Colleague of Shawna Forde testifies against her in murder trial

Published 6:23 pm Monday, February 7, 2011

TUCSON, Ariz. — A Colorado Minuteman who also became an informant for the FBI last week linked Shawna Forde to plans for a deadly home invasion in Arivaca, Ariz.

Ron Wedow, who used the code name Raven when undertaking Minuteman activities, testified that he met Forde in October 2007. We

dow told jurors he received a call from Forde in late April 2009 saying she was looking for a specialized team.

“She wanted to know if I had a team that could go down there and take this house down. The family was a front,” he said. “She said that at any given time there were $2 (million to) $3 million in the house.”

Wedow didn’t join Forde; instead he contacted another Minuteman out of concern that Forde might somehow be trying to set him up for arrest. They went to federal agents about Forde’s alleged plans, but nothing came of their tips.

Forde, 43, formerly of Everett, is on trial for multiple charges connected to the May, 30, 2009 deaths of Raul “Junior” Flores and his daughter, Brisenia, 9, in Arivaca. The case could go to jurors as early as Thursday.

If convicted as charged, she could face the death penalty.

Wedow told jurors that after learning about the fatal home invasion at the Flores home, he contacted FBI agents. They asked him to call Forde on June 2 and June 9 and secretly taped the conversations.

By then Forde knew that police were looking for her.

“If the cops want to talk to me they can call me,” Forde said on one call.

Forde told Wedow that bandits had wounded a comrade during a recent operation and that she trusted no one.

“I’m the person that is willing to take it to the next level and that scares them,” she was heard on one tape.

A DNA analyst for Sorenson Forensics in Salt Lake City, told the jury that blood and other key evidence in the case were linked to either Forde’s co-defendant Jason Bush or co-defendant Albert Gaxiola. A silver ring found in a purse in the burnt orange Honda Element driven by Forde when she was arrested showed a partial DNA profile that matched certain areas of Forde’s genetic profile, he testified.

Prosecutors maintain the ring was part of the loot taken during the Arivaca home invasion.

Juan Carlos Navarro, a Pima County sheriff’s detective, testified about cell phone records for Forde and other key figures in the case.

In the cell phone registered to Forde were entries for Bush as “Red” and Gaxiola as “Albert.” In Gaxiola’s cell phone directory Forde was listed as “White.”

Here are a few of the text message highlights from the hours immediately before and after the fatal robbery:

•May 29, 1:41 p.m. – Forde to Gaxiola: “Here now.”

May 29, 1:42 p.m. – Gaxiola to Forde: “Copy. Sending o. Get his number.”

May 30, 1:33 a.m. – Gaxiola to Forde: “Cops on scene. Lay low.”

May 30, 1:58 a.m. – Forde to Gaxiola: “No worries. All good. Relax, competition gone.”

May 30, 2:41 a.m. – Forde to Gaxiola: “Can u stop and get a few rolls of gauze and compress bandages.”

May 30, 6:08 a.m. – Forde to daughter, Jaszmin Eddy: “Whatever goes down im in deep know I love u make me proud and do somethin good with ur life ill call in a week god bless u jasz.”

After her arrest, Forde told detectives she had nothing to do with the home invasion.

“I wasn’t there on the 30th,” Forde reportedly said. “I was in Tucson or California. What is this about?”

Forde was asked what she knew about co- defendant Bush. “Not Much,” she reportedly said. “Special Forces. Seems to be a stand-up guy.”

Forde said Gaxiola was one of the scouts used by her Minuteman group. “he let’s us use his house,” she reportedly said. “He’s a great scout.”

Navarro also testified about letters mailed from the Pima County Adult Detention Center by Forde to her son, Devon Eddy. In the letters, Forde asked her son to identify items of jewelry reported stolen in the raid and found in Forde’s possession as items he had given to her.