Shannon Lee Edmonds, 35, and Melvin Dale Norton, 38, were interviewed separately by Clearlake Police detectives within hours of the death of 25-year-old Shelby Uehling, who was found beaten and stabbed to death alongside of Old Highway 53 shortly after 1 a.m. Sept. 22.
Edmonds and Norton are being tried together for the death of Uehling, a Montanan who had moved to Lake County several months before his death.
Prosecutor Art Grothe played for the jury three recorded interviews, first with Norton, then Edmonds, then Norton again, who police pressed on the differing points of their stories.
Clearlake Police Det. Tom Clements, who had led the interviews of both men, took the stand first thing Thursday, when the trial resumed after a week-long break. He was on the stand during the morning, as the recordings of the interviews were played, and about 45 minutes in the afternoon session.
Clements arrived at the murder scene at about 2 a.m. Sept. 22, and within hours leads took police to Norton's home at the Lotowana trailer resort and to Edmonds', in a trailer park a few blocks away.
Clements said he and other officers spoke to Norton outside of his singlewide trailer, and were given permission to enter. When they went inside, Clements spotted a pair of blood-covered sneakers and immediately ordered everyone out and the scene locked down until a search warrant was issued.
In Norton's initial police interview, which lasted 29 minutes, he denied having any physical confrontation with Uehling, but said he had spoken to him on the phone a few days before Uehling's death.
He said Uehling had been calling repeatedly to speak with Patricia Campbell, a close family friend of Norton's who he referred to as his cousin, and who had an on-again, off-again romantic relationship with Edmonds.
Uehling and Campbell had a brief romantic relationship during a short breakup between she and Edmonds, according to previous trial testimony. Campbell then called it off and went back to Edmonds.
“She didn't want him coming around, didn't want him calling her anymore,” Norton said of Uehling, adding that Uehling “wouldn't let up” when it came to calling her.
On Sept. 21, Norton spent the day working on his Nissan Pathfinder at Edmonds', they had a barbecue and he later returned home to the trailer he shared with girlfriend Jackie Shelafoe.
Norton told police that Edmonds came to his home later that night, stating that he had gotten into a fight, but didn't say who he had fought.
At that point in the interview, Clements told Norton that he knew he had called Edmonds to tell him that Uehling's car was parked near Old Highway 53, and that Edmonds had come over and together they went up to the car.
“I'm telling you, be honest with me, man, we already know a lot,” said Clements, adding that “lies are not going to help anything.”
Norton then told police that he and Edmonds went up the hill, saw Uehling sitting in his car, and that Uehling and Edmonds got into a fight. He said he walked down the road a little ways because he didn't want to be involved.
He said the pants he wore that night had blood on the front of the right leg because Edmonds had touched his leg, and that blood drops on his shoes were from Edmonds, whose hands Norton said were covered in blood.
Back at Norton's home, he said Edmonds washed his knife and Norton put it in a plastic shopping bag between the mattresses of the bed in the trailer's spare bedroom. Edmonds changed his clothes, put them in a bag under the bed, and wore a pair of shorts home.
Police pressed Norton on his involvement in the fight, and asked why he hadn't called police to report it or the fact that Uehling was badly injured.
When Clements and Sgt. Tim Celli said they didn't believe his story, Norton replied angrily, “I'm a three-strike candidate. I'm watching my Ps and Qs,” adding that he had to if he didn't want to go back to prison.
He maintained he didn't know what happened to Uehling. “I didn't hit him, I didn't kick him, I didn't stab him, I didn't do anything but yell at him.”
The interview ended with Norton asking police for a cigarette and complaining that the interview room was cold.
Edmonds recalls being terrified
About an hour after ending their interview with Norton, Celli and Clements sat down with Edmonds to interrogate him about the incident.
Edmonds said he met Uehling a few weeks before the confrontation while working on a client's car. He said he didn't really know him, but that Uehling had been coming around to talk to Campbell, who told him that Uehling was stalking her.
Two days before the fatal fight, Uehling had showed up at Campbell's mother's home, located next door to Edmonds' motor home, at about 1 a.m., he said. Uehling walked around the trailer, knocking on the windows. Edmonds said he went out and asked Uehling to leave and he did.
Initially, Edmonds claimed that was the last time he saw Uehling.
On Sept. 21, he got up early to get his teenage daughter ready to leave for school, then went back to bed and got up later in the morning. He spent the day hanging out at his home with friends. He said he and Norton hung out, smoked some marijuana and Norton went home around 2 a.m.
Clements and Celli admonished him to be honest. “I am honest, OK, you know that,” said Edmonds.
“Well, I thought you were before, but now I don't know,” said Clements, asking if Edmonds wanted to explain his bloody shoes, knife and clothing.
Edmonds originally denied being in a fight, and said he got scratches on his forehead from falling over a fence while walking next door to buy marijuana.
“All right, man, what happened?” Clements pressed.
“This is bulls***,” Edmonds replied.
He was asked if he was aware Uehling was dead. “That's what you told me,” he said.
“The worst thing you can do is lie to us,” said Clements.
“Can I have a cigarette?” Edmonds asked.
“After we're done,” said Clements.
“Promise?” Edmonds asked.
He went on to recount that he got a call from Norton, who said he thought he had spotted Uehling's car on a nearby road. Edmonds said he and Norton went up to see Uehling and tell him to leave Campbell alone.
But the confrontation quickly turned into a brawl. Edmonds said Uehling pulled a knife out of the waistband of his shorts; Edmonds said he initially thought the knife was going to be a gun.
“He stabbed me in the arm. I pulled out my knife and I stabbed him,” Edmonds said.
Clements asked him why he didn't call the police. Edmonds said because he figured Uehling was badly hurt.
He also told police that he didn't want to go to prison over Uehling, who he accused of being a drug dealer. Edmonds said he called Celli several days before the confrontation about Uehling and drugs but didn't get any help.
“I'm going to go to prison for the rest of my life,” Edmonds said.
When pressed about not going to police, Edmonds said, “I was terrified. I'm still terrified,” and he accused Uehling of stalking and frightening Campbell.
“Every time I do call you guys I get the runaround and I get treated like s***,” he said.
During the interview, Celli confronted Edmonds about his report to police about Uehling and a drug lab, and Celli accused him of calling police to mess with Campbell because she and Edmonds were on the outs. “Don't pin this on anybody else but yourself,” Celli said.
As he continued his description of his brawl with Uehling, Edmonds described he and Uehling hitting the pavement fighting, “boxing and wrestling and everything else.” He said he couldn't recount every detail because it happened so fast.
When he and Norton got back to Norton's home, they washed their hands, and Edmonds said he washed the knife and the cut on his arm, which he later bandaged. They then put their clothes in a plastic bag in the trailer's spare bedroom.
“Obviously, I'm probably going to jail, right?” Edmonds asked.
He then asked for a cigarette and told Clements that he's not a bad guy, that he was protecting Campbell, who was very frightened.
“You should have seen the f***ing look in her eye. I love her. I love her. She is the most beautiful woman I have ever been with. She has a personality that is just amazing,” said Edmonds, who told detectives that before they got together Campbell had gotten hooked on crank.
Following that interview with Edmonds, a few hours later police reinterviewed Norton, and pointed out the discrepancies between his account and that of Edmonds.
They asked Norton if he ever hit Uehling, and he said he pushed him away, and said he wasn't sure how he got covered in blood.
During the fight, Edmonds was on top of Uehling most of the time. Norton recalled Uehling screaming as he was lying on the side of the road under an oak tree – where his lifeless body later would be found by police.
Following the playing of the interviews, Clements explained pictures of some of the evidence to the jury and told of how the California Department of Justice only usually takes three items per person for testing, but that he convinced them to take more.
While police took numerous pieces of evidence in the case, ultimately they submitted 16 items for testing, after Clements said he and DOJ officials concurred on which items were the most important for the purposes of the case.
At the end of Clements' testimony, the prosecution rested.
Defense attorneys Stephen Carter, representing Norton, and Doug Rhoades, representing Edmonds, will begin presenting their cases when the trial reconvenes at 9 a.m. next Tuesday, Feb. 23.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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