Defense rests in Welton murder trial

Psychiatrists called to testify Monday and Tuesday at Suzette Welton's murder trial disagreed on how much one can read into writings collected or believed to be written by her 14-year-old son, Samuel, who died in a Sept. 15, 2000, house fire.

Welton is on trial for murder and arson charges alleging she drugged her sons and lit a blaze in the upstairs of her duplex apartment in order to collect $100,000 life insurance she had taken out on the boys three months before. Welton, her daughter, and 16-year-old Jeremiah escaped the fire. Samuel did not.

Anchorage psychologist Susan LaGrande said that, based on Sam's writings and other red flags, he most likely was depressed and may have been suicidal.

"That Sam was unhappy and talking about running away are significant risk factors. It's also significant that he expressed feeling the fatigue of living," LaGrande said. "He certainly is a kid I would want in treatment."

LaGrande testified for the defense, which contends Samuel may have been the one to set the fire either accidentally or on purpose. Welton's attorney, Palmer Public Defender Greg Heath, had previously called in a teen friend of Samuel's to testify that he sometimes played with fire. LaGrande said playing with fire is one of the risk factors in assessing a troubled youth.

A Washington psychologist, Fred Wise, called in after the defense rested its case, said he would not diagnose Samuel as clinically depressed based on the writings, because it was not sufficient evidence.

The writings show "existential angst" that is normal to teens as they travel through developmental stages, Wise said. In general, teens are undergoing psychological and social issues as they jump from middle school to high school and undergo hormonal changes. A parent's divorce and moving away from friends causes additional stress, he said.

"A lot of reasons that in general are not related to a wish to die," he said. "I would want to ask [Samuel] how and why he copied or wrote the writings. I would want to know if the writings meant a lot to him or a little to him."

Wise said national statistics show very few suicides from Samuel's age group. None of the statistics gathered for last year indicated that anyone between the ages of 5 and 14 committed suicide by fire, he said.

Wise acknowledged that not going to school and other situations of Samuel's life indicate he had problems. "If he didn't feel alienated and sad, you would wonder about him and that would be a cause for concern," he said.

In other testimony, insurance expert Robert Bellott told jurors that it is not unusual for parents to purchase life insurance policies for their children. According to a national study conducted by the Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association, 29 percent of the policies in 1999 were written to cover 14- to 17-year-olds, Bellott said.

Bellott said if he were the one writing Welton's policies, he would have consolidated them into one. She had taken out policies on herself, Jeremiah and Samuel. He also would have looked at her finances to determine whether paying on the policies would prove a financial hardship, he said.

A State Farm Insurance agent had testified for the prosecution that it's highly unusual to sell a $100,000 life insurance policy for a teen-ager. Bellott said that agent had only been licensed for a few years and lacked broad experience in the industry.

In the rebuttal phase, Palmer District Attorney Roman Kalytiak called in a fire expert who refuted a fire scientist's testimony. Vytenis Babrauskas, called by the defense, said arson was not established by the state according to his examination of the evidence.

Babrauskas also said fire investigators acted unprofessionally by not considering the fire could have been set by Welton's teen sons.

David Campbell of Ralston, N.C., disagreed with those findings. Based on his study of the case, he said the fire was most likely an arson, and that an accelerant was probably used.

He based his findings on the intensity of the fire, which burned through floor layers. "Unaccelerated fires don't burn through floor layers," he said.

Campbell said the fire most likely originated in the third bedroom upstairs, known to be Welton's daughter's room, which was unoccupied the night of the fire.

Rebuttal was expected to be wrapped up this week, with closing arguments in the trial scheduled for Tuesday.