Published: August 06, 2008 11:55 pm            

Friend testifies he fears Mullendore

Lebanon — By ROD ROSE

The Lebanon Reporter

Lebanon — Dennis Mullendore’s best friend of 21 years is afraid of him.

Randy Boyd, the last witness Wednesday in Mullendore’s murder trial, admitted he was “a little bit” uneasy and fearful of the man who was the best man at Boyd’s wedding.

Mullendore is charged with killing his wife, Beth Mullendore, in January 2007.

Prosecutor Todd Meyer asked why Boyd feared Mullendore.

“Well, he, ah, Dennis, ah, at one point in time thought that I was having an affair with Beth,” Boyd said. “I never even talked to Beth after they split up.”

Mullendore and Boyd stared at each other for about 10 tense seconds before Mullendore looked away.

Mullendore left messages on his telephone, “saying something terrible could happen,” Boyd said.

The tires on Boyd’s Trailblazer were slashed, he said. Another time Boyd was taking his 10-year-old son home when “something locked up on my steering, and I hit a telephone pole head-on,” he said; father and son were taken to the hospital for treatment.

Boyd told police he suspected Mullendore was involved in both incidents, he testified.

The two talked of which weapon would be better to kill someone with, Boyd said. They decided a shotgun would be best because the ballistics are harder to trace than a handgun or rifle.

Mullendore did not make specific threats against anyone, Boyd indicated. “It was just general conversation,” an uncomfortable Boyd said.

“It would be a lot more difficult from a shotgun than a handgun or a rifle,” Boyd said.

Beth Mullendore was shot in the head with a shotgun.

On Tuesday, Meyer said his opening statement would be “a road map” to the trial.

Wednesday, he began drawing that map.

The afternoon’s testimony had been largely technical before Boyd took the stand.

Police described how they found shotguns and ammunition in Mullendore’s home and his mother’s home and how they are linked to the crime.

Zionsville Marshal Rick Dowden, who was a crime scene technician for the sheriff’s department at the time, said shotgun pellets and wadding were removed from Beth Mullendore’s head are similar to shotgun shells found in Dennis Mullendore’s red Buick. Another shell was found on the driveway of Mullendore’s rural Lebanon home, Dowden said.

Investigators also found shotgun shells in coffee cups at his mother’s home, as well as two shotguns. Mullendore’s attorney, Gary Colasessano asked Sheriff Ken Campbell if gun ownership is common in Boone County. Campbell replied yes. He said 12- or 20-gauge shotguns were the most popular made.

In other testimony, lawyers Darren Chad and Debbie Smith who had represented Beth Mullendore said she sought a divorce from the man who repeatedly said he loved her in telephone messages.

Both filed restraining orders against Mullendore as the divorce moved through the courts toward a Jan. 25, 2007 final hearing.

Bobbi Noland, Beth Mullendore’s daughter, and Kim Miller, Mullendore’s sister, said it was his voice on all the messages.

But Miller said she “could not swear” the growling, deep-voiced threats were made by Mullendore.

For 51 minutes, the jury listened to and read transcripts of the messages.

The growling voice, which the state claims is Mullendore, said, “you can run but you can’t hide”; “we know where you are. We know who you have been with”; “just beware ... I can see your every move.” Several times the caller intoned “Ha. Ha. Ha,” “I can see what you are all doing; you can’t see me, but I can see you.”

Some of the calls went to Beth Mullendore’s cell phone. But others went to Rick Marshall, whose cell phone was one number different than hers.

Marshall testified that when learned Beth Mullendore was dead, he called Boone County Sheriff Det. Mike Beard and said he had received calls from “someone disguising his voice.” Marshall thought, “it was kind of a weird situation” and thought “someone should listen to the tapes.”

Several times Mullendore told his estranged wife, “I love you.” He invited her to a party. He pleaded, “talk to me, please; call your lawyer, tell her I left this message ... I don’t want this divorce. I still love you.”

When Mullendore made that call on Sept. 29, 2006, he was having “an intimate relationship” with Lucinda Munger.

Munger said she met Mullendore when she was 19, after dating a mutual friend. She was away from Lebanon for 27 years, she testified. Shortly before Thanksgiving 2005 “I reconnected with Dennis,” Munger said. She needed wood for a fireplace and was told that Mullendore cut wood, she said.

“We started going out,” Munger said.

The night Beth Mullendore was murdered, Mullendore told Munger at about 5:30 p.m. that he had to work late.

When she called Mullendore about 8:30 p.m. Jan. 5, “he said he was finished working and he was very, very tired and that they were not going to get together,” Munger said.

Beth Mullendore was killed about 6:30 p.m., police said.

Case tracker

then: Beth Mullendore, 47, a nurse at St. Vincent Hospital, Indianapolis, was shot dead on Jan. 5, 2007, as she drove to work along Interstate 865 in southern Boone County. Her estranged husband was charged on June 6, 2007, with her murder.

now: The second day of Mullendore’s trial concluded Wednesday with explosive statements from his “best friend,” after more than six hours of testimony by lawyers, police and the playing of telephone threats allegedly made by Mullendore.

next: The jury of nine men and three women could begin deliberating Mullendore’s fate as early as this evening.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.