Prosecutors say the knife used to kill Robert Wone came from a cutlery set found in Dylan Ward’s bedroom.
But Ward never owned that knife, his mother testified Monday in D.C. Superior Court.
Ward and his housemates, Joseph Price and Victor Zaborsky, are accused of covering up Wone’s Aug. 2, 2006, death in their Dupont Circle townhouse.
A knife was found near Wone’s body, but prosecutors say it was wiped with blood and planted at the scene, and the real weapon was a missing knife from Ward’s cutlery set.
Diane Ward bought that three-piece set as a gift for relatives. They passed away, and the set was later given to Dylan Ward. When he received it, one item — the 12-centimeter knife authorities say was used to kill Wone — was missing, Diane Ward testified.
“I am certain of that,” she said.
She said a knife in her kitchen was the same brand and size as the missing knife, but she wasn’t sure it belonged to that set.
The other knife in the case — the one found at the scene — was the focus of earlier testimony Monday, as the defense began its third day of calling witnesses. The trial is in its fifth week.
Forensics expert Henry Lee said the blood on that knife blade likely wasn’t produced by wiping the knife with a towel. He said the blood pattern on the knife was consistent with that of a knife used in a stabbing.
Lee also testified about the blood stains on a towel found in the guest room where Wone died.
He said the stains could have come from someone using the towel to apply pressure to a wound, as the defendants say Joseph Price did.
Prosecutors have pointed to the relatively small amount of blood on the towel as a sign it wasn’t used to cover Wone’s wounds, but Lee testified that authorities shouldn’t have expected to find more blood.
Due to gravity, he said, blood will flow to the lowest point, and the towel was on top of the wounds.
Also Monday, forensic pathologist Dr. Vincent Di Maio testified that it’s impossible to say whether Wone should have moved after having been stabbed. If Wone were sleeping, he said, it would have taken longer for him to react.
Like Wone, most people who are stabbed to death don’t have defensive wounds, Di Maio also testified.
