Prosecutors say phone records link Wood to homicide

THOMPSON FALLS — State investigators probing the 2018 shooting death of Matt LaFriniere allege cellphone records link ex-girlfriend Danielle Wood to the crime.

Friday afternoon in the Sanders County Courthouse in Thompson Falls, jurors saw phone records that seemed to indicate that belief.

Wood, 56, is accused of shooting and killing LaFriniere, May 2, 2018, at his home in Thompson Falls.

State prosecutor Dan Guzynski introduced the records while he questioned Montana Division of Criminal Investigation’s Kevin McCarvel, the lead investigator in the case.

According to records introduced as evidence, someone using a phone with the number 406-270-0633 made a 911 call to Sanders County Dispatch at about 7:30 p.m. May 2.

Wood received two text messages earlier in the day from the 270-0633 number. One received at 6:07 p.m., said “I’m up in Trout Creek, hang on to [our daughter], I’ll call when I get back.”

Then, records showed Wood texted to 270-0633 at 8:32 p.m. May 2, “I’m not sure what’s going on, it’s well past bedtime, we’ll snuggle on the couch and wait for your call.”

Records also indicated that at 8:32 p.m. May 2, Wood texted the same message to Matt LaFriniere “I’m not sure what’s going on, it’s well past bedtime, we’ll snuggle on the couch and wait for your call.”

“It was a point of interest for us,” McCarvel said.

Also, on Friday morning, a forensic scientist with the Montana State Crime Lab said gunshot residue was found inside Wood’s vehicle a few days after the shooting death of LaFriniere.

It was part of the state’s circumstantial case against Wood.

Stacey Wilson of the Montana State Crime Lab testified to it in the trial. Wilson said three stubs used to collect gunshot residue from Wood’s Ford Escape were submitted to the lab. Her testing concluded residue was found on the steering wheel, driver’s side and passenger’s side front doors.

“It doesn’t always infer a person was in contact with gunshot residue or the presence of gunfire because the residue could be transferred,” Wilson said. “It could be transferred by touch, or by a gun being fired inside a vehicle or outside a vehicle with the windows down.”

Wood’s defense attorney Greg Rapkoch asked Wilson if the state Crime Lab had been compromised in the last few years.

“We had a scientist in the chemistry lab take methamphetamine for his own personal use,” Wilson said. “He was fired in February 2018.”

According to a story in the Missoulian, Derek Lee Thrush pleaded guilty in 2018 to stealing meth from the lab for more than a year before he was caught.

When state prosecutor Dan Guzynski questioned Wilson on redirect, he asked her if the gunshot residue tests were received after the scientist had been fired.

“We received the gunshot residue tests in July 2018,” Wilson said.

Friday morning’s testimony also included Dr. Sunil Prashar, the medical examiner for the state of Montana.

Prashar has practiced in Vermont, Colorado and Washington, D.C. and has testified in 35 death investigations since arriving in Montana in 2017.

Prashar went over autopsy photos of LaFriniere with state attorney Stephanie Robles. He explained the victim was shot twice in the chest and once in the left, lower back as well as the right hand.

A bullet was found in LaFriniere’s hand, the only one of either three or four possible bullet wounds. Prashar said it was possible the bullet wound in LaFriniere’s back had exited his body and lodged in his hand, but said it was impossible to say for sure if that is what happened.

Rapkoch questioned the physician if LaFriniere could have walked 17 or 18 feet from where he was first shot to where he fell.

“I didn’t think any of the wounds were immediately fatal so he could have walked 17 or 18 feet,” Prashar said. “There was one case where a man was struck in the heart with a bullet and walked 30 feet before falling.”

Rapkoch also questioned what was in LaFriniere’s stomach at the time of his death.

“There was one-half liter of liquid and a tan, pasty, partially digested food in his stomach which indicated he’d eaten recently,” Dr. Prashar said.

Prashar indicated he didn’t make note of specific food when Rapkoch asked him if there was any part of an orange in his stomach. A peeled orange was found near where LaFriniere died, but its origin remains unknown.

Wrapping up Friday morning’s testimony was Lynette Lancon, a forensic firearms examiner with the Montana State Crime Lab.

She tested the bullet found in LaFriniere’s hand could have been fired from a .38 Special, a 9 mm Luger or a .357 revolver. She said there were 17 different firearms manufacturers that manufacture firearms from which the bullet could have been fired. She believed the bullet was fired from a revolver and not a Luger, which is a semiautomatic pistol, because of rifling characteristics on the bullet.

When Guzynski asked Lancon if the bullet could have been fired from a Charter Arms Undercover .38 Special revolver, she said it was possible.

Previous testimony showed Wood bought a Charter Arms .38 from a gun store in Ronan in March 2018.