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Witness: Brothers was in town

This story originally appeared June 6, 2005

By JESSICA LOGAN, Californian staff writer
e-mail: jlogan@bakersfield.com | Friday, Feb 16 2007 9:45 AM

Last Updated: Friday, Feb 16 2007 9:45 AM

A tearful woman testified Monday at the preliminary hearing for quintuple murder defendant Vincent Brothers that she saw Brothers in Bakersfield on the same day the prosecution believes he killed his family.

This was just one of a parade of witnesses brought on by Brothers' defense team. Each witness discussed a small piece of evidence about the killing of Brothers' estranged wife Joanie Harper; their three children Marques, Lyndsey and Marshall; and his mother-in-law, Earnestine Harper.

The family was found dead in its Bakersfield home on July 8, 2003. Prosecutors believe Brothers shot his five family members and stabbed his wife two days before.

Audrey Wandick, whose child attended Fremont School while Brothers was vice principal, said she saw Brothers on July 6.

She testified she was driving to a store and saw him in his blue pickup for just a few seconds as she crossed an intersection.

But defense attorney Kevin Little questioned that sighting of Brothers, noting that she said she was headed to three different stores during different interviews.

She also said that Brothers expelled her son from Fremont School.

Brothers flew to Ohio on July 2 for a visit with family, but prosecutors believe Brothers drove a rental car back to Bakersfield and killed his family.

Investigators followed possible routes Brothers could have taken through California, Arizona, Kansas, Colorado and Utah, detectives said.

They showed his picture at rest stops, gas stations and restaurants, and asked for surveillance videos, but no identification of Brothers resulted from their efforts, detectives testified.

The defense has asserted that about 400 hours of such videotape were reviewed and none of it shows Brothers.

But the investigators pointed out under cross examination by Deputy District Attorney Lisa Green that they did not question every employee of every business between here and Ohio and said many of the businesses had no surveillance tapes.

Green asked one of the detectives, "If you had just murdered your family ... ," but she was not allowed to finish her question because of a defense objection.

The defense did bring on a detective who conceded that a man seen on a surveillance videotape at a business on July 8 in Ohio may be Vincent Brothers.

The investigator couldn't make a positive identification because the film quality was poor, he testified.

An investigator also testified that Brothers may have signed for a credit card purchase at an Ohio Chinese food restaurant on July 3.

Brenda Smith, a supervising criminalist for the Kern County District Attorney's crime lab, added another piece of evidence for the defense.

She said that blood was found on a napkin in Brothers' truck, but it didn't match the defendant or any of the victims.

The hearing lasted only two hours Monday because of scheduling conflicts.

Brothers' preliminary hearing may end today.