Monthly Archives: February 2015

This is my report from last week and now I am on the road back to Stephenville, TX to catch the rest of the trial. Stay tuned for more and don’t forget that time is short for  the rest of the kickstarter campaign!

Welcome back.  On location in Stephenville, Texas which is just an hour and a half southwest of Fort Worth. When I arrived last Monday, I found that all the major networks had sent news trucks to cover the trial. Over the following days I met many nice local people and other reporters including AP correspondent Jamie Stengle, Dianna Hunt from the Dallas News and Autumn Owens from the Stephenville Empire Tribune whom I want to thank for their assistance.

As I am sure you all know by now, the trial of the accused killer of Chris Kyle, Eddie Ray Routh, is in full swing and moving fast. For the first four days, from my seat in the second row, Routh was just about twelve feet to the left and Chris Kyle’s widow Taya was directly behind me. During my brief conversations with her I found Taya quite pleasant and easy to talk to despite her ordeal.

Chad Littlefield’s was killed with Kyle and his mother was sitting behind Taya along with around thirty other friends and family members. Security is extremely tight and only thirty-five people are allowed in the courtroom each day besides the family. After talking with the D.A. it appears that all the evidence will have been presented by both sides by the end of this week and then the case will go to jury deliberations.

Taya was the first to testify, followed by Chad’s mom, who said it would have been her son’s birthday. During the testimony of seven other witnesses, the prosecution showed a series of ghastly photos of the crime scene as well as autopsy photos of both men. Many people in the courtroom cried during this presentation. As for Eddie Ray Routh, he showed no emotion, scribbling on a notepad throughout most of the proceedings.

On the second day of the trial, four witnesses were called including a crime scene specialist from the Texas Rangers and a Lancaster police officer along with Lt. Michael Smith who was the first officer to talk to Routh after the shootings and finally the Medical Examiner from Dallas County who showed more photos. The Medical Examiner described the shootings in great detail saying that both victims has been shot numerous times and also stating that neither man had drugs or alcohol in his system.

On day three Routh’s uncle was the first witness and testified that he and Routh had smoked marijuana together on the morning of the shooting and may have drunk whiskey as well. Then James Jeffries, a ballistics expert, gave his findings followed by police officer Jena Cole who quoted Routh as saying “I feel bad about it but they wouldn’t talk to me. I’m sure they’ve forgiven me.”

I am running short on space but here are a few other highlights from the testimony:

Taya Kyle testified that her husband didn’t sound like himself when she spoke with him on the phone before the murders; he sounded irritated and short.

Receipts found in Kyle’s stolen truck showed that a short time after the killings Routh stopped at Taco bell and bought two burritos.

Routh led police on a high speed chase that only ended when after a few miles they rammed his truck and disabled it.

After he was arrested Routh asked one of the detectives “Is the apocalypse on us right now? I can feel everybody feeding on my soul.”

A question that has been frequently asked but we will never know the answer to, is how Eddie Ray Routh got the jump on Kyle and Littlefield when they were both found to be carrying loaded handguns.

In text messages exchanged between Kyle and Littlefield while they were driving with Routh who was in the back seat of the truck, Kyle said that “this dude (Routh) is straight up nuts.” Kyle and Littlefield had never met Routh before and these are Kyle’s last known words.

On a similar note, on September 26, 1970 E.C. Mullendore’s last known words were “Chub stays in the truck like I told him to. He’ll do what I say.” You can learn more on my website www.originalbuffalodale.com.

Till next time I’ll see ya down the road…………

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I know that many of you out there have been visiting the kickstarter page and learning about the project. Thank you to everyone for your interest and especially thank you to those of you who have made a pledge. To those of you still on the sidelines if you think the book is interesting and you’d like to read it, now is the time to commit. There are only 8 days left in the campaign and a long way to go to raise the funds that are needed to get the book in everyone’s hands. Help me make Footprints in the Dew a reality!

I’m re-fueling the motorhome in anticipation of another road trip to spread the word about the project. I hope to catch a big crowd at the OSU vs.,Iowa game tomorrow night and then on to OKC to see the Thunder Thursday night. I might possibly drive on to Stephenville for more of the American Sniper trial.

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Stephenville, Texas:

In anticipation of a lengthy day of testimony  Monday, court recessed early on Friday. The first witness is expected to be Officer Brown who videoed Routh’s statement. He may be followed by Jen Weed who had become engaged to Routh the night before the murder. Additional photos and video remain to be shown and then it is possible that the case will go to the jury by Friday.

As for my project, Footprints in the Dew, there is only a short time left if you want to get involved and learn what happened to E.C. Mullendore on the night of September 26, 1970. Please don’t wait!

For the past two days Chris Kyle’s widow has been sitting directly behind me and I have had the opportunity to speak with her briefly.

It is hard to sit through the testimony I am about to describe without thinking about how it is impacting her and the rest of the families of both Kyle and Chad Littlefield.

The first person to testify was crime scene specialist and Texas Ranger Michael Adcock who described the crime scene in detail. The next witness was the Lancaster police  officer who initially secured the crime scene and who confirmed details about what he observed.

Their testimony was followed by a thirty minute dash cam video of the police chasing Eddie Ray Routh, eventually ramming his truck and Routh continuing to flee until his damaged truck gave out. In the course of the day several other videos of this chase were shown.

The most disturbing testimony thus far came from Dr. Jeffrey Banard who is the Chief Medical Examiner in Dallas. He described the height and weight of both victims, the number of gunshot wounds they received and testified that there was no way either man could have survived,even with immediate medical care. Banard also testified that neither victim had alcohol or drugs in his system. Banard’s testimony was accompanied by many photos of the bodies.

For the past two days Routh has been writing continually in a notebook and today he only looked up when photos of the bodies were shown on the wide screen monitor.

On location here in Stephenville, Texas it is the end of the first day in the trial of the accused murderer of Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield. The prosecution opened with nine witnesses including Kyle’s wife. These are a few of the things that caught my attention during their testimony:

Accused shooter Eddie Routh started drinking whiskey and smoking marijuana early on the day of the murder.

Both Kyle and Littlefield were shot numerous times in the back and in the head with several different guns.

After the shooting Routh planned to go to Oklahoma.

The night before the murder Routh had proposed to his girlfriend Jeanine Weed and she had accepted.

Sixty-seven photos of the murder scene were shown including photos of Kyle and Littlefield. Many jurors and spectators cried.

From where I was sitting, just ten feet from Routh, I could detect no emotion on his part.

A text message from Chris Kyle sent shortly before his death said that Kyle was crazy.

Stay tuned for day two.