A mystery man became part of the defense for Phillip Woodley, the Valley man on trial for the murders of his father and stepmother.
Dallas Mossey was a known meth user who died when he crashed his motorcycle into a church. But it's what he did just before -- and where he ended up just after -- that's made him an issue in Woodley's murder trial.
The autopsy on Roy Woodley is evidence of the brutal attack that killed him. It found 27 stab wounds and four slash wounds. Several punctures to the carotid artery and the left lung killed him.
Fresno County's chief pathologist described the attack as "overkill" and testified that the evidence points to someone close to the victim.
"You see this type of overkill and multiple stab wounds and also when somebody known to some people a lot," said Dr. Venu Gopal.
Angie Woodley suffered more than a dozen stab wounds and died from the ones that hit her right lung and heart, also overkill according to the coroner, and possibly the work of the same attacker.
"There's a pattern to these injuries," Dr. Gopal said. "They have a lot of similarities in the injuries."
But Angie Woodley had something Roy Woodley did not: defensive wounds, and that's critical to the prosecution's case.
Crime scene investigators collected scrapings from Roy Woodley's fingernails and found DNA from Dallas Mossey. That might indicate that Roy Woodley fought back against an attack from Mossey. But there's a catch.
Mossey died in a motorcycle crash the same day the Woodleys died and coroners conducted an autopsy on him right before Roy Woodley's.
The coroner admits, the DNA in Woodley's nails may have come from the previous autopsy.
"There's always a chance of cross-contamination, especially with if we do bodies on the same day," Dr. Gopal said.
Mossey was known to use meth, just like the defendant, Phillip Woodley, and many of the people connected to the case. But the admitted meth users who have testified all say they've never heard of Dallas Mossey.
Under cross-examination, the coroner said contamination has never been an issue before.
The prosecutor plans to wrap his case early next week.
After that, the defense has Mossey's daughter listed as a possible witness.
