Friend testifies in trial of woman accused of slaying her mother

Kim Smith

Monday, July 16, 2001 | 10:24 a.m.

After years of hearing Brookey West complain incessantly about her mother, Natalie Hanke had a crystal-clear mental image of her.

In her mind's eye, Hanke said, she pictured Christine Smith as a "big beefy" domineering woman, who at 300 pounds was a "force to be reckoned with."

It was only after West's arrest last February that Hanke learned Smith, 64, was a frail woman who weighed 125 pounds and stood just shy of 5-feet-8.

Hanke took the stand Friday as prosecutors continued to present evidence they say shows West, 46, killed her mother in February 1998.

West faces an open murder charge and if convicted, could face a life sentence.

Over the course of the past week, Chief Deputy District Attorneys Frank Coumou and Scott Mitchell have called witness after witness to the stand to illustrate the web of lies they say West has been weaving over the past three years.

Prosecutors believe West killed her mother for her monthly Social Security checks and stuffed her remains in a garbage can. They say West told friends her mother had gone to live with her son, Travis Smith Jr., in California.

West's story unraveled, however, when Smith's liquefied remains were found in a storage unit in February and prosecutors discovered West's brother has been missing since 1995.

West's attorneys maintain Smith died of natural causes. They say West panicked, put her mother in the garbage can and then found herself too scared to come clean.

While a plastic bag was found tied around Smith's mouth and nose, a coroner was unable to determine a cause of death because of the condition of the remains.

Hanke said she hired West, a technical writer, in 1997 and the two became friends.

Hanke said she could never understand why West insisted on living with her mother in Las Vegas, because it was clear the two were like "oil and water." West often told her horror stories about her childhood and what a horrible person her mother was.

West complained bitterly about her mother "sucking her dry financially," right up until their last conversation in January, Hanke said.

Hanke also told jurors that West gave her an expensive ring on her birthday in October 1998.

The gold, opal and diamond ring was obviously a much-worn family piece, Hanke said. That fact, combined with the fact women don't traditionally give other women rings, made her uncomfortable.

Hanke said she twice tried to return the ring, to no avail.

According to other court testimony, the ring is similar to one Smith wore.