Detective describes blood stains in Rundle’s home

Erica D. Johnson

Thursday, May 15, 2003 | 9:05 a.m.

A Metro Police homicide detective on Wednesday described for jurors the blood evidence she found at the home of William Rundle, shortly after he allegedly killed his wife and dumped her body off a remote California highway.

During Rundle's murder trial before District Judge Michael Cherry, Detective Sheila Huggins said she found blood in two areas of the couple's home on Poppywood Drive when she searched it with a search warrant in September 2002.

Though the case was initially treated as a missing persons case, Huggins was called to the scene when Shirley Rundle's grown daughter, Magda Belen, reported that she had found blood under a throw rug in the family room.

Huggins said she noticed that the chair that normally sat in that spot had been switched with another one. Her partner discovered the original chair covered with a sheet in an upstairs bedroom, she said.

"He held the sheet up so I could see underneath it," she said. "There was a large amount of blood there. It appeared that blood had dripped down the side of the chair. We knew then it was going to be a homicide case."

Huggins also noticed that Rundle's socks, underwear and toiletries were missing from the home, while 63-year-old Shirley Rundle's personal items remained, she said.

"His side of the medicine cabinet was bare," she said "It started looking very suspicious to me."

Jan Seaman Kelly, a document examiner with Metro Police, also testified on Wednesday.

She said a note on the garage door of the home saying the couple had gone on an emergency trip to the Philippines was written in Rundle's handwriting.

On a form requesting that the post office hold the couple's mail, Kelly testified, Rundle had also signed his wife's name.

Under cross-examination by Deputy Public Defender Curtis Brown, Kelly said the signature looked natural and it didn't appear as though Rundle was trying to be deceitful.

William Rundle, 56, is charged with first-degree murder and two counts of robbery. If convicted, he could face the death penalty. His trial, which is expected to last two weeks, resumes today.