Alternate suspect denies sexually assaulting, strangling Tess Richey
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A tiny but muscular man denied sexually assaulting and strangling murder victim Tess Richey but admitted in court Thursday that he saw the beautiful young woman several times on the night she was killed.
The man, JG, whose identity is covered by a publication ban, has been called as an alternate suspect by the defence lawyers representing accused killer Kalen Schlatter.
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Schlatter, 23, who has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, left his DNA (semen) on Richey’s pants and his saliva on her bra. He testified they had consensual sexual interaction — but not intercourse — and she was alive and remained behind in the stairwell area when he returned home.
His lawyer Lydia Riva accused JG of the horrific murder after her client had consensual sexual interactions with Richey.
“No ma’am,” JG replied in his soft voice.
The witness also told the jury he has Asperberger’s Sydrome, a condition on the Autism spectrum and social anxiety. He is a self-described “lonely, homebody guy.”
He agreed with the defence suggestion that he was “looking for sex or something” when he left his apartment and circulated through the crowd emptying the downtown bars at 2 a.m.
The prosecution alleges Schlatter forced himself on Richey, then strangled her and abandoned her in an exterior stairwell at 5 a.m. on Nov. 25, 2017, a few hours after meeting her outside the Crews and Tangos gay bar.
The alternate suspect, who lives downtown, was seen in surveillance video intercepting Richey, her friend Ryley Simard and Schlatter as they walked northbound on Church St.
On two occasions, Richey shouted out to JG, but he didn’t engage in conversation with her.
“It doesn’t happen much that I get approached by women. I froze. I was shy,” recalled JG. “I wasn’t going to talk (to her). I have difficulty talking to people.”
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JG attended and gave a police interview on Dec. 1, 2017, because he felt it was “suspicious” the way Richey was walking up the street, arms linked with Simard and Schlatter.
There was no forensic link on Richey’s body to the alternate suspect.
The trial resumes with JG being cross-examined by the prosecution Friday.
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