http://www.fresnobee.com/special/2004/wesson/story/10147844p-10964626c.html
A Fresno judge will rule today whether jurors can learn about Marcus Wesson's "second wife," Illabelle Lee, and the love letters he sent her.
Lee, 45, who lives in Tennessee, said Wednesday evening that she could not talk about the case, but confirmed she knew Wesson 23 years ago.
"I was a friend of the family when they lived in San Jose," she said before politely ending the telephone call.
Lee's identity surfaced in Fresno County Superior Court as Wesson's niece, Ruby Ortiz, 27, testified that she married Wesson when she was 13 and he was 44.
Wesson, who is now 58, had home "weddings" with two of his daughters and two other nieces, Ortiz testified. "[Wesson] said I reminded him of Illabelle," whom Ortiz said was Wesson's "second wife," after Elizabeth Wesson.....
Ortiz also said her younger sister, Rosa Solorio, had a unique role as one of Wesson's "soldiers," who would help him hunt down and kill family members who betrayed him........................Wesson's letters to Lee could shed new light on the defendant, who also has been described in testimony as an elusive wanderer who tried to stay one step ahead of authorities.
About three decades ago, Wesson lived with his parents in San Jose, Gamoian said in her opening statements to jurors. He soon started living with a neighbor, Rosemary Maytorena, who had several children.
In 1971, Wesson and Maytorena had a son named Adair Wesson.
Four years later, however, Wesson married Maytorena's daughter, Elizabeth Solorio. She was 15; he was 27. Together they had 10 children.
The Wesson household nearly doubled in 1986 when Elizabeth's sister, Rosemary Solorio, gave her seven children to Wesson to raise. At the time, the Wessons were living with Maytorena and her children in Fresno. The grandmother lived in a house on College Avenue, south of Belmont Avenue, while the Wessons and the Solorios lived in a duplex behind the home.
Ortiz and Sofina Solorio testified that living with Marcus Wesson initially was a blessing because their uncles and other relatives had molested them. They also said their mother was never around because she abused drugs and alcohol and had multiple men in her life.
