Man to face trial for fatally stabbing, burning his sister and unborn child in Fresno
A 42-year-old Fresno man charged with fatally stabbing his sister and her unborn baby will go on trial for double murder, a Fresno County Superior Court judge ruled Monday.
If convicted on all counts, Aaron Dudley could be sentenced to death or life in prison without the possibility of parole, said Senior Deputy District Attorney Liz Owen.
During his preliminary hearing, several witnesses and a homicide detective described the grisly scene where Dudley allegedly dumped and burned the body of N-Kya Rebecca Logan, his 26-year-old sister who was 8 months pregnant. Logan planned to name her baby Noah.
One witness testified that he was walking back to his apartment in the 4400 block of Cornelia Avenue shortly before noon when he saw a man trying to set a green waste garbage can on fire near the apartment and a vacant field.
“I saw him bend down and then all of a sudden flames came up,” said the witness, who did not want to be identified out of concern for his safety. “At first it appeared he started the fire in the trashcan, but as I got closer it was behind it. “
The witness recorded the scene with his phone camera and later provided it to police.
Police officers testify
Fresno Police Officer John Ayers was the first to arrive and spoke to several witnesses who were shocked to discover that someone had set a body on fire.
“One of them said they saw the smoke and then they smelled a terrible smell,” Ayers testified.
Officer Joshua Alexander, who was the lead detective on the case, testified that Dudley became their prime suspect after his mother showed up at the scene concerned about her daughter, who she could not get a hold of that morning.
Logan lived with her mother, Donna Barkus, and her brother Dudley just several blocks away.
Barkus was frantic, but Alexander had little identifying information to use, other than some acrylic nails. He took a photo of the nails from Logan’s hand and Barkus said it was her.
The detectives then drove Barkus back to her home. As they waited outside, one of the detectives, Victor Miranda, noticed a green waste can near the house. He looked inside and found it had recently been washed out.
Detectives probed further and asked Barkus if she had any surveillance cameras in her home. She did and they reviewed the video, much to their surprise.
“We see a Black male, wearing blue shirt and blue jeans, leave the yard with a green trash can, walking westbound on Holland,” Alexander testified. “He goes out of the camera view, but he is going westbound towards Cornelia Avenue.”
Search warrant yields more evidence, police say
Detectives secured a search warrant of the home that revealed more grisly evidence. A forensic specialist applied a substance used to reveal the presence of blood. When it’s detected, the substance illuminates.
Alexander said blood was found on the couch, the living room, the floor and especially the bathroom.
“At least 90 percent of the bathtub was illuminated, including the wall and the ceiling,” he said.
When detectives questioned Dudley about the surveillance video showing him with the green garbage can, he said he was going out to collect firewood. They asked him about the evidence of blood throughout the house.
“He said he had injured his toe,” Alexander testified. “But there is no way his toe could have created that much blood inside the house.”
Dudley is represented by Emily Takao and Jonathan Richter. His next court appearance is June 20 in Dept. 31 and he remains in the Fresno County Jail with bail set at $2.1 million.
