“When I put my arms around her I didn’t think I was going to strangle her.”
That’s what murder suspect William Blackburn, Jr., 42, told a Colorado Bureau of Investigations agent during a recorded interrogation on April 23. Blackburn is charged with second-degree murder as an act of domestic violence in the strangulation death of 61-year-old Cindy Johnson, his lover.
“It shouldn’t have come to this,” Blackburn replied when interrogators asked what he was thinking on the night of Jan. 7.
“She passed out?” the agent asked.
Johnson let go of his forearms and fell back onto a couch, said Blackburn.
“I thought she just gave up,” he said.
“What did you do?” the agent continued.
“At that point, I went to bed,” said Blackburn.
The exchange was included in a 15-minute interrogation video broadcast at a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, June 30. After three hours of testimony inside a sweltering Dove Creek courtroom, District Court Judge Todd Plewe bound the case over to district court. An arraignment hearing was set for July 14.
Unshackled, but in custody wearing khaki Montezuma County inmate clothing, Blackburn didn’t testify at Tuesday’s hearing.
Questioning Dolores County Sheriff Jerry Martin, public defender Justin Bogan repeatedly tried to solicit testimony that Johnson, instead, died of a drug overdose. Bogan even pointed out that interrogators, and not his client, used the word “squeeze.”
After repeated objections by prosecutors, Plewe halted Bogan’s line of questioning, saying citing possible defenses weren’t to be considered at a preliminary hearing. A jury, Plewe added, should determine the cause of death.
“You’re pushing the limits,” Plewe told Bogan.
On direct examination by District Attorney Will Furse, Martin testified that Johnson, upon returning home from work on Jan. 8, called dispatch at 6 p.m. to report Johnson’s death. According to a medical examiner’s report, Johnson died the night before, sometime between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m.
Martin also testified that Johnson suffered bruising on her throat and arms as well as hemorrhaging in her eyes. Blackburn’s DNA evidence was also found under her fingernails on her left hand.
“Mr. Blackburn didn’t request medical help,” said Martin. “He called, because he thought Ms. Johnson was dead.”
The only other witness to testify on Tuesday was Dolores County Sheriff’s deputy David Harrington. He was the first to respond to the crime scene, a residence on the 1000 block of North Pine Street in Dove Creek. Harrington said he was met at the door by Blackburn. Unresponsive, Johnson was lying on the couch.
“She appeared to be dead,” said Harrington. “Her skin was cold to the touch.”
A lifelong resident of Dove Creek, Johnson enjoyed horseback riding with family and friends. She apparently had a crush on NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath and appropriately named her horse, “Broadway Joe.”
If convicted, Blackburn faces up to 48 years in prison. He remains in custody under a $200,000 bond.
According to Martin, the homicide case is the first in Dove Creek in more than three decades.
tbaker@cortezjournal.com