Witness details suspect’s actions after Hanlon killing

Kim Smith

Thursday, Sept. 7, 2000 | 11:16 a.m.

When her sister's drunken boyfriend talked about a shooting early one morning three years ago, Elena Aresco said she thought he was just talking crazy.

She believed Scott Bedard when he said he had committed a burglary because he stashed the stolen loot at her apartment. But, Aresco told jurors Wednesday she didn't believe him when he said someone had been shot.

Then she saw the TV news about the death of 33-year-old Bill Hanlon Jr., the son of former state Board of Education member Bill Hanlon Sr., and knew it and the burglary were related.

Aresco took the stand Wednesday morning, the second day of Bedard's murder trial. If convicted, Bedard could receive the death penalty.

Authorities believe Bedard, 35, killed Hanlon in the early morning hours of Aug. 6, 1997, when the janitorial service business owner surprised Bedard during the burglary of the Templeton Plaza offices at 3311 S. Rainbow Blvd.

Aresco testified Wednesday that she received a call from a "nervous and scared" Bedard at around 7 a.m. that day asking to be picked up at an intersection near the burglarized building.

Because she was getting ready for work, Aresco said she had a neighbor pick Bedard up and drop him off at her apartment. When Bedard arrived he had two laptop computers, a gun and blood on his ankle.

"He said he had gone into a building to steal some stuff and someone had been shot," Aresco said.

Bedard then took off his clothes and threw them in the laundry, Aresco said.

Later that day, Aresco said she took the computers and gun to her mother's house and stashed them with other items being stored there by Bedard. Eventually, she led police to those items and to the clothes he had been wearing that day.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Schwartz and defense attorney Pete Christiansen drilled Aresco about what exactly Bedard said to her that morning.

Schwartz pointed out that Aresco told police Bedard said he shot someone, and Christiansen stressed Aresco testified at a grand jury hearing and other court hearings that Bedard said someone had been shot.

Aresco insisted she is telling the truth when she says Bedard told her someone had been shot. However, she conceded that Bedard didn't throw his clothes into the laundry but stood and washed them in her sink.

Hanlon's body was found shortly before 7 a.m. on the day of the murder. He was slumped over on his knees and had been shot in the head. Three shell casings were found in the room.

Bedard was arrested later that day after police received a tip. Aresco testified that the neighbor who picked Bedard up for her told her Bedard had told him about the murder. That same neighbor had also joked about collecting a $10,000 reward being offered by the Templeton family.

Bedard's trial has been delayed because he has spent time being treated at Lake's Crossing, the state's mental health facility in Northern Nevada. He also insisted on representing himself for several months.