Slaying victim’s body treated same as ‘trash,’ says witness

Published 10:23 pm Wednesday, June 2, 2010

EVERETT — A Monroe man can’t get the images out of his mind.

Ryan Gesme saw Eric Christensen take a plastic garbage bag and shovel out of the trunk of a car and disappear into the woods. Christensen returned a short time later with the shovel and an empty bag.

At some of the stops Gesme could make out body parts secreted in the white bags. At other stops, he didn’t watch.

Christensen carried the bags “like you would take out the trash,” Gesme told a jury on Wednesday.

Christensen was disposing of Sherry Harlan’s dismembered and mutilated body.

Twice he saw Christensen remove body parts from the bags and throw them into the woods, Gesme said.

“I wish I could just forget about that day,” Gesme said.

Gesme said he drove Christensen around east Snohomish County for several hours Jan. 4 and 5.

Christensen is on trial for first-degree murder. He is accused of killing Harlan Jan. 2 after learning that she broke her promise not to communicate with another man. Christensen told police Harlan took a “blood oath” with him and vowed to stay away from the man he called “sugar daddy.”

Harlan and Christensen met online in April 2009. They lived together for a short time. Harlan moved into her own apartment last fall while Christensen was in jail.

Christensen’s attorney has told jurors that there is no evidence that her client planned the killing.

Gesme said Wednesday that Christensen called him Jan. 3 asking for help. He said he’d locked his keys in the car. Gesme showed up at a park-and-ride lot in Monroe and found Christensen with Harlan’s car. That’s when Christensen admitted he killed Harlan, Gesme said.

Gesme told jurors he wasn’t thinking straight. He didn’t call police. He also didn’t tell his grandparents with whom he lives. Instead, he agreed to help Christensen the next day.

They went to the park-and-ride Jan. 4. Gesme saw linoleum, carpet and a butcher block with knives in the backseat of Harlan’s car. He agreed to drive because Christensen doesn’t have a valid driver’s license, Gesme said. He headed out of Monroe toward Gold Bar. That’s when Christensen asked him “how does it feel to drive a car with a dead body in it?” Gesme told jurors.

The men stopped in Sultan for corn dogs and then headed out on Reiter Road just east of Gold Bar. Christensen told him to pull over at several locations. He would take the bags from the trunk one by one and head into the woods, Gesme said.

Gesme said he waited with the car and smoked.

He agreed to drive Christensen around the following day. He watched him dispose of more remains, Gesme said.

Christensen eventually told Gesme that he killed Harlan because she broke the “blood oath,” Gesme told jurors.

He never heard Christensen talk of any plans to kill her, Gesme said.

Prosecutors agreed not to prosecute Gesme in exchange for his testimony against Christensen. They have no evidence that he helped kill Harlan or knew about the murder before Christensen asked him to help dispose of Harlan’s body. He told jurors he refused to help Christensen get rid of Harlan’s car. Police found Harlan’s burned-out car Jan. 7 off Reiter Road. Her skull and numerous knives were discovered inside. Gesme eventually led detectives to several of the dump sites where investigators located Harlan’s remains.

Prosecutors could wrap up their case against Christensen today.

Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.