Welton defense targets investigation tactics

A retired Nikiski school and drama teacher testified Wednesday that Suzette Welton was a devoted mother who helped daily during the months of preparation for school musicals from 1995 to 1999.

Welton's sons, Jeremiah and Samuel, performed in the musicals in their fifth and sixth grade years, said Pamela Gennari. During those years, she observed a thoughtful, devoted mother, she said.

"Children always came first for Suzette. In fact, compared to other mothers she was more so this way," she said.

Welton helped by taking care of tickets students sold for the school musicals and worked behind the scenes in a daily commitment to the school over several months each spring, Gennari said.

Welton is on trial for murder and arson charges in connection with a Wasilla residential fire that resulted in Samuel's death Sept. 15, 2001, at the age of 14. Jeremiah, then 16, jumped to the ground from the second floor.

The testimony, coming in the fifth week of the trial, is the defense team's first chance to present their case, showing Welton's character and how they feel police and fire investigation wrongly targeted Welton from the start.

Gennari taught sixth grade at Nikiski while her husband taught fifth grade. As a team they produced the school's musicals over a period of 10 years. She retired and moved to California for health reasons in 1999.

Working with the children on the musicals forged bonds between the teachers and their students because the musicals "made us all feel close," Gennari said -- particularly with Samuel, whom both she and her husband enjoyed. "Sam was a creative student and my husband and I got a kick out of him. We loved him."

They were also impressed with Welton's dedication, often bringing a couple of children from her day care as she helped behind the scenes. Extra children weren't usually welcome, Gennari said, but those in Welton's care "were very well-behaved."

"We needed parents at the school, and [Welton] was there every day," she said.

When Gennari heard of the family's tragedy in the Sept. 15 fire, she felt the need to reach out, she said. From her home in California she called Suzette Welton at the hotel that night and Welton told her no one knew yet how the fire started.

She called again the next day and Welton told her Jeremiah and six-year-old Bree had been taken away by the Division of Family and Youth Services.

That's when Gennari decided to return to Alaska to help support Welton through her loss, which included not only the death of Samuel but the other children taken away as well.

"It was an overwhelming loss," Gennari said. She also felt the need to comfort other former students who had been close to Samuel, she said.

During that trip to Nikiski, Gennari visited Welton daily while Welton stayed at Kim Cowie's home. She helped plan funeral arrangements, accompanied her to two child custody hearings and visited a pastor with her, she said.

The visit to the pastor was especially disheartening, she said. One would think consoling and comfort would be offered by the Baptist minister during that visit, she said.

"Instead, I perceived blame and interrogation. There was no love and support," Gennari said. "He questioned her, asking 'Did you have something to do with the fire? It's not too late to set the record straight.' At least four times, he specifically said it's not too late if you had anything to do with this."

It was clear to Gennari that he had "already convicted Suzette in his mind." Gennari said this made her angry.

"As we walked out, [Welton] seemed shocked, overwhelmed and hurt," she said.

In the evenings at the Cowie house, Gennari said friends gathered around and talked, trying to sort through what happened to Samuel. A friend brought over an e-mail from Samuel that "shocked" them with its tones of depression.

At that point, she said, the possibility arose that Sam may have wanted to commit suicide. Welton remained quiet and seldom spoke during these talks, Gennari said. It was not Welton who came up with the theory that perhaps Samuel had something to do with setting the fire, Gennari said, but rather this group of friends.

The prosecution has contended that Welton circulated the theory that Sam had caused the fire. Gennari's testimony refuted this.

In other testimony, teen-ager Jeanette Copland tearfully told jurors that Sam had sometimes been her boyfriend, but had always been her friend from fifth grade on.

The two attended homecoming dance together on Sept. 8, 2001, a week before the fire. Samuel came to Nikiski to be her date, she said.

The defense asked Copland if she told Alaska State Trooper Investigator Leonard Wallner that she thought Sam could have killed himself.

At first she did say this, but she believes overall, "Sam wouldn't hurt anyone in his family or himself," she said.

In other testimony, Vytenis Babrauskas, a doctor of forensic fire investigation in Seattle, Wa., told the jury it's most likely cheap, flammable carpet caused the fire to flare within minutes and that his review of the investigation did not point to any evidence of arson.

"In my opinion, the allegations of fire investigators are based on bad science," Babrauskas said.

He remained on the witness stand two days, explaining complex fire theories, modern verses out-dated combustion research. An outdated theory of fire patterns was applied in the Welton home, which erroneously led investigators to conclude a liquid accelerant must have been used to set the fire, he said.

Newer experiments and studies have shown that fire will follow a ventilation pattern. "If a door or window is open, the fire follows a flow of ventilation," he said.

Landlords often put inexpensive carpet into rentals, carpet made of plastic polypropylene which contains "the same gas as a flammable liquid and doesn't take much to ignite," he said.

Based on his review of fire investigation reports, photos, charts and grand jury testimony, Babrauskas said he found investigators took incomplete information from firefighters. The wrong testing strategy was done on carpet samples taken from the home, he said.

Conclusions from the state fire marshal office were cursory, such as one sentence stating that all mechanical causes were ruled out, without any evidence that it was checked as a possible cause. He also found it unprofessional of fire investigators not to look into possibilities one of the teen boys may have accidentally or purposely set the fire.

"It's unethical to not investigate all possibilities and then reach conclusions," he said.

District Attorney Roman Kalytiak challenged Babrauskas' expertise since he had no hands-on firefighting experience and had been to few actual fire scenes. He also questioned how much Babrauska was getting paid to testify as a professional forensic scientist.

Babrauska said his role was to testify after conducting a scientific investigation into a fire after-the-fact. He was hired last fall to sift through the entire case, retracing the steps of all the other investigators. He said he was paid $8,500, which is not unusual because his expertise is often called upon to help look at court cases, mostly civil litigation.

The trial continues Monday in Palmer Superior Court before Judge Milton Souter.