'Like my own family:' Grand Forks accused murderer testifies of relationship with victim
Nov. 20—GRAND FORKS — A Grand Forks man accused of murder and tampering with evidence testified in his own defense during the third day of his jury trial on Monday, Nov. 20.
"The man is like my own family," Kindi Jalloh said of Douglas Elgert, a 67-year-old man who was found dead on his kitchen floor last May.
Elgert suffered stab wounds and a fatal blunt force injury to his head. Kindi Jalloh, 40, was charged with Class C felony tampering with evidence for allegedly disposing of blood-stained evidence. Later, Jalloh was charged with Class AA felony murder, which has a maximum sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Jalloh's trial began on Wednesday, Nov. 15. Throughout the first two days of trial, the state presented 17 witnesses. Not enough witnesses were available for the following day, so the state waited to call its last three on Monday, Nov. 20.
Among them was Mallory Gage, who'd been a forensic examiner at the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, where evidence from this case was sent for DNA testing.
DNA testing has limitations and matches can't be definitively proven, Gage testified, but there was a strong suggestion that Jalloh's DNA matched the sample collected from underneath Elgert's fingernails.
This DNA transfer could have happened in a number of ways, including secondary transfer, or Elgert touching something that had Jalloh's DNA on it. However, there has to be a significant amount of DNA left behind for it to show up in a test, Gage said.
There was also strong support that the blood on Jalloh's T-shirt belonged to Elgert, as well as the blood on the Karkov bottle, knife blade and the top of Jalloh's tennis shoe.
Mike Gavere, formerly a detective at the Grand Forks Police Department, testified about his interviews with Jalloh on May 24, 2022. At the scene of the crime that morning, Gavere observed marks that appeared to be fresh scratches on Jalloh's neck, middle finger and nose. The scratch on his nose had dried blood around it.
Gavere also noticed dried blood around the beds of Jalloh's fingernails.
Throughout Jalloh's interview that day, he gave inconsistent answers to questions about what happened that morning and the night before, Gavere testified.
"His recollection, and what he was telling me, was inconsistent," he said.
Video clips from the interview were shown to the jury. Jalloh gave non-answers, or asked his own questions, seemingly to buy time, according to Gavere.
Jalloh, though, said the inconsistencies and omissions were because he was scared.
"I asked why he was scared," Gavere testified. "He said because he had blood on his shoes and there was a dead man."
During Jalloh's testimony, he said he went to get liquor and cigarettes for himself and Elgert the night of May 23, 2022, and returned to the apartment around 10 p.m. The men drank, smoked and watched television until around 1 a.m., when Jalloh left.
Jalloh lived there at the time, but he was not supposed to, because Elgert was on housing assistance, Jalloh said. He knew Elgert's social worker was coming in the morning, so he left and slept in a nearby apartment building's stairwell.
When Jalloh left that night, "Doug was fine," he said. "He was OK."
Jalloh returned the next morning around 9:30 a.m. He didn't see any unfamiliar cars in the parking lot, so he tried to open Elgert's door, but it was locked. Elgert had given him a key, Jalloh testified, so he unlocked the door and went inside.
Elgert was lying on the kitchen floor, facing away from the door.
"I thought he slipped and fell," Jalloh testified.
Jalloh believed Elgert drank the rest of the one-liter bottle of vodka and fell over drunk. At first, he didn't realize the man was dead, Jalloh testified.
Once he examined Elgert, though, Jalloh became afraid because he was the one who bought the liquor that, he believed, led to his friend's demise.
"This man is dead," Jalloh testified. "There's blood on my shoes. I'm the one who bought the liquor."
The state questioned why Jalloh failed to bring up this fear at any time throughout the investigation, as well as other elements of the story that changed from Jalloh's initial interview with law enforcement to his trial testimony on Monday.
Jalloh said that he did tell law enforcement his fears, but couldn't remember when. He testified, under cross-examination, that he couldn't remember telling police that he didn't know how he got blood on his hands, that he didn't clean any blood off his hands, that he didn't remember throwing away his bloodied shoes and other statements regarding the events of May 23 and 24 of 2022.
There were also conflicting statements throughout Jalloh's testimony regarding how and when he got blood on his shoes, whether he was wearing them at the time and at what point he threw them away.
Jalloh had been living with Elgert for approximately a month before the murder. Neighbors testified that they'd overheard Elgert yelling at Jalloh to leave, but Jalloh said they didn't argue, and that his neighbors were lying — as they had about other facts of the case, he said.
Jalloh testified that he had no reason to kill Elgert.
"I don't want him dead," he said. "If he's dead, I'm out on the street."
The state and defense rested on Monday afternoon. Closing instructions and arguments are expected to take place on Tuesday, Nov. 21.
