Tarrant County prosecutors to rest capital murder case

By MARTHA DELLER

mdeller@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH — Tarrant County prosecutors are expected to rest their case in a capital murder trial today after calling the grandson of a 68-year-old Arlington woman who was stabbed to death during what prosecutors have described as a crime spree by a 25-year-old defendant who also killed his uncle and wounded his own girlfriend.

Prosecutors Lloyd Whelchel and Page Simpson called nearly 20 witnesses last week in the trial of Dustin Nall, accused of the 2007 robbery-slaying of Bertha Wilkerson.

Wilkerson’s grandson, Spencer Combs, is expected to testify about chasing Nall out of the home with a shotgun as his grandmother lay bleeding in front of the duplex in north central Arlington.

A DNA analyst testified Friday that Wilkerson’s blood was on the knife that Nall threw out as he fled from officers in Randol Mill Park minutes after Wilkerson’s slaying. The officers testified about the chase earlier in the week.

Carolyn Van Winkle, senior DNA analyst for the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office, testified that Nall’s blood was also found on pill bottles labeled with Wilkerson’s name. Police said Nall also threw out those bottles as he eluded them.

Nall’s blood was found on the T-shirt, jeans and jacket he was wearing when he was arrested, Van Winkle and police testified. That clothing also contained blood from Nall’s uncle, Danny Nall, and his girlfriend, Marina Camille Cuellar, she said.

Three hours before Wilkerson’s death, Danny Nall was stabbed to death and Cuellar slashed in the neck in the Ray Motel about two miles from Wilkerson’s duplex.

The chase

In the first four days of the trial in the 213th District Court, 10 Arlington police officers testified about arresting Nall in a park near Wilkerson’s duplex and collecting the evidence that linked Nall to the two crimes scenes, about two miles apart.

Witnesses also included a deputy medical examiner, several relatives and neighbors of Wilkerson and a Texas National Guard sergeant who helped Arlington police apprehend Nall at the park, a few hundred yards behind Wilkerson’s duplex in the 2700 block of Fleur De Lis Court.

After fleeing Wilkerson’s house, Nall encountered National Guard Sgt. Paul McAlester, who testified that two officers asked him to keep an eye out for an armed murder suspect while he and two other guardsmen were taking a six-mile road march.

Minutes later, McAlester said, he noticed a man sitting on a bench near a bridge in the park. He said he and two other guardsmen approached the man to see whether he matched the police description. McAlester said that while talking to the man, he noticed blood on his arm.

That’s when McAlester flagged down an officer and pointed out the man. Officer Guadalupe Silva and Cpl. Adam Smith then described how they chased Nall, who threw items from his pockets as he ran. Smith said he Tased Nall twice before he could arrest him.

Crime scene officers later found prescription pill bottles with Wilkerson’s name, a knife and other items in the park and the creek that runs through it.

Deputy Medical Examiner Gary Sisler said that Wilkerson was stabbed and cut several times but that the fatal wound was to her shoulder. The knife went 5 inches into her underarm, severing major blood vessels, he said.

Sisler said Wilkerson might have survived if she had received medical attention quickly. But, he said, Danny Nall would not have survived because one of two stab wounds to his chest penetrated several organs and severed major vessels.

MARTHA DELLER, 817-390-7857

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