Marijuana Murder Trial: Odin Dwyer Testimony

SANTA ROSA - A Colorado man testified in Sonoma County Superior Court this morning about the execution-style gunshot slayings that happened while three men packaged marijuana for transport in the bedroom of a Forestville cabin three years ago.

Odin Dwyer, 41, of Denver, the prosecution's key witness, said he heard "three successive short pops" that sounded like "two large books slapped together," and then saw triple-murder defendant Mark Cappello, 49, of Central City, Colorado, standing in the bedroom doorway with his arm extended.

Dwyer pleaded no contest to 15 felony charges, including involuntary manslaughter, being an accessory and conspiracy to transport marijuana for sale, in exchange for his truthful testimony at Cappello's trial and a 20-year, four-month prison sentence.

Also on Patch:

• Marijuana Murder Trial: Testimony Continues
• Court Testimony: Forestville Marijuana Murder

Odin Dwyer testified that he and Cappello drove to Forestville in Cappello's Ford Bronco from a Santa Rosa motel and saw Cappello tuck a handgun under his shirt before they went into the cabin on Feb. 5, 2013.

Dwyer said Cappello gave him an ice pick to put in his sock "in case things don't go as planned."

Raleigh Butler, 26, a former Sonoma County resident whose mother owned the cabin, Todd Klarkowski, 42, of Boulder, Colorado and Richard Lewin, 46, of Huntington, New York, were already at the cabin when they arrived around 10:45 a.m., Dwyer said.

Everyone was jovial and introduced each other, Dwyer said.

"Everyone was in a good mood and excited because this was good product," Dwyer said.

Dwyer said he believed they were going to package 1,500 pounds of marijuana in sealed plastic bags that were sprayed with an enzyme to hide the aroma. But there was only about 100 pounds of pot there, and Cappello said he needed to go back to his Santa Rosa hotel to get "forty something thousand dollars" for the marijuana, Dwyer said.

Dwyer said Cappello told him to make three phone calls to a fictitious man named "Vic" who purportedly was in the area making sure no one was under surveillance.

Instead, Dwyer said he called a friend he knew would not be available by phone and he pretended to have a conversation.

Dwyer testified he went into the living room to make the third call and was looking out the front door window when he heard the gunfire.

Dwyer said he thought he should flee because he was the only witness to the murders and thought he would be the next victim.

"I said, 'What did you do that for?'" Dwyer said. "He (Cappello) said, 'It was something that had to be done,'" Dwyer said.

He and Cappello loaded what turned out to be 69 pounds of marijuana into Cappello's Ford Bronco and they drove back to Cappello's motel room.

Dwyer said he and his father Francis Dwyer disposed of Cappello's .45-caliber handgun and the latex gloves that were used while packaging the marijuana. He said he and his father drove a different route back to Colorado than the desert route Cappello had suggested because they feared Cappello would kill them in an isolated area, Dwyer said.

He and his father, who was watching Cappello's dog at the Santa Rosa motel as the slayings occurred, discussed the slayings on the ride, Dwyer said. "I was in a state of shock. I was really quiet and stressed out," Dwyer said.

Dwyer told Chief Deputy District Attorney Spencer Brady he didn't report the slayings because he was afraid he would immediately be arrested. "I wish I had. I wanted to tie up all the strings in my life before I went to jail," Dwyer said.

Cappello gave $3,500 each to him and his father to transport the marijuana to Colorado, Dwyer said.

All three defendants were arrested and in custody by March 1, 2013.

Francis Dwyer, 68, of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, pleaded no contest to conspiracy and transporting marijuana, and he too testified at the trial.

He is to be sentenced to eight years in prison after the trial.

-Bay City News, image via ShutterStock