Friday, January 8, 2010

Winfield, KS: Court hears David Webster’s taped confession

By TYLER GASKILL
Published: Thursday, January 7, 2010 12:49 PM CST
David Webster described choking Winfield’s Diane Chambers, loading her body in a car and disposing of it off a bridge during a series of audio recordings played for jurors as Webster’s first-degree murder trial entered a third day this morning.

During two interviews with investigators from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, Webster spoke of the final moments of Chambers’ life. She was killed in late March 2009, and Webster led police to her body days later.

The defendant originally reported his live-in girlfriend missing, but police soon became suspicious of the circumstances of Chambers’ disappearance. All of her personal belongings had been left at her Winfield home at 1106 E. Sixth.

By April 2, Webster was ready to reveal more about what had happened to his girlfriend. He called Kansas Bureau of Investigation Special Agent David Falletti and offered to take Falletti up on an offer to further discuss Chambers’ disappearance.

Webster asked the KBI agent to pick up a six-pack of beer and some cigarettes. Falletti brought the cigarettes but decided against bringing the beer.

He was also wearing a wire.

During that recorded conversation at the Sonner Motor Inn, Webster acknowledged he had caused Diane Chambers’ death by choking her following an argument. He said the couple had fought and that Chambers had kicked his injured leg.

“I snapped,” Webster told investigators. “I choked her.”

In the recording, the defendant acknowledged he was facing serious punishment for killing Chambers. Webster asked Falletti if he could be put in solitary confinement once he was arrested and even expressed remorse.

“I’m so, so, so sorry,” he said. “I don’t deserve to live.”

Webster then led investigators to Chambers’ body, which he had pushed off a bridge to the ground 40 feet below, The body was recovered several miles east of Winfield just off K-15.

The jury in the case — eight men and five women, including an alternate — heard two audio recordings from interviews with Webster in which he freely discussed Chambers’ death.

At one point, he discussed putting the woman’s body in the passenger side of her car and transporting it to the dump site. Trackers and police investigators said evidence showed Webster dragged the woman out the back door of her home and loaded her in the car.

Cowley County Attorney Christopher Smith has previously said that the case against Webster was less about guilt or innocence and more about whether the killing was intentional or premeditated.

Falletti, Winfield Police Lt. Det. Frank Owens and former Winfield Police officer Ryan Walker were among those who testified Wednesday. Much of the testimony centered on the investigation into Chambers’ disappearance and the subsequent murder investigation.

Webster’s trial continues throughout today at the Cowley County Courthouse in Winfield.

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