Jurors Hear, See Bloody Details In Queen Anne Ax-Murder Case
Jurors today were to resume hearing the grim details of the ax murder of Queen Anne resident Geneva McDonald.
Some photos shown yesterday of the ax-and-scissor wounds McDonald suffered as she lay sleeping last March in her home brought reactions of disbelief from the six men and women hearing the trial of James William Cushing.
McDonald, 63, an executive secretary for a naval architecture firm, had been sick last March 12 and skipped work. Her friend, Rebecca Shaw, went looking for McDonald and found her in an upstairs bedroom.
``It was devastation and I knew I had to get help,'' Shaw told the jury in the courtroom of King County Superior Court Judge Frank Sullivan.
Shaw went to a neighbor, who called 911.
McDonald had been killed by multiple chopping blows to her face, upper torso and hands.
The ax, stolen from a home a few blocks away, was left beside McDonald's bed.
Seattle Police homicide Detective Albert Williams showed color photos of the crime scene, including McDonald's body.
Dr. Sally Fitterer, a King County medical examiner, was to continue today detailing each of the wounds, carefully explaining which were consistent with an ax and which were inflicted with a scissors.
Cushing, 37, a longtime street person who is developmentally disabled and has a history of mental illness, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to the aggravated first-degree murder charge and six other crimes.