Crime scene expert testifies at trial

ROCKLAND – Handcuffs, a variety of sex toys, 19 condoms, a silk nightie, a bullet casing and Allison Small’s wedding ring were among the evidence recovered by state police crime scene specialists on Jan. 28, 2005 – the day Small was shot to death allegedly by her lover.

A bag found inside Bunker’s building, where Small and her husband Brandon operated a business, was stuffed with the personal items, except for the ring and bullet casing. Three more shell casings were recovered outdoors.

The detailed testimony Wednesday in the murder trial of Douglas Dyer, 32, of Friendship was by Maine State Police Detective Scott Bryant, who is a senior member of the evidence response team that arrived at 61 New County Road on the afternoon Allison Small was killed.

The Smalls owned Vinalhaven Transportation. They worked from a warehouse in the Bunker’s building, shipping food and supplies between the mainland and the island.

Dyer and Allison Small had been lovers for two years, according to testimony. Her husband’s suspicions of infidelity were confirmed two weeks before her death.

The prosecution says Allison’s killing was intentional or knowing murder by Dyer and that he also attempted to kill her husband. The defense depicts the shooting as accidental by the defendant, who had been suffering from depression and had recently attempted suicide.

According to Brandon Small’s testimony, his wife tried to end the relationship by writing a letter to Dyer, then during telephone conversations. Dyer wanted to meet face-to-face one more time, he said.

Allison Small went to the mainland office that frigid January day to break ties with Dyer. Her husband went, too, but waited outside in the family minivan.

After half an hour, she came outside and sent her husband on errands and to wash the van. Brandon Small told jurors, Allison told him things were “going well,” and “she said she chose me.” When he returned, he continued to wait in the van.

Fifteen minutes later, his reading was disrupted by screaming, which he thought was a child. As he was getting out of the van, he heard a loud noise, which was a gun shot. The office door flew open and Allison ran out. Dyer was in the doorway with a rifle. Dyer aimed the gun, fired and Allison fell to the ground, Small said.

Two more rounds were fired.

One breezed by Brandon’s head. The other was fired directly into Allison’s body, lying on the cold ground.

On the witness stand, Maine’s Chief Medical Examiner Margaret Greenwald described Allison Small as “slender” at 5-foot-6 and 108 pounds. She had long brown hair and blue eyes. She died of two “gunshot wounds to the torso,” Greenwald said. A photo of a third “graze” wound to the left wrist depicted a silverlike ring on her pinkie finger.

Responding to a question from defense attorney Steven Peterson, Greenwald confirmed there was no wedding ring found when she examined Small’s body. There was no testimony by the doctor on evidence of a sexual nature.

The angle of the torso wounds indicate the bullets entered the back of the body and traveled upward, she said, exiting higher on the front of the body.

Prosecutor Andrew Benson told jurors Tuesday that Dyer raised the rifle to his shoulder, aimed and fired. Peterson argued Wednesday that the upward track of the bullets suggest that the rifle was fired from down low.

Greenwald agreed, until Benson pointed out, “that’s assuming a straight posture.”

“Yes,” Greenwald said.

Dyer is expected to testify today when the trial resumes in Knox County Superior Court.