4:30 p.m.: Judge David Reich recesses the trial. Will resume at 8:30 a.m., Thursday, August 12.
4:03 p.m.: Witness called —
Justin Krohmer, McLean County Sheriff’s Office lieutenant. Questioned by prosecuting attorney Austin Gunderson. Highlights his experience and training.
Witness Justin Krohmer
On April 2, 2019, received a “Be On The Lookout” (BOLO) email notice to watch for a suspect white pickup and a suspect. The notice had a picture of the vehicle and the suspect.
The April 2 ‘Be On The Lookout’ message
What caught his eye was the white F-150 vehicle and he thought of his chiropractor’s vehicle belonging to Chad Isaak. He had seen that vehicle in Washburn many times. He had known Chad Isaak for “a couple of years.” He and his parents had gone to him for chiropractic service. He had seen Chad Isaak’s vehicle driven around town several times. Did not see anyone else ever driving his vehicle or saw anyone in Chad Isaak’s vehicle as an occupant.
On the evening of April 2, 2019, he went looking for the vehicle at Isaak’s chiropractic office in downtown Washburn and at his home in the trailer park. Says he was not able to locate the pickup that day.
An April 3 BOLO showing the suspect vehicle and the fact that the vehicle may have been seen close to Washburn area on Highway 48 and Highway 200, about 15 miles from Washburn. Says he noticed the rust on the driver’s side rear wheel well in the BOLO images and recalled seeing rust in the same area of Chad Isaak’s vehicle.
BOLO sent on April 3
Says he requested surveillance video from River Ag in Washburn for April 1, 2019. Says he contacted BCI to let them know the vehicle looked very familiar as was trying to locate the vehicle.
Says he found the vehicle in the early morning hours of April 4 and saw it at Chad Isaak’s residence.
Later on April 4 around 9:30 a.m., he and another officer went to River Ag to collect the video. Went to the trailer park to take photos of Chad Isaak’s vehicle around 9:45 a.m. Went to the sheriff’s office to review the video.
Says he sought and received documents showing Chad Isaak’s ownership of his mobile home.
4:03 p.m.: Trial resumes.
4:02 p.m.: Judge David Reich calls a one-minute stretch break.
3:39 p.m.: Re-direct by prosecuting Gabrielle Joy Goter. Droske says he did not create anything that was not there. Droske says the videos he showed are true and accurate. Droske says he created the videos, the stills and the timeline, he used the characteristics of the suspect law enforcement was looking for. Says he observed all the videos provided to him and then used the relevant video portions from the raw videos. The videos provided were videos reviewed by law enforcement and the prosecuting attorney’s office. Says there were some videos submitted that he could not use because he could not determine that it did show the suspect or relevant information.
Droske says the DVR times vary system to system from world clock time. The timeline presented to the jury corresponds to world time. Groske says he never saw video of more than one suspect entering or leaving RJR or hidden inside RJR. To the best of his knowledge, there was only one suspect.
Droske says he has investigated assaults or shoot someone or stab someone in less than a minute and 20 seconds, the time the RJR video shows lapsed between the time Robert Fakler entered RJR and the time the suspect left RJR.
Droske says he cropped video to show the jury the relevant video related to the RJR killings. The 5 or 8 seconds of relevant footage was used out of a 48-minute video that does not show relevant information.
Droske says the jogger seen in the videos did not originate from the suspect white pickup.
Droske says the details on what the suspect was wearing were not similar to what the jogger was wearing. Also says the body type of the jogger was different from the suspect.
The camouflage jacketed person’s clothing was not consistent with what the suspect in the RJR killings.
Says none of the other people seen in the videos were not wearing facial coverings or gaps.
Goter asks Droske if he would be surprised to learn the Schmidt Auto surveillance video was a motion-sensor system, meaning the system starts recording when movement is sensed by the surveillance camera. There would thus be gaps in the timestamps. Droske says he would not be surprised to learn that.
Droske says his task was to create videos that are clearer and more relevant to a jury. Says he eliminated some videos because he could not accurately say the person or vehicle in the videos were the suspect or suspect vehicle.
In identifying the suspect vehicle, he used the unique characteristics of the suspect vehicle to eliminate other vehicles in the videos.
Droske says he is confident the suspect vehicle in the Flying J video in Mandan and the Center video is the same vehicle.
3:08 p.m.: Continuation of cross-examination of BCI special agent Alex Droske by defense attorney Jesse Walstad. Droske says he had a chance to review all the raw video collected.
Now discussing the cropped versions Droske produced.
Big O Tires video at 5:24 a.m., on April 1, 2019 shows the suspect truck arrives at McDonald’s. At 5:31 a.m., the video shows the passenger side door is open, then the suspect walks away.
At 5:41 a.m., on April 1, an individual is seen jogging by Big O Tires. That person appears to be wearing jogging clothing. Droske says all other individuals in the area were excluded as suspects. Says the video of the jogger was not included in the edited video presentations because it was not considered relevant.
Walstad now shows video from Big O Tires on March 25 at 5:25 a.m., shows the suspect white truck pulling into McDonald’s. At 5:31 a.m., the suspect vehicle passenger side door is open and the suspect later walks away. Around 6:00 a.m., a jogger appears and runs past Big O Tires. Asks if Droske considers the two videos of the jogger “astonishingly similar.” Droske replies he would consider it a pattern.
Next, Walstad shows surveillance video from Bill Barth Ford from April 1, 2019. At 5:42 a.m., At 5:44 a.m., the jogger appears in the video. At 5:52 a.m., a third person enters the video and walks through the Bill Barth Ford parking lot, wearing a camouflage jacket, black stocking cap and blue jeans.
Next, the focus on Schmidt Auto video, which Walstad claims has a 40-second gap. He shows the video and the gap to Droske. Video goes from 7:05:54 to 7:06:34. Droske says he was unaware of the gap.
Droske acknowledges he can’t say where the jogger originated when he appeared at McDonald’s.
The Railway Credit video is discussed next. It was edited down to 5 seconds. Droske says he excluded many trucks in the raw video that were not relevant to the vehicle he was looking for, based on certain unique characteristics.
Flying J raw video ran an hour. It was cropped down to 15 seconds. Droske says he watched the video that was relevant using the timeline. Says he watched the one hour video. Walstad says the on-ramp to I-94 is not visible in the video. Droske acknowledges it would be impossible to determine if the white truck went on the on-ramp to I-94 east or west since the ramp is not visible in the video.
Walstad highlights one hour gap, 40 second gap, and videos without timestamps in the videos collected by law enforcement. Says other individuals were omitted from the edited videos. Can’t tell if the truck went on the on-ramp to I-94. Droske acknowledges there are gaps in space and time in the videos.
3:07 p.m.: The Chad Isaak trial has resumed, Judge David Reich presiding.
2:44 p.m.: Judge recesses for an afternoon break for 20 minutes. Trial will resume at 3:05 p.m.
2:25 p.m.: Cross-examination by
defense attorney Jesse Walstad. Droske says he spent 100 to 120 hours between April to June 2021 analyzing and creating the videos. Says he limited what he selected to relevant information in the videos.
Droske says he was assessing relevance to decide which video to use and which video to not use. Says he and Joe Arenz also helped in making the decisions on what to include and not include in preparation of the videos. Says others were also involved in the process.
Says he used a sophisticated forensic video software package called Amped FIVE to edit the videos. The software is sold only to the military and law enforcement.
Droske says logs identifying the editing process for the videos are usually generated and were generated for the videos he edited.
Says the RJR video timestamp is off by 5 minutes from world time. Says he has not reviewed any RJR video outside of the 6:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. period on April 1, 2019.
Defense reviews the timeline on the RJR video and plays a copy of the RJR video.
- Suspect enters the building at 6:47 a.m. on April 1, 2019, based on the RJR video timestamp.
- At 6:51 a.m., the suspect exits RJR, based on the RJR timestamp. Re-enters the building shortly thereafter.
- At 6:53 a.m., the suspect is seen peeking out the back door, based on the RJR video tiemstamp.
- At 7:01 a.m., Adam Fuehrer arrives and enters RJR, based on the RJR video tiemstamp.
- At 7:06 a.m., Robert Fakler arrives and enters RJR, based on the RJR video tiemstamp.
- At 7:08 a.m., the suspect leaves RJR, based on the RJR video tiemstamp.
2:14 p.m.: Prosecution and defense attorneys are discussing an objection with the judge regarding the direction of pending trestimony.
Testimony resumes. Droske says he created a video of Chad Isaak while he was in a holding cell in McLean County. He created a condensed version of the video, going from a raw 2-hour video down to a 17-minute video.
Defense has objected to the introduction of the video, saying the original raw video has not been accepted into evidence. The judge is withholding a ruling on the issue, pending other questions related to the video.
2:13 p.m.: Trial resumes. Droske says he believes the videos show there is one suspect and one suspect only.
