A Topeka woman testified Tuesday in Shawnee County District Court that she couldn't identify the person who shot and killed her boyfriend at his home on the morning of Aug. 18, 2010.
William D. Holt II, 26, of Sylvania, Ohio, has been charged with first-degree murder and aggravated burglary in that case. Prosecutors allege he drove from Ohio to Topeka and used a shotgun to kill Mitch Vose, then 32, at his home at 2633 S.E. Maryland.
Wendy Henderson, who was Vose's girlfriend and Holt's former girlfriend, was staying there that night. She testified she was awakened by a noise but saw only a "shadow,” or the bulk of a person, in the home before she heard a "pop."
Henderson, 34, wears glasses or contact lenses and said she can't make out features at any distance without them. Henderson said she wasn't wearing her glasses or contact lenses before she went to sleep.
During direct examination by Jacqie Spradling, senior deputy district attorney for Shawnee County, Henderson said she met Holt at Camp Pendelton, Calif., in 2006.
Henderson said she was married at the time but met Holt and the two started dating. In July 2006, she moved to Topeka and Holt moved to Ohio. Holt moved to Topeka in November 2006 and the two lived together in an apartment for about a year and a half, Henderson testified.
Holt decided to return to Ohio because the two were "having issues" and he wanted to go to college, Henderson said. The two maintained a relationship via telephone and annual visits by Holt, which continued into 2010 although Henderson had met Vose in July of that year and tried to break up with Holt, she said.
Henderson testified Holt came to Topeka for two weeks in August 2010, at which time she spent some time with him but tried to convince him their relationship was over.
During one telephone conversation, Henderson said, Holt wanted to talk to Vose and she handed her phone to Vose so the two could talk.
She said Holt later told her that he had threatened to kill Vose during that conversation. Later, Henderson said, Holt told her he had accepted the situation and that if anything happened to Vose it wouldn't be his doing.
During cross-examination by defense attorney Ron Evans, Henderson acknowledged she had dated and slept with other men during the time she had known Holt and had even told Holt about them and told him their names.
During re-direct by Spradling, Henderson said that when she learned she was pregnant with Vose's child Holt asked her not to tell Vose and not to have the child.
Holt, Henderson said, was concerned he didn't know Vose well enough to make that commitment.
Henderson said she told Vose the weekend before he was killed that she was pregnant with his child. She gave birth to a son on April 25.
Prosecutors contend Holt purchased a shotgun on Sept. 11 and drove to Topeka to kill Vose.
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