The last time Phyllis Puffenbarger saw her daughter alive, she didn’t get to say she loved her.
That’s what she said during her testimony on Wednesday, 25 years after her daughter — 26-year-old Charlene Puffenbarger — was beaten and strangled to death on her couch in the Akron home she shared with her two young sons. Summit County prosecutors accuse Willard McCarley — the father of one of her children — of killing her on Jan. 20, 1992, to avoid paying child support.
McCarley has been convicted in her death twice since 2004, when he was charged after DNA evidence suggested he held the belt used to strangle Charlene. Both times, appeals courts ordered the case back to court because of trial errors. McCarley, 53, maintains his innocence, but has been serving 11 years of a life sentence for Charlene’s death.
Charlene’s mother was among the first witnesses to testify.
Phyllis recalled a few days before her daughter’s death when Charlene came into the restaurant where Phyllis worked. She seemed distraught and distracted, Phyllis said. Eventually, she learned what was bothering her daughter.
“She had a fight at her apartment mailboxes a few days earlier,” Phyllis told the jury. “He [McCarley] said he would see her dead before he’d pay child support.”
The night before Charlene died, she brought her children to her mother’s house.
“I was wanting her to stay at the house that night, but she wouldn’t stay, so I took her home around 8 o’clock,” Phyllis said. “That was the last time I saw Charlene.”
When detectives asked her that day who might have killed her daughter, Phyllis said one name: “Willard McCarley.”
One of Charlene’s sons, Dustin Redmond, also testified Wednesday. He was 3 years old when Charlene died 25 years ago. He’s now older than Charlene was when she was killed.
Redmond and his younger brother, Derrek, were home when Charlene died. At McCarley’s first trial in 2005, Redmond said he didn’t remember her death — but he testified Wednesday that in his adulthood, he started having flashbacks and dreams from that night.
Redmond said he saw and heard his mother’s attackers.
“There were two guys, a tall guy and a shorter guy,” he said.
He could not recall what either man looked like, but prosecutors noted that McCarley is 5-foot-5 — short for a man. Police have not identified the alleged second man.
Redmond also could not recall other details about the men’s appearances — but he did remember one of them wore black. His grandmother testified that Redmond, shortly after Charlene’s death, said a police officer killed his mother. Prosecutors said during opening arguments that detectives discovered a police uniform in McCarley’s possession.
The night Charlene died, Redmond recalled hearing screaming and going out to the living room. That’s where he saw the men arguing with his mother.
“They were all fighting and arguing,” he said. “What about, I’m not sure.”
The taller man grabbed a pillow and put it over his mother’s face, he said.
“I can remember her struggling,” he said, growing emotional. “Her legs were kicking up.”
One of the men noticed Redmond was watching and told him to go away.
“Go back to bed,” he recalled the man telling him. “If you say anything, I’ll kill you.”
He said he did as he was told, but wandered out of his room later in the night. He testified he saw one of the men — he didn’t know which — cleaning up in the bathroom.
The next morning, he and his brother tried to wake up their mother to no avail. Someone knocked on the door, and he struggled to unlock it. He remembered getting the door open, and the rest was a blur.
Several times throughout his testimony, Redmond closed his eyes to picture his flashbacks and dreams.
McCarley’s defense attorneys challenged Redmond on his memories. They asked for details that Redmond couldn’t recall.
“There are things you remember and things that you don’t remember from 25 years ago,” said attorney John Greven. “Is that safe to say?”
Redmond agreed.
During opening arguments, both sides laid out the case.
“This was the kind of murder that was personal,” Summit County Assistant Prosecutor Jay Cole told the jury. “It took minutes to complete, with Charlene struggling the whole time.”
Cole went on to say the DNA evidence tested long after Charlene’s death also connected McCarley to the case.
But defense attorneys attempted to sow doubt in the jury.
“That child support motive is a red herring. Prosecutors are bringing it up in an attempt to discredit and damage Willard’s credibility,” attorney Scott Rilley told the jury. “What this case comes down to is DNA.”
Riley said the DNA evidence is not as sophisticated as prosecutors would like. The DNA is only a partial match, he said, meaning it could match any person with male DNA in McCarley’s family.
“One in 82 folks have the same [DNA] profile,” Rilley said.
Nick Glunt can be reached at 330-996-3565 or nglunt@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGluntABJ and on Facebook @JournoNickGlunt .