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By AMY HILVERS meeee) WITT om, armVertwbakersfield.com A friend and a relative of the man accused of killing Tina Blunt testified Tuesday that the man told them he overheard people planning to kill Blunt. In Tuesday's testimony, an aunt of defendant Jeremy Fender, his friend, two criminalists from the Kern County crime lab and a detective were called to testify about evidence and state ments Fender made. Fender is accused of kidnapping, robbing and killing Blunt. Her body was found in mid-April 1999. Blunt was last seen on her way to work at Mead ow’s Field on March 31, 1999. Deputy District Attorney John Somers also showed jurors a video tape taken at a bank of a person wear ing a white hooded sweatshirt. That person is suspected of withdrawing money from Blunt's account after she was last seen. A sweatshirt was mostly covering the person's face. The tape switched back and forth from different angles of the bank while the transaction was being made. Investigators examined hairs found on a white hooded sweatshirt that was possibly worn by the person who took the money. Fender and Blunt were eliminated as sources of that hair, a criminalist testified. Hairs were also found on a piece of duct tape found under Blunt’s body. Those hairs appeared to be similar to Blunt’s hair, a criminalist said. A relative and a friend of Fender tes tified about a conversation Fender told them he overheard at a bar. Denisa Halsell testified she’s known Fender for 13 to 15 years and he would often come to her house and stay overnight. Halsell and Blunt worked at Meadow’s Field together. Halsell said after hearing Blunt was missing and learning details about her disappearance, she told Fender the information. Halsell said later in April Fender told her he was drinking at a bar and overheard men talking about killing a woman. He told her this happened two to three weeks before Blunt disap peared. Halsell said Fender told her he heard them say it was over child sup port. She said Fender did not mention that people involved got money from an ATM and he did not mention some one wearing a white hooded sweat shirt. She said Fender did not say Blunt was suffocated. Within the first week of Blunt’s dis appearance, Halsell heard at work that Blunt was suffocated, she said. Blunt's body was not discovered until April 14, 1999. She said she still is not sure how Blunt died. Halsell later drove Fender to a Bakersfield police station where he was interviewed by a detective. Fender's aunt, Connie Powell, said Fender also told her about the conver sation Fender said he overheard while he was in a Bakersfield bar. Powell first called the Delano Police Department and then made several anonymous calls to the Bakersfield Police Depart ment. She told police what Fender told her Powell said Fender told her that his friend and another man were talking about killing a woman because her husband did not want to pay child sup port. He told Powell they were going to use duct tape, she said. She stated Fender said he over heard them saying that they would dump the woman’s remains in a body of water toward the Grapevine. Fender told Powell he didn’t know who they were talking about, Powell said. Fender's aunt said Fender told her he didn’t believe the men and didn’t think anything of it until he found out Blunt was missing. “He just thought it was a couple of drunk guys in a bar,” Powell said. Powell made an anonymous call to police to report what Fender told her. In that call, she said that Blunt’s body would be found near the Grapevine in a body of water. Though Fender didn’t mention a truck stop, she mentioned it because the only body of water that she knew about around the Grapevine was near a truck stop. A detective eventually found out her identity, Powell said. The detective told her that if Fender talked with him, his pending drug charges would be dropped, Powell said. Detective Dennis McBride testified that Fender told him in an interview that Fender was blown away when he heard Blunt’s body was found in “Viet nam,” a name for the grassy area where Blunt’s remains were recovered. Fend er was blown away because he was right about where the body was found, McBride said. McBride said Fender told him he overheard a conversation about the killing four to six weeks before Blunt disappeared. Fender told McBride two men, James and Tony, talked about killing a woman because the father did not want to pay child support, McBride said. Fender said the men would be paid $4,000 to $5,000. If they weren't paid they would get $240 from an ATM, McBride said. Fender told McBride that one man said if all else fails, they would wrap her up in duct tape, McBride said. McBride also testified about infor mation he received from Powell and Hassell. His testimony is expected to continue today. 2lynt
Newspaper Details
Bakersfield Californian
Bakersfield, California, US
Wed, Jun 04, 2003
Page 12
Full Page
Clipped by
Ryan B.
USA 04 May 2026
Other Publications Near Bakersfield, California
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Kern County Californian
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