‘Catalyst’ Trial begins for second teen accused of 2016 murder

PALMER — Trial began Monday for 18-year-old Dominic Johnson, one of four charged with the murder 16-year-old David Grunwald.

District Attorney Roman Kalytiak began outlining his case to the jury for why Johnson should be found guilty. Kalytiak detailed the timeline of events on the night of Nov. 13, 2016, and the following communications between Johnson, Erick Almandinger, Bradley Renfro, and Austin Barrett in the days following the murder of Grunwald near Knik River Road.

Johnson is charged with murder in the first degree, three counts of murder in the second degree and kidnapping. He is the second suspect to stand trial for the murder of Grunwald, a Palmer teen. Almandinger was convicted on all counts earlier this year and will be sentenced in 2019. Trials for Renfro and Barrett are scheduled for next year.

“We will prove through the evidence that this was an intentional and unanimous group effort by Dominic Johnson, Erick Almandinger, Austin Barrett and Bradley Renfro, but especially between Dominic Johnson and Erick Almandinger as you’ve seen through the texts,” Kalytiak said.

Kalytiak detailed the transportation on the night of the murder, the communication, and the timeline of the events of Nov. 13 in connecting Johnson to the murder. Johnson was referred to as one of the bookends of this case, planning and aiding in the execution of the crimes.

“The evidence will prove that he was the catalyst, that he hatched this plan and he started the chain of events,” Kalytiak said.

Kalytiak called Victoria Mokelke to the witness stand to detail Grunwald’s habits, the lack of cooperation from Almandinger, and the start of the timeline of events. Grunwald was driving Mokelke, his girlfriend, to her father’s house when they picked up David Evans near Pioneer Pizza on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway. Kalytiak used that as a landmark to complete the beginning and end of the timeline. Kalytiak said Johnson and the group later returned after they had beaten and murdered Grunwald and set his Ford Bronco ablaze.

“They didn’t have enough money to make it all the way back to Palmer, so ironically they get dropped off at the very same spot that David Grunwald picked up David Evans earlier in the day,” Kalytiak said.

Mokelke was repeatedly asked about her knowledge of association between Grunwald and other members of the group that Kalytiak argues is obsessed with gang mentality and lifestyle.

Johnson’s attorney Lyle Stohler’s initial objection was to a photo of Johnson with Almandinger, Barrett, Renfro, and Evans. Stohler used just more than a minute of time for his opening remarks, and asked the jury to keep in mind the main question of who is responsible.

“You’re going to hear emotional testimony, you’re going to see photographs that you’re going to have an emotional response to, but you still need to listen closely to all the evidence in this case, and still listen to both sides, and not get caught up with emotion,” Stohler aid.

Mokelke was one of the first to receive communication from Grunwald’s mother, Edie, that he had not made his 9:30 p.m. curfew. Grunwald’s curfew had been extended, but he was always prompt, Mokelke said.

“If he was told to come home at 9:30, he was there at 9:29 at the latest,” Mokelke said.

Mokelke said that Grunwald had been friends with Almandinger, but Kalytiak described their relationship as merely acquaintances. When Grunwald dropped Mokelke at her father’s house to pick up clothes, he then dropped Evans off at Almandinger’s house nearby. It was there that Evans suggested he swing by after he dropped off his girlfriend to hang out with the group. Grunwald requested a curfew extension of 30 minutes so that he could take Evans up on his offer, and walked into something he couldn’t have anticipated, argued Kalytiak. When Grunwald visited the Almandinger home later that night, he ended up in a camper with Dominic Johnson while Evans and Almandinger were discussing Evans’ living situation with the Almandingers. Though Grunwald may have been friends with Evans and acquaintances with Almandinger, he had little interaction with Johnson, Mokelke said.

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen Dominic Johnson in my life,” Mokelke said.

While Kalytiak claims Austin Barrett to be the one that pulled the trigger of the Springfield 9mm semi-automatic pistol, he provided text messages to suggest that Johnson wanted to borrow a different gun for the purpose of pistol-whipping Grunwald.

“Johnson told Erick Almandinger that this was an urgent situation that he needed the 4.0. And Almandinger obliged and brought the Ruger to the camper,” Kalytiak said.

Stohler made a number of objections during Kalytiak’s opening statement, and did not cross-examine the second witness, Alaska State Trooper Christopher Green. Green picked up the case as he began his shift on the morning of Nov. 14, 2016, at 6 a.m. Green described the effort to solve Grunwald’s disappearance as “pretty urgent,” and took responsibility on the case. He later came across the burnt 1995 Ford Bronco that Grunwald had bought and worked on with his father, Ben. Kalytiak’s timeline illustrates that the group beat Grunwald, stuffed him in his own Bronco and drove seven miles down Knik River Road where they shot him. They drove his Bronco back to Devin Peterson’s house, according to the prosecution, to drop off Barrett and the guns, and at 10:54 p.m. on Nov. 13, Bradley Renfro bought gasoline that the group would use to burn the Bronco at the base of a mountain trail off Schrock Road in Wasilla. Kalytiak called Deputy Fire Marshal Nathan Rocheleau to detail his examination of the Bronco. Rocheleau showed patterns on the car in photos that suggests that the origin of the fire was in the passenger compartment, ruling out any electrical or mechanical failure. Gasoline was detected in parts of the carpet. From there, the prosecution said Johnson called Alaska Cab to pick up the group from burning the Bronco. The group walked to a bridge over the Little Su River and took the cab back to Pioneer Pizza using all the money they had. Cab driver Scott McCormick picked up the group and noticed a tablet when he picked them up. The investigation involved using communications sent from the tablet to charge the group with the murder.

Kalytiak argued that Johnson played a key role in that murder.

“They decided that they did not want to get into trouble, so they decided as a group that they were going to eliminate David, because he was two things. He was a victim of a severe beating, and he was also the witness to a severe beating,” Kalytiak said.

During Stohler’s cross-examination of McCormick, he questioned the cab driver if he often recalls the appearance of his customers. McCormick was unable to pick the group out of a lineup when called in for further questioning, and admitted that he did not smell any distinct smells on the boys, such as alcohol.

“Now this group didn’t have any vehicles, so what they did is they took David and they stuffed him into his Bronco and they all got into the Bronco with him and they took him to a very remote area down over seven miles down Knik River Road. You will find out through the evidence that along the way they disabled David’s phone, probably by breaking it because there was no further communications,” Kalytiak said.

Kalytiak maintains that Johnson, who led troopers to Grunwald’s body, was the final bookend to the events.

“They take David, who was injured and bleeding, they march him into the woods and likely when he’s pleading for his life, one of them took the Springfield 9mm, pointed it at David Grunwald’s head and put a 9mm bullet in his head thereby causing David’s death,” Kalytiak said.

Contact Frontiersman reporter Tim Rockey at tim.rockey@frontiersman.com.