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Lab: Paint matches victim's safe
Particles were found on man's hand truck
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Published: January 16, 2009
INDEPENDENCE, Va. - Paint particles on a hand truck that authorities found beside a murder suspect's camper appear to match the red paint from the bottom of a gun safe at the scene of a triple killing on a Christmas tree farm in Grayson County, Va., according to lab results filed with the Grayson County Clerk of Court's Office.
The results from the state forensics lab in Roanoke, Va., are evidence in the case against Freddie Hammer, 49, of Crumpler, N.C. Hammer faces five capital-murder charges and 11 other felonies in connection with the Jan. 24, 2008, killings of Ron Hudler, 73, the owner of a Christmas-tree farm; his son, Fred Hudler, 44; and John Miller Jr., 25, a farm employee.
Authorities and court documents allege that Hammer went to the Christmas-tree farm to steal money that was kept inside the gun safe in the detached garage at Ron Hudler's home. Each of the men was shot in the head at least once.
The heavy gun safe had been moved out of place and was open when investigators found it. An undisclosed amount of money is still missing.
Hammer owned a camper at a private campground in Cripple Creek, Va., which is about a 40-minute drive from the Christmas-tree farm. He denies that he killed the men, and told authorities that he had visited the campground on the morning of the killings, according to court documents and prior phone conversations with Hammer.
Certificates of analysis and scientific notes that included descriptions of the red-paint samples were filed Jan. 5 with the Grayson County Clerk of Court. The file includes a memo written by a forensic scientist who wrote about what an investigator had told him about the hand truck.
The "handcart was allegedly used and transported in the suspect's truck to Cripple Creek where it was recovered," the lab worker wrote. "The handcart may have been pushed through the debris at the crime scene…. They think that the suspect used the handcart as part of a robbery attempt. The handcart, some gun cases, a briefcase were recovered at Cripple Creek."
A paint sample from the bottom of the safe was compared to paint particles from debris on the hand truck, using magnification, dispersive X-ray spectrometry, and other equipment or tests. The paint from the debris on the hand truck was consistent in color, texture, chemical composition and other indicators with the paint from the safe, according to the report.
"It is considered unlikely that the paint in item (debris from hand truck) originated from any source other than the source represented by item (paint scraping bottom of safe)," the technician wrote.
Lt. J.W. Humphreys of the Virginia State Police found the hand truck on Jan. 29, 2008, next to a fence near the camper, according to court documents.
Humphreys had been at the crime scene two days earlier and had noticed two damage marks in the paint on the safe.
The marks on the safe were made at a spot where two bolts on the hand truck would have rubbed against it, Humprheys testified at Hammer's preliminary hearing in August 2008.
It's unclear from the lab report whether authorities believe that the hand truck belonged to Hammer.
An attempt to reach Hammer's defense team was unsuccessful. In a hearing last week, Hammer's defense team told the judge that it anticipates hiring an expert witness to evaluate the paint-analysis findings.
During Hammer's preliminary hearing in August, a witness testified that he had found what appeared to be several briefcases and a lockbox during a search in woods about 700 feet from Hammer's Cripple Creek camper on Feb. 3, 2008. When the searcher tried to use a tree branch to lift a briefcase, it fell open and paperwork bearing Ron Hudler's name fell out, he testified.
The searchers were in the area because Hammer is also a suspect in the disappearance of his nephew Jimmy Blevins, who has not been seen since Feb. 24, 2007, when Blevins' step-grandmother saw him get into a truck with Hammer.
Authorities say they believe that Blevins is dead and that Hammer is the main suspect. Hammer has not been charged in connection with Blevins' disappearance and says he does not know what happened to Blevins.
After Hammer was arrested in connection with the killings on the Hudler farms, a group of people went to search the area near the campground to see whether they could find any evidence related to Blevins. They found some items covered by brush in woods across a pasture from Hammer's camper.
According to an inventory in the court documents, the items included a briefcase, an empty gun box, and another gun box with the gun inside. They also recovered a small lockbox, or fire safe, that contained three wristwatches, empty money wrappers, and credit cards for Ron Hudler and for the Christmas-tree farm.
On Tuesday, the defense filed three motions in the case.
One of the motions asks a judge to declare Virginia's death- penalty case unconstitutional. A discovery motion asks for prosecutors to share any evidence, and a third motion asks for the grounds upon which prosecutors contend the defendant is guilty of capital murder.
The motions are standard in a capital case, and among the recommended motions that the American Bar Association says the defense should file.
Hammer's next scheduled court date is Jan. 28. A judge said last week that he would set a trial date when the defense concludes its investigation.
The trial is expected to last four to six weeks, court officials said. Although Hammer is accused of killing three people, he will be tried on five counts of capital murder because prosecutors charged him with various elements related to the killings.
■ Monte Mitchell can be reached in Wilkesboro at 336-667-5691 or at mmitchell@wsjournal.com.
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