By Jennifer Squires - Santa Cruz Sentinel
Posted: 08/23/2010 07:59:30 PM PDT
SANTA CRUZ - Joanna "Asha" Veil, the pregnant Ben Lomond Market cashier found murdered nearly four years ago, was hit in the back of the head, then strangled with a rope.
The new information about the slaying of Veil emerged Monday, the first day of the preliminary hearing for the man accused in the September 2006 killings that shocked the close-knit Ben Lomond community.
Michael McClish, 41, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder for the deaths of Veil, a 28-year-old Polish immigrant, and her 7-month-old fetus. McClish and Veil, both of whom were married, worked together at the market and also had a personal relationship.
Although sheriff's detectives have said McClish was not the father of her child, Veil reportedly believed he could have been and listed McClish as the possible father when she went to a doctor for a pregnancy test, according to sheriff's deputies. She was estranged from her husband, Richard Veil, when she died.
The hearing, in front of Judge Paul Burdick, is expected to last most of the week. Burdick will decide if there is enough evidence to take the case to trial.
Monday, a parade of sheriff's deputies testified about Veil's disappearance - a supervisor at the market reported her missing after she didn't show up to work after two days - and the discovery of her decomposing body 2½ miles outside of Ben Lomond on Love Creek Road on Sept. 14, 2006.
Veil was found face-down on a log next to the creek and about 20 feet down an embankment, deputy Robert Gidding, a crime scene investigator, said. The red and yellow rope was still knotted around her neck, the back of her head bloody.
Several of McClish's relatives and friends attended the hearing, as well as a couple of San Lorenzo Valley residents who came in support of Veil.
McClish, who is serving an 18-year-prison sentence for an unrelated sex crimes conviction, was dressed in black slacks, a light blue shirt and a purple tie, seated next to his attorney, Tom Wallraff, and an investigator. McClish fiddled with his salt-and-pepper goatee and had animated reactions to some of the testimony.
Veil was last seen leaving work the night of Sept. 9. McClish also was at the store that evening. A receipt showed he purchased something on his employee account about 20 minutes before Veil clocked out, according to Joe Ramsey, a former sheriff's detective who now works for the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department.
Early in the missing-person investigation, McClish allegedly told deputies he only knew Veil through work and had helped her with her car, but sheriff's Sgt. Robin Mitchell told the judge Monday she subpoenaed cell phone records for both of them - as well as several others associated with the case - and discovered the two had called each other frequently in early 2006.
Sgt. Mike MacDonald, who conducted surveillance on McClish as the investigation unfolded, testified that he saw McClish wash his Ford pickup twice in less than two days, focusing on the grill and front bumper of the truck.
Ramsey said he interviewed another female market employee who told him she had seen McClish and Veil together at the Felton Cemetery in February 2006. After Veil vanished, McClish allegedly asked the woman not to tell anyone the two had been with each other outside of work.
"He did not want the Sheriff's Office to know he had ever been with Asha in a secluded place," Ramsey said.
McClish was married and had three young children when Veil's body was found. The double-homicide investigation turned up allegations of sexual assault and McClish was arrested. A jury convicted McClish of rape, sodomy and making threats against a woman with whom he was having an affair.
MacDonald testified Monday that the woman McClish had the affair with said McClish had threatened to kill her if she made their relationship public.
"He wouldn't allow anything to come between his family or his job," MacDonald testified.
His wife, Melissa, has since divorced McClish and moved out of the area with their children.
McClish could have faced the death penalty if convicted, but the District Attorney's Office chose not to pursue a capital case and instead is seeking life without the possibility of parole, prosecutor Jeff Rosell said Monday.
The hearing resumes at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
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