Dusty Wheeler murder trial — Day 2

The Dusty Wheeler murder trial went into its second day in Baxter County Circuit Court/Criminal Division Tuesday.
Jurors watched about two plus hours of videos captured by Mountain Home Police Department body cams while they were processing the scene where the body of then 36-year-old Heather Bradford was found sitting in a folding camper chair outside her home.

Prosecutors told the jury that what they would see on the tapes “is the investigation of this murder unfold.”

The 46-year-old Wheeler was arrested June 14, 2024, after Mountain Home police were called to a residence along Sunny Ann Lane near Cooper Park about 6 a.m. After arriving on the scene officers and paramedics from Baxter Health determined that he body of the victim was reported to be cold and that no cardiac rhythm could be detected.

The victim had been shot in the head. An entry wound was found on the top left side of the victim’s head behind her ear and an exit wound on the bottom right side of the head behind the ear.

Wheeler, who was found inside the residence asleep on a couch, was arrested and charged with first degree murder. He entered a not guilty plea during a court session held shortly after his arrest.

PARENTS PRESENT AT SCENE

The victim’s parents had come to her home in response to phone calls they said they received from their daughter in the early morning hours of June 14. Bradford is alleged to have told them that she and Wheeler had been fighting and that he had struck her in the face.

A bullet casing was found in the driveway next to the chair where Bradford’s body was located, but officers were not immediately able to locate a weapon.

The stepfather of the victim told officers that his wife had taken possession of a pistol which was in the daughter’s lap when they arrived on scene.

Police reported the mother saying she had removed the gun because she feared if her daughter “woke up” she might reach for it or it might fall, hit the ground and fire a round. The mother said she put the weapon under the front seat of her husband’s vehicle.

She said she initially believed her daughter was asleep and that the parents would wake her up and take her to their home in Marion County. She said she did not imagine at the outset her daughter had been killed.

The stepfather turned the pistol over to police. It was noted in incident reports that the barrel end of the weapon was clear of blood and tissue and that no power burns were visible on the entry wound. If those signs had been detected, it would have pointed to the possibility that the fatal wound had been self-inflicted.

Investigators also noted that the entry wound was found to be on the left side of the victim’s head. Her mother and stepfather told police she had always been right-handed.

As Wheeler was being led to a patrol car, he told officers he had seen a pistol in the victim’s hand, but investigators said that was not possible since the victim’s mother had taken the weapon and put it in her vehicle by that time.

Wheeler has been free on a $500,000 bond. He is required to wear an ankle monitor and to live at his mother’s home in the small Independence County community of Newark.

Questioning by defense attorneys on Tuesday began pointing toward the theory that Bradford had taken her own life. Deputy Prosecutor Kerry Chism refuted that claim and told the jury that, despite the theories, “Heather Bradford did not take her own life.” The state put several witnesses on the stand, including Heather Bradford’s ex-husband, and a woman who identified Bradford as her best friend.

The witnesses all said that Bradford would never commit suicide. The friend said, “she would never have left her kids in that way, she was a great mom and a happy person.” Chism said Bradford had made a number of calls on the day of her death. She is reported to have said she and Wheeler had been fighting and that Wheeler had hit her in the face.

Chism told the court that in all of those calls, “Heather Bradford never said good-bye. Heather Bradford was reaching out because she wanted to be in a safe place.” The deputy prosecutor said people contemplating death by their own hand would not be trying to get help, to get away from the situation in which she found themselves.

During the morning session of the trial, one of Wheeler’s defense attorneys, Ben Gibson, told the court that his questions were not aimed at building a case against Bradford’s mother and step-father. “I am not saying that, I’m not thinking that.” Some of the line of questioning seem to support a defense theory that Bradford was depressed, possibly drinking excessively and killed herself.

Chism said “the defense seems to be leading up to a scenario — she killed herself and her parents tried to hide the gun” to steer investigators away from fully examining the suicide theory.

Bradford’s mother did testify during the first day of the trial about taking the gun out of her daughter’s lap and put it under the seat of her husband’s vehicle. She said when she first arrived, she thought her daughter was asleep and she did not want to wake her up and have her grab at the pistol or have it accidentally fall to the ground and discharge. She said that at that point she never imagined her daughter had been shot to death.

The state has subpoenaed more than 30 witnesses and it is estimated the trial could take three to five days to complete.

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