Severson trial focuses on drug levels

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

As the second week of the Larry Severson murder trail got underway last week, the prosecution continued to lay the foundation for its belief that Severson killed his wife, Mary, on Feb. 15, 2002, by overdosing her on sleeping pills and suffocating her.

Elmore County Coroner Marla Spence said that upon arrival at the hospital that day the nurses and attending physician could not give her a reason why Mary Severson had died, and because the circumstances of the death were unknown, ordered an autopsy.

The autopsy was conducted by Dr. Glen Grobin of the Ada County Coroner's Office, who noted upon initial examination bruises on Mary Severson's face, on the side of her mouth and across the bottom of her chin, as well as several small cuts and abrasions. In previous testimony, those marks had not been noticed by emergency room personnel. A series of photos showing the marks was entered into evidence.

Grobin also said an examination of the body's organs showed multiple ulcers in the stomach, but they did not assist in the cause of death, he said. Under questioning from Prosecutor Aaron Bazzoli, Grobin testified that one of the causes of the ulcers could be from chemicals. The state is attempting to show that Severson had previously tried to poison his wife by putting Drano in some fat-blocker capsules.

Grobin said the contents of the stomach did not reveal evidence of pill fragments, but such fragments are not always found if pills are crushed before being ingested.

He said the autopsy did not reveal any physical or medical evidence for the cause of death, but said that the blood toxicology tests showed the presence of "lethal" amounts of Ambien and Unisom, both sleep aids. He said he would have determined the cause to death to be a drug overdose if the deceased had died quietly in bed, but with the other circumstances present, including injuries to the mouth, he did not believe it was that simple.

He said the bruising he noticed around the mouth, for example, could not have occurred after death, and could only have been caused by blunt force trauma consistent with a hand pressed against the mouth, as in smothering.

Under cross examination by Ed Fraschier, the defense counsel, Grobin said he could not determine the time of death. Previous testimony had indicated when paramedics arrived at the Severson home just before 3:30 a.m. that morning that she probably was already dead. Grobin insisted the external bruising could not have been caused by the resuscitation efforts of the paramedics and emergency room personnel.

A subsequent prosecution expert witness, Dr. Gary Dawson, a pharmacologist and expert in drug metabolism, said the lack of pills in Severson's stomach indicated she had ingested the pills at least two to three hours before her death, allowing the drugs to fully enter the bloodstream and for the liver to metabolize (break down) some of the medication.

Based on the levels of the sleeping pill drugs found in Severson's blood, he said that she had taken an "absolute bare minimum" of 8-12 Unisom tablets and 4-6 Ambien pills.

Dawson said the levels of the drugs are not usually fatal, but were at the lower end of reports of toxic levels for the drugs.

"In my opinion, it's possible that drugs at those levels could cause death, but unlikely," he said. At the same time, he said that since drug levels in the bloodstream usually peak about two hours after ingestion, it was possible that the levels had been higher at some point prior to her death.

Dr. Richard Kingston, of Colorado Springs, Colo., Mary's hometown, discussed her medical history, saying he had previously treated Mary for acid reflux disease, but not for ulcers. He said that when she returned to Colorado Springs, during the time in 2001 when she had separated from the defendant, he diagnosed her as depressed, due to her marital problems, but not suicidal. He had prescibed Paxil for the depression and Nexium for the acid reflux.

Kingston said in follow-up exams she reported feeling much better and seemed much less depressed.

A friend of Mary Severson, Teresa Mallea, said that despite being upset about her marital problems, she had never indicated a desire to commit suicide, nor had she ever indicated she had trouble breathing, or was dying of cancer.

She said Mary had told her she had trouble getting her medication down and they often crushed it and put it in soft food, such as pudding.

Another friend, Nancy Ellwanger, who had first alerted authorities to the possibility of some potentially incriminating evidence at the Severson home, described how Mary had confided in her about problems in the Severson marriage.

She described seeing Mary crying and when asked why, was told Mary had found out that her husband, Larry, had been having an affair with Jennifer Watkins (during the time they were separated). She said that Mary was "livid" about what had happened, that Jennifer had been at her residence and that Larry and Jennifer were engaged.

"Mary wasn't going to give up her marriage," Ellwanger said. "she believe their were soul mates, that she was going to fight for her marriage."

Mary had gone to Colorado in the summer of 2001, returned briefly to Mountain Home, when she learned of the affair, went back to Colorado briefly, and returned in December of that year determined to make her marriage work.

She had lost weight during the separation to make herself more attractive to her husband, Ellwanger said, and was optimistic about life. She was, in particular, looking forward to the graduation of her oldest son, Mike, that spring.

Ellwanger said Mary told her she was not agreeable to a divorce and if Larry filed for one "everything was hers," all the property was in her name. Ellwanger said Mary said that if Larry filed, she would seek $3,000 a month in alimony payments.

In January of 2002, Ellwanger said, Mary's physical condition began to change. She began to get sick, with vomiting and diarrhea. Ellwanger advised her to see a doctor and to stop taking her pills.

By February, "she said she was feeling great," although "she had her good days and her bad days," Ellwanger said.

When Ellwanger called her on Feb. 14 about doing some babysitting for her the next day, she said Mary told her she was looking forward to going to dinner that Valentine's Day evening with Larry.

Mary died later that night some time after returning from the dinner.

The trial was expected to resume Monday afternoon with the defense's cross examination of Dawson's testimony. Details of that testimony and other testimony presented this week will be carried in next week's issue. The trial is expected to last at least six weeks.

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