18-year-old testifies in Weber trial

Erica D. Johnson

Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2003 | 11:05 a.m.

Eighteen-year-old Chris Gautier told jurors on Tuesday how he rescued his younger sister after she had been raped allegedly by the man charged with killing the other two members of their family.

Chris Gautier said when he returned home on April 4 after spending the night at a friend's house, he heard the loud volume of a television and muffled screams coming from his sister's bedroom window.

After going to get another friend, Gautier pried open a back window and kicked open the locked door to his sister's bedroom, he testified.

"She was tied up," Gautier said. "She had duct tape on her mouth and her hands were duct-taped to each side of the bunk bed. She had a white sheet over her. She looked terrified."

The tape over her mouth prevented her from crying, he said.

Gautier said he removed the tape from his 14-year-old sister's mouth and asked her who had had tied her up.

"She said 'It's T.J, and if he finds out you guys know he's going to kill us,' " he testified.

Gautier's emotional testimony came on the second day of Timmy "T.J." Weber's double murder trial before District Judge Joseph Bonaventure. The friend, Kareem Hassan, later corroborated Gautier's testimony.

Weber faces multiple felony counts, including murder, sexual assault and kidnapping in the killings of Chris Gautier's 38-year-old mother, Kim Gautier, and 15-year-old brother, Anthony Gautier.

Prosecutors allege the murders took place after Weber sexually assaulted Kim Gautier's daughter.

Chris Gautier tried to call police from the house, but found the phone unplugged. When he reached police dispatch, he was put on hold, so he went to a pay phone on Washington Avenue.

His friend and sister, who fled to another friend's house, flagged down a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper who drove by and they led the trooper back to the Gautier house. It was then they learned Gautier's mother and brother's bodies were inside, Gautier testified.

"(The detective) came around the corner with a disgusted look on his face," Gautier said. "It looked like he had seen something horrifying. At that point, I knew something was wrong."

The teen cried in court when he was shown his younger brother's skateboard.

During opening statements Monday, prosecutors said Weber had been sexually assaulting Gautier's sister since she was 9 years old. They allege Weber became angry when the girl began to show an interest in boys her own age.

Gautier told jurors that during Weber's "on-again-off-again" five-year relationship with his mother, Weber would object to his friends spending time with his sister when they came to visit.

"When my friends would sleep over, they were only allowed to stay in the back of the house and my sister would be in the living room," he said. "He thought they were all creeps so they weren't allowed to associate with each other."

Gautier said Weber treated his sister differently than he did the two boys, often buying the girl clothes and shoes and paying for her to get manicures each weekend.

"They were really overly affectionate with each other," he testified. "My sister was a princess and we were the servants, if you want to put it into perspective."