Trial beings in Sahuarita murder

The evidence will show that the man who took Robin Satinsky’s life was the man who took her car. And that man was Edward Terrazas Villa, Deputy County Attorney Richard Wintory told a Superior Court jury on Tuesday.

Public defender Kyle Ipson told the jury during opening arguments that Villa is innocent and did not kill the elderly Sahuarita woman, nor did he kidnap her or steal her car. Ipson said he would show that Villa, 64, a day laborer and handyman, had no motivation to steal the car and that prosecution witnesses cannot say for certain that Villa stole the car.

Satinsky, a collector of rare books and an expert on the history of illustrations, died in late 2007 at age 89 after being abducted from her home, authorities said. Her skeletal remains, wrapped in a plastic garbage bag, were found in summer 2008 off Interstate 19 in Sahuarita, with duct tape on her mouth and feet.

Villa, of Tucson, faces murder, kidnapping, burglary and auto theft charges in connection with Satinsky’s death.

He met Satinsky on a golf course in late 2003 or early 2004, he took golf lessons from her and they remained friends even after he was arrested in 2005 for stealing her car. He said he had borrowed it with her permission but kept it a few days longer than he was supposed to, Ipson said.

During opening statements Tuesday, both sides agreed there were no witnesses to Satinsky’s disappearance from her home around Oct. 30, 2007, when she failed to call her daughter, Ruth Satinsky-Sieber, on Ruth’s birthday. Satinsky’s home was locked and there was no sign of a struggle or other disturbance, Wintory said.

The lack of a witness makes the auto important because the prosecution plans to bring in a DNA expert who will say that the primary contributor to DNA on the steering wheel of Satinsky’s car was Villa, and that Satinsky was the secondary contributor, Wintory said.

However, Ipson said that does not prove that Villa drove the car last, as the DNA expert witness will only say it makes that more likely the case. Also, Ipson said when police discovered Satinsky’s car in a Tucson parking lot Nov. 7, 2007, they did not stake it out to see if anyone returned to it, but instead surrounded it with crime scene tape and partially processed it, wiping down part of the steering wheel for DNA samples before towing it to a crime lab for further processing.

Wintory described Satinsky’s home in Sahuarita as being “like a museum” with display cases of books, artworks and other culturally significant objects, such as candlesticks and bowls.

Wintory said Villa lied to Sahuarita Police Sgt. Steve Bunting, the lead investigator, about where he stored his valuables, such as his golf clubs, and said evidence will show that the golf clubs, plus a number of artworks and silver and pewter tea service items belonging to Satinsky, were found in a storage locker rented by Villa just east of his employer’s office.

Ipson argued that the items found in Villa’s locker had no relevance to the murder, kidnapping or other charges, but Satinsky’s daughter said her mother had planned on eventually giving her the valuable items from her home.

Ipson also argued that Villa had no motivation to steal the woman’s car, because after his was impounded for lack of insurance on Oct. 8, 2007, he changed employers and never missed a day of work at the new job.

Wintory said witnesses will testify that on several days after Oct. 30, 2007, they saw Satinsky’s car, a distinctive 20-year old Mercury station wagon with a fake-wood rear panel, in parking lots near 12th Avenue and Valencia Road, across the street from Villa’s most recent employer, the Labor Finders temporary agency. Ipson said those sightings could have occurred because, as one witness told police, Satinsky regularly shopped at the Food City at that intersection.

The case is being argued before Superior Court Judge John Leonardo and is tentatively scheduled for 12 days.

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