What prompted the ice pick slaying of a Ridgecrest woman? Jurors begin deliberations in case

Aug. 29—The crime scene inside a Ridgecrest RV garage left a 911 caller so speechless that he barely could describe the gruesome scene to a dispatcher, a prosecutor said Tuesday in her closing arguments.

Blood smeared across the floor and spattered across the walls. Katie Pham, 21, lay prone with blood coating her bare backside and her T-shirt shoved above her chest. Pham's boyfriend of one month was soon arrested in her death, a picture showing him handcuffed with blood staining the crotch of his light brown pants.

Deputy District Attorney Samantha Allen displayed crime scene photos Tuesday in Kern County Superior Court as she argued why defendant Daniel Gunnarsson, 23, should be found guilty of first-degree murder and mutilating a corpse by touching it sexually. He's pleaded not guilty to all charges and jurors left to deliberate at 2:47 p.m. Tuesday.

"It's absurd to me to insinuate that anyone else could have committed this crime," Allen said, while adding to assume another person's culpability is insulting to jurors. No one else in the Ridgecrest home where Pham was found in May 2021 was covered in blood except Gunnarsson, she said.

Jurors may also choose between finding Gunnarsson guilty of second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter.

Jealousy led Gunnarsson to stab Pham more than nine times in the head with an ice pick, Allen said. She juxtaposed pictures of Pham smiling sweetly in a photo and her dead face, covered in blood.

But Deputy Public Defender Lexi Blythe, representing Gunnarsson, reminded jurors that sympathy, bias and prejudice shouldn't cloud their judgment. It wouldn't be a fair trial if jurors were to make a decision based on the pictures displayed, she said.

And, there is no evidence that Gunnarsson acted out of jealousy, Blythe said. She didn't concede her client killed Pham. But, if jurors believe Gunnarsson killed Pham, his actions don't add up to first-degree murder but instead voluntary manslaughter. He wasn't in the right state of mind at that moment, Blythe said.

Prosecution

The jealousy presented itself in two ways, Allen said.

Testimony showed Gunnarsson was upset over a man apparently leaving Pham's house while they were broken up and when Pham exchanged messages with another man on Facebook.

Gunnarsson began to drive in circles and hit his car against a brick wall twice, causing a passenger to feel pain in the head, after hearing of a man leaving Pham's apartment, Allen said. This happened the night before Pham was killed, which shows Gunnarsson's mindset, Allen said.

"You see jealousy," Allen said. "You see the possession."

There was no DNA found at the scene, Allen said. That's because Gunnarsson wore gloves to hide what happened, she added. He then touched Pham's buttocks with blood for sexual reasons, Allen said.

Pham's only mistake was dating the wrong guy, Allen said.

"Give Katie the justice she deserves," Allen said.

Defense

There are a lot of unanswered questions in this case, Blythe said.

Gunnarsson has two passports — one from Iceland and another from the Czech Republic — and his mother was a professional cellist who died in February 2020. He's an introverted person who didn't get in trouble, Blythe said.

She displayed text messages showing Gunnarsson texting normally with Pham, and not behaving rudely toward Pham, such as swearing excessively.

Gunnarsson's DNA wasn't found on Pham's vaginal and breast swabs or the murder weapon. There wasn't a used condom or condom wrapper at the scene, Blythe said. People get exonerated based on DNA results, she added.

Someone else could have gone into the garage and killed Pham, Blythe said.

Gunnarsson's behavior doesn't add up to a first-degree murderer: He wasn't acting aggressively and didn't to flee the scene.

Pham died in a garage with the door cracked open with employees painting the RV garage right outside. It wouldn't make sense for Gunnarsson to commit murder in this environment, Blythe said, while noting he had access to his own apartment in which no one could interrupt.

In fact, the evidence shows that Gunnarsson's mental state was not right and he was suicidal, Blythe said. Witnesses said he was incoherent, mumbling and had a blank stare, Blythe said.

"He was not in a mental state where he could do anything willfully, deliberately" or with premeditation, Blythe said. "He couldn't carefully consider anything when he is in this mental state."

We all want justice — but justice isn't secured by convicting the wrong person, or convicting a person of the wrong crime, Blythe said.

Juror deliberations will resume Wednesday.

You can reach Ishani Desai at 661-395-7417. You can also follow her at @_ishanidesai on Twitter.