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Medical examiner says fatal shots in Hoerig case fired near location of body
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The Claudia Hoerig aggravated-murder case resumes Tuesday afternoon in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court with defense witnesses. Prosecutors presented their final witnesses Friday afternoon.
One of the final prosecution witnesses was Joseph Felo, chief medical examiner for the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office, who testified that he doesn’t think Claudia’s husband, Karl, fell down seven steps to the first floor of his home when he was shot to death in 2007.
He also thinks Karl was flat on his chest on the floor at the bottom of the steps when he suffered a fatal gunshot to the back. And, his killer was standing near him on the first floor when he suffered another fatal gunshot wound to the head, Felo said.
The testimony seemed to explain why Prosecutor Dennis Watkins in his opening statements to the jury Wednesday said Claudia “ambushed” Karl while he was putting on his shoes at the bottom of the stairs and “finished him off” with a close-range shot to the head.
Claudia could get life in prison without the possibility of parole if she’s convicted of aggravated murder. Defense attorneys have argued she’s not guilty of that charge even though they admit she killed him.
Dr. Felo said a second shot to the back hit Karl’s shoulder in an upward angle – suggesting the shooter was near his “rear end” when the shot was fired.
Watkins, who was questioning Dr. Felo at the time, sat on a step near Dr. Felo and asked, “How about this?”
Dr. Felo got out of the witness chair and stood behind Watkins, pushed the prosecutor’s shoulders forward and said that “crouched” position would have explained the upward gunshot wound.
Felo testified in the case at the request of the prosecutor’s office because the Trumbull County coroner who conducted Karl’s autopsy was Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk, who died in April 2018.
Watkins told jurors in opening statements the evidence would show that Claudia lied in her interview with investigators the night she was returned from her native Brazil a year ago.
Claudia told Detective Mike Yannucci on Jan. 17, 2018, that her husband was walking down the steps and was on the third one from the top when she fired the first shot, and it killed him immediately. She told Yannucci she didn’t remember if she fired at Karl’s head from close range.
Dr. Felo said Karl was hit by one fatal shot to the head, one downward fatal shot to the back and a non-fatal upward shot to shoulder.
Lead defense attorney John Cornely cross-examined Dr. Felo on several points. Dr. Felo said he thought the fatal shot to the back occurred with Karl flat on the floor downstairs because the bullet did not pass through his chest. He said that’s because the floor stopped the bullet.
Cornely asked if it might have just had too little force, and Dr. Felo agreed that could have happened.
Dr. Felo said he didn’t think Karl fell down the stairs from a gunshot at the third step because Karl’s body had no bruising. But Cornely asked whether that might have been because Karl’s heart stopped immediately upon being shot.
Dr. Felo agreed that was also a possibility.
Two more witnesses then testified, including Gary Dodge, who said he flew missions with Karl in the Air Force reserves and socialized with Karl and Claudia.
Dodge said Karl liked “exotic” females because in addition to Claudia, who was from Brazil, Karl had dated a woman from Peru and one from Germany. Dodge said Karl’s marriage to Claudia happened so quickly, he didn’t have time to “talk Karl out of it.”
Dodge said Karl showed him a small home in Newton Falls he was planning to rent because he was trying to “separate himself” from Claudia.
Another Air Force friend, Dan Henry, said Karl also showed him the house for rent. “He said it wasn’t working out. They were getting divorced,” Henry said.
In the morning, Yannucci testified to explain why a 68-second section of the 21/2-hour videotape of the interview he conducted with Claudia was omitted from the video jurors watched Thursday.
Yannucci said the section went missing because of a technical issue involving the recording device used for the interview.
Watkins contacted Yannucci on Thursday night to call it to Yannucci’s attention. He and an investigator with the prosecutor’s office were able to retrieve the missing section and play it for jurors Friday morning.
In the missing section, Hoerig told investigators: “I want to pay for my crime in Brazil because I want to be near my husband.” She was referring to the man she married in Brazil sometime in 2007 after returning to her native country. She also told Yannucci the penalty for murder in Brazil is 18 to 30 years.