GUILTY WI - Alexander Woodworth, 24, stabbed 16 times by Ezra McCandless, Eau Claire, Mar 2018

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Curious Me said:
I missed some of the beginning, too. Suddenly I had Court TV again on my line up! It was wonderful to be able to watch this trial. Hope they show parts of it over all weekend so I can catch what I missed. Thank You Jury!
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I didn't watch from the beginning either, but started during the final few days. I am now catching up. Looking at the timeline of events as reported on Court TV, I was stunned at how tight the sequence of events were--she was having sex with both Alex (the victim) and John (Jason's friend) at the same time--I didn't know that. That tight timeline makes me that much more confident of the jury's decision.

Ezra McCandless, 22, allegedly murdered 24-year-old Alex Woodworth on March 22, 2018, in the Town of Spring Brook. McCandless claims her actions were in self-defense. Prosecutors say she intentionally lured Woodworth to his death to rid herself of inner turmoil.

Here’s a timeline of events:

2017

  • Nov. 2017: Ezra McCandless and Alex Woodworth begin a sexual relationship while she’s dating Jason Mengal.
2018

  • Feb. 5: Mengal leaves for military training for two weeks.
  • Feb. 26: Mengal initiates a rape report to police after McCandless tells him she was sexually assaulted by his best friend, John Hansen. McCandless tells police she had sex with Woodworth during those two weeks as well.
  • March 3: Woodworth is interviewed in the rape investigation. He tells police McCandless told him she willingly had sex with Hansen, then regretted it.
  • March 22: McCandless shows up at a private residence covered in blood and mud. She is taken to a local hospital.
  • March 23: Woodworth’s body is found in the rear seat of McCandless’s car.
  • March 24: McCandless changes her statement.
  • April 6: McCandless is charged with first-degree intentional homicide.
 
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Vail said:
Crime Scene <---->Racy's
View attachment 213030

Sipple Farm <--->Car/Crime
View attachment 213031



From what I've put together through all this is it goes back to her f-up while Jason was on leave. She lies about John, tells Alex the truth of it later, Alex tells the police the truth, Ezra's relationships are all falling apart, she is living back at home where things are clearly not optimal for her (I'll add there was probably some serious sibling rivalry that caused her identity issues), things with Jason are tenuous, the girls at the bar hate her, her mom hates Jason/situation so that is on the down, shes in court-prescribed therapy, etc then Jason sends her the pic of the bathroom wall (F*@K EZRA) insinuating Alex did it, is not being responsive to her declarations of love, so Ezra flips out and even though her dad has just had a great talk with her (you know, the 'emotional abuser' is helping her get her life on track), and has hidden her keys because she shouldn't drive, she goes to Eau Claire, shows up at Racy's to give Max The Painting (where Jason would be sure to see it), reads some of her journals to Jason and tells him her plan to confront Alex (who it would seem is on a bitter social revenge plot against her)
He is concerned enough to shadow her all the way there on his bike and this is where the major hole is. Something happened in that apartment - it doesn't work for Jason to just be hanging around then burst in for no reason unless A. he heard something that made him concerned for someones safety or B. heard them having sex IMO. The fallout of all these things, IMO, has Ezra in a state of extreme agitation and then the police show up. She barely gets off the hook. I believe she had already decided to end him at this point and proceeded to drive to the location, which happenes to end in a dump had she been able to get to the culdesac. Optimal murder location. The motive was elimination and maybe a little revenge - with Alex gone there is noone to out her secrets, besmirch her or get in the way of her relationship with Jason, no one to remind her of things she may have been ashamed of. Perhaps he told her something in the car that made her erupt, like he was seeing someone else or thought Ezra was beneath him but whatever it was, she wanted to obliterate it. She stabbed him in the heart, in the head, cut his jugular vein and mutilated his penis. That says it all IMO.

Timeline:
Outline - Read & annotate without distractions
Click to expand...

Thank you. The maps you shared are very helpful.

I think there’s more to the story at the apartment as well. I also think there’s more to the dynamics between Alex, Jason and Ezra. I have a hard time believing there’s not more to it.

I wish we had a verified insider or local in here to help us understand all this a little better.
jmo
 
TTF14 said:
10/23/19 WI v. McCandless: Body Cam Video Regarding Alleged Hansen Assault - Court TV

Things Jason said in this interview:

"She wanted to talk to him about some stuff and I was paranoid....she had fire in her eyes."

"I was just worried because like..." (he gets interrupted by the officer)

So Jason knocks and nobody answers, so he opens the door and heard her say, "Let him help you. Let him help you." (What does this mean??)

He then asks if everything is ok. "I was paranoid that someone was going to do something irrational."

After that, the cops talk to Ezra and Alex. Ezra makes a show of trying to find her license but we know she never does. Then after the officer leaves, you can see Jason roll his bike up to the car and exchange words with Ezra and Alex who are about to leave in Ezra's car. What was said?
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10/24/19 Defendant's Ex-Boyfriend Says He 'Never Stopped Loving Her' - Court TV

Starting around 11:30, Jason's questioned by the defense attorney and she clearly does not want him to say he heard "Let him help you." She said, "you thought that's what you heard." He said, "NO. I heard that."
 
Some musings after verdict

DA did well in closings. “One more lie” theme excellent. Of course defendant’s attorney didn’t like, tried to object

DA did well at swatting away the defendant’s expert’s testimony.

defendant’s attorney was weak. But he did have little to work with. He had wanted the experts to do the defendant’s work, but the DA had undermined that. So he was left with Ezra’s testimony, hard for anyone to take at face value.

I wonder about her plans that killing day. They were either (1) motivate Alex to do something for her, and kill him if he did not do so, or (2) just to kill him. DA was saying the first, but I think the second.

how did attack unfold? Clearly it started when he was out of car; only blood splatter on car is on door sill. Not possible she got knife from him and then attacked him as she says. Knowing he was subject to knife attack, he would have defended himself, have cuts on his hands, etc. I think first blow was to the head as Alex was standing at open door to get in. He would not have seen it coming, and probably been very confused. In this circumstance she was able to finish off her butchery, as he was unable to oppose. Maybe he tried to get back into car for protection, or she induced him saying she would drive to hospital.

At any rate, I see the head wound being the first, and being a total surprise to him. It might have surprised her that he was not immediately dead.
 
Gtw999 said:
I wonder about her plans that killing day. They were either (1) motivate Alex to do something for her, and kill him if he did not do so, or (2) just to kill him. DA was saying the first, but I think the second.
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Was it to "let him help you? let him help you?"

bbm, rsbm
 
TTF14 said:
I wish someone would have asked her about that on the stand.
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Tippy Lynn, you missed some very interesting and important parts of the trial!

That particular testimony was given by Jason, who was a medic, and who had previously testified that Ezra contacted him around December and asked him to come to Alex’s house to bandage a knife cut in Alex’s wrist. Ezra had used those same words speaking to Alex in December about letting Jason treat the wound, “Let him help you.” Ezra later told Jason that Alex had said he would kill himself if she didn’t become his exclusive girlfriend and Alex had cut his wrist back then in December, the wrist wound which Jason bandaged. Jason testified that when he overheard Ezra’s voice saying those same words again in Alex’s house on March 22, he ran into the house thinking Alex might be hurt.
 
Vail said:
Crime Scene <---->Racy's
View attachment 213030

Sipple Farm <--->Car/Crime
View attachment 213031



From what I've put together through all this is it goes back to her f-up while Jason was on leave. She lies about John, tells Alex the truth of it later, Alex tells the police the truth, Ezra's relationships are all falling apart, she is living back at home where things are clearly not optimal for her (I'll add there was probably some serious sibling rivalry that caused her identity issues), things with Jason are tenuous, the girls at the bar hate her, her mom hates Jason/situation so that is on the down, shes in court-prescribed therapy, etc then Jason sends her the pic of the bathroom wall (F*@K EZRA) insinuating Alex did it, is not being responsive to her declarations of love, so Ezra flips out and even though her dad has just had a great talk with her (you know, the 'emotional abuser' is helping her get her life on track), and has hidden her keys because she shouldn't drive, she goes to Eau Claire, shows up at Racy's to give Max The Painting (where Jason would be sure to see it), reads some of her journals to Jason and tells him her plan to confront Alex (who it would seem is on a bitter social revenge plot against her)
He is concerned enough to shadow her all the way there on his bike and this is where the major hole is. Something happened in that apartment - it doesn't work for Jason to just be hanging around then burst in for no reason unless A. he heard something that made him concerned for someones safety or B. heard them having sex IMO. The fallout of all these things, IMO, has Ezra in a state of extreme agitation and then the police show up. She barely gets off the hook. I believe she had already decided to end him at this point and proceeded to drive to the location, which happenes to end in a dump had she been able to get to the culdesac. Optimal murder location. The motive was elimination and maybe a little revenge - with Alex gone there is noone to out her secrets, besmirch her or get in the way of her relationship with Jason, no one to remind her of things she may have been ashamed of. Perhaps he told her something in the car that made her erupt, like he was seeing someone else or thought Ezra was beneath him but whatever it was, she wanted to obliterate it. She stabbed him in the heart, in the head, cut his jugular vein and mutilated his penis. That says it all IMO.

Timeline:
Outline - Read & annotate without distractions
Click to expand...
Everything you said. The apartment is a big black hole. One thing that keeps coming back to me is what an unlikely femme fatale Ezra is.
 
Rekamemoh said:
Tippy Lynn, you missed some very interesting and important parts of the trial!

That particular testimony was given by Jason, who was a medic, and who had previously testified that Ezra contacted him around December and asked him to come to Alex’s house to bandage a knife cut in Alex’s wrist. Ezra had used those same words speaking to Alex in December about letting Jason treat the wound, “Let him help you.” Ezra later told Jason that Alex had said he would kill himself if she didn’t become his exclusive girlfriend and Alex had cut his wrist back then in December, the wrist wound which Jason bandaged. Jason testified that when he overheard Ezra’s voice saying those same words again in Alex’s house on March 22, he ran into the house thinking Alex might be hurt.
Click to expand...

I was very skeptical about Jason overhearing Ezra saying "Let him help you" at the apartment that day. It seems to me that they are all prone to narcissism to one degree or another and I think it's possible Jason was inserting his special brand of empathy and attempting to make himself more relevant in the situation.
 
Rekamemoh said:
Tippy Lynn, you missed some very interesting and important parts of the trial!

That particular testimony was given by Jason, who was a medic, and who had previously testified that Ezra contacted him around December and asked him to come to Alex’s house to bandage a knife cut in Alex’s wrist. Ezra had used those same words speaking to Alex in December about letting Jason treat the wound, “Let him help you.” Ezra later told Jason that Alex had said he would kill himself if she didn’t become his exclusive girlfriend and Alex had cut his wrist back then in December, the wrist wound which Jason bandaged. Jason testified that when he overheard Ezra’s voice saying those same words again in Alex’s house on March 22, he ran into the house thinking Alex might be hurt.
Click to expand...

I don't recall that testimony at all. On cross, the defense attorney doesn't even want to talk about that phrase. On redirect, it's not mentioned. (Start around 41 minutes here: 10/24/19 Defendant's Ex-Boyfriend Says He 'Never Stopped Loving Her' - Court TV)
 
Tippy Lynn said:
Thank you. The maps you shared are very helpful.

I think there’s more to the story at the apartment as well. I also think there’s more to the dynamics between Alex, Jason and Ezra. I have a hard time believing there’s not more to it.

I wish we had a verified insider or local in here to help us understand all this a little better.
jmo
Click to expand...
I agree. Listening to Jason's testimony, he presents himself as so supportive and caring (and he may very well have been) but I found myself wondering why he distanced himself from her following the abortion that he didn't express a desire for her not to have--that didn't make sense to me. He went with her to have the procedure and didn't "verbally" tell her that he had an issue with it, but then didn't want to share a bed with her afterwards? He didn't commit this crime, but I find myself wondering about their relationship and how it set the whole thing in motion.
 
TTF14 said:
I don't recall that testimony at all. On cross, the defense attorney doesn't even want to talk about that phrase. On redirect, it's not mentioned. (Start around 41 minutes here: 10/24/19 Defendant's Ex-Boyfriend Says He 'Never Stopped Loving Her' - Court TV)
Click to expand...

It’s true that the Defense lawyers did not want to talk about that. But if you will watch the Prosecution DA examinations of Jason Mendel, which is in 3 videos dated 10/23 on CourtTV website’s “Recent” list, including the police dash cam from the day of the murder, you will see Jason talk about that particular phrase. (Sorry that I cannot figure out how to put a link to those three videos here for you. I am not good at technology.)
 
Rekamemoh said:
It’s true that the Defense lawyers did not want to talk about that. But if you will watch the Prosecution DA examinations of Jason Mendel, which is in 3 videos dated 10/23 on CourtTV website’s “Recent” list, including the police dash cam from the day of the murder, you will see Jason talk about that particular phrase. (Sorry that I cannot figure out how to put a link to those three videos here for you. I am not good at technology.)
Click to expand...

I have watched them, but I would go forward and back a lot so I may have missed it. Do you know which one it was in particular? No need to link, I know where to find them :).
 
ChicagoChic said:
I agree. Listening to Jason's testimony, he presents himself as so supportive and caring (and he may very well have been) but I found myself wondering why he distanced himself from her following the abortion that he didn't express a desire for her not to have--that didn't make sense to me. He went with her to have the procedure and didn't "verbally" tell her that he had an issue with it, but then didn't want to share a bed with her afterwards? He didn't commit this crime, but I find myself wondering about their relationship and how it set the whole thing in motion.
Click to expand...

Maybe he was doing some math and realizing it might not be his baby? I mean, if he was thinking "did she abort that baby so I wouldn't find out it's not mine?" it would really mess with your head. Even more than the "ordinary" abortion. Or maybe it was a wake-up call for him that they needed to be more careful because the last thing Ezra needed was to become a mom because she would not be a good one. Girl clearly has issues.
 
TTF14 said:
Maybe he was doing some math and realizing it might not be his baby? I mean, if he was thinking "did she abort that baby so I wouldn't find out it's not mine?" it would really mess with your head. Even more than the "ordinary" abortion. Or maybe it was a wake-up call for him that they needed to be more careful because the last thing Ezra needed was to become a mom because she would not be a good one. Girl clearly has issues.
Click to expand...

That’s why I think she had the abortion. She didn’t know who’s baby it was. Having the abortion on her birthday was another way for her to be a “victim”. Just like her rape accusations, she was the “victim”.
 
TTF14 said:
I have watched them, but I would go forward and back a lot so I may have missed it. Do you know which one it was in particular? No need to link, I know where to find them :).
Click to expand...
In the dash cam video Jason very clearly says it to the police officer near the beginning of that 12 minute video.
 
Rekamemoh said:
In the dash cam video Jason very clearly says it to the police officer near the beginning of that 12 minute video.
Click to expand...

Yes, I know he says it. But you said this, and this is what I do not recall: "Jason testified that when he overheard Ezra’s voice saying those same words again in Alex’s house on March 22, he ran into the house thinking Alex might be hurt."
 
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