murder gives haunting testimony]
Other photos of Meireis revealed plastic bags colloquially known as “dime bags” containing methamphetamine, according to Salisbury. Also visible were tattoos across Meireis’ abdomen reading “Skinhead” with a large swastika. The dime bags had “777” on them, which could be a reference to Meireis’ phone number, which ended in the same digits, he said.
Sections of Meireis’ pants and shirt he was wearing at the time of his death were sent to the crime lab for DNA testing as well, Salisbury testified.
Detectives also found pipes for smoking both methamphetamine and marijuana, Salisbury testified. There was also a photo of hypodermic needles in a slow cooker.
The trial will continue next week, on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m.
• Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at 523-2271 or mlockett@juneauempire.com.
