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Andre William Lepere listens to opening statements throughout his trial in Superior Court docket in Newport Seaside, CA on Monday, Feb. 7, 2022. Lepere is charged with raping and killing Viola Hagenkord in her Anaheim residence in 1980. (Picture by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A New Mexico man on trial for the 1980 rape and killing of a 79-year-old Anaheim grandmother testified Wednesday to having what he described as consensual intercourse with the aged girl when he was in his early 20s, however denied enjoying any function in her sexual assault or slaying.
Andre William Lepere, now 64, was arrested final 12 months after DNA proof discovered on Viola Hagenkord’s physique was linked to him via genetic profiles in family tree databases.
The DNA proof – which got here from semen collected in a rape package through the preliminary investigation of the greater than 40-year previous killing – confirmed that Lepere, then 22, had intercourse with Hagenkord inside 24 hours of her slaying, a reality acknowledged by each the prosecution and protection.
Lepere’s sister lived on the identical Anaheim residence advanced as Hagenkord, and Lepere testified that he would chat with Hagenkord – jokingly asking “How are you doing younger girl?” – when he visited the advanced.
Hagenkord – who was born in 1900 and was six months shy of her eightieth birthday when she was killed – moved from her longtime dwelling in Milwaukee to what her household believed was a safer group in Anaheim nearer to them. Neighbors testified that she usually chatted with different residents and guests outdoors her residence, and appeared lonely.
Lepere – who on the time was juggling a number of relationships and a deteriorating marriage – testified that Hagenkord initiated two sexual encounters with him. Her household has mentioned Hagenkord by no means remarried after divorcing her husband in 1928.
“She was speaking about how she was lonely and she or he missed companionship and it had been a very long time,” Lepere mentioned throughout his first day of testimony on Wednesday in a Newport Seaside Orange County Superior courtroom. “She requested me if I'd present her what it was prefer to be held and have a bit intimacy.”
In response to Lepere, he then had intercourse with Hagenkord. He advised his lawyer that he had little question it was consensual, describing Hagenkord as “guffawing” as they walked out of the residence.
Lepere testified that in their second intimate encounter, she hiked up her costume, he dropped his denims they usually had intercourse once more. As he left the residence, Lepere mentioned he was considering “That is over, I’m not going to do it anymore.”
“I believed I might keep away from her, simply not see her,” he mentioned.
Lepere testified that he realized of Hagenkord’s dying a number of days later, when he was returning a instrument to a neighbor. He mentioned he didn’t know till his arrest a long time later that she had been sexually assaulted, and assumed it occurred throughout a break-in.
A neighbor anxious about not seeing Hagenkord for a number of days entered her residence on Feb. 18, 1980 and found her physique. She had been sexually assaulted and gagged with a pillowcase, inflicting her to asphyxiate. Lepere’s lawyer has famous that the one factor tying Lepere to the scene is the DNA present in semen on her physique.
It wasn’t till the early 2000s when DNA methods moved ahead sufficient for the county crime lab to create a DNA profile from he semen collected in Hagenkord’s rape package. In 2021, that profile was tied to Lepere via superior genetic testing.
Testimony ended for the day earlier than Deputy District Lawyer Christopher Alex started instantly questioning Lepere about his description of the alleged sexual encounters. However the prosecutor pushed Lepere on whether or not he, as a 22-year-old man, discovered the nearly-80-year-old Hagenkord sexually engaging.
“You have been a little bit of a girls man, is that right?” Alex requested.
“I used to be in my early 20s, I had numerous girlfriends, numerous girls who took a shine to me,” Lepere mentioned.
“Quite a lot of these girls you turned down,” the prosecutor mentioned.
“Appropriate,” Lepere replied.
“You didn't flip down Viola?”
“Appropriate,” Lepere mentioned.
Lepere acknowledged throughout his testimony that some arguments he had along with his first spouse had turned bodily. He described the incidents as his grabbing her arms relatively than hitting her.
Since leaving Southern California within the Eighties, Lepere lived a quiet life as a plumber and truck driver in numerous components of the nation together with Washington, Wyoming, Arizona and New Mexico.
Lepere’s household have described him throughout throughout testimony as a peaceable, devoted household man, although they've additionally acknowledged his heavy ingesting behavior. A number of folks – together with his present spouse, a stepson and a sister – have testified that they don’t consider Lepere is able to killing somebody.
Lepere’s testimony is predicted to proceed on Thursday morning.