Witness: Burkheimer rescue foiled

EVERETT — The woman who found Rachel Burkheimer bound and gagged in her garage testified yesterday that she was "flung" from the room before she could cut the Marysville woman free.

Some time later, prosecutors allege, Burkheimer, 18, was stuffed in a duffel bag and driven to the Gold Bar area, where she was fatally shot.

Trissa Conner sobbed during her testimony as she told jurors what she saw on Sept. 23, 2002. She was called by prosecutors to testify against Yusef Jihad, her boyfriend, who is charged with aggravated first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and conspiracy to commit first-degree kidnapping. If convicted of the murder charge, Jihad, 34, faces life in prison.

Conner, 26, told jurors she came home to the South Everett duplex she shared with Jihad and found Burkheimer in the garage.

"She was tied up," Conner recalled. "She was sitting on the floor and she had her arms tied behind her back."

Conner said she started yelling at John Anderson, the man who prosecutors say beat, bound and later fatally shot Burkheimer.

Conner said she asked the blond woman her name. Through her mouth gag, the woman said, "Rachel." Conner repeated her name and the woman nodded.

Conner said she ran to the kitchen and grabbed a knife, so she could free Burkheimer. "I said, 'Once I get you untied, you won't freak out?' " Conner testified. She said Burkheimer nodded.

But as Conner cut the bonds, she felt someone behind her. It was then that Anderson "flung me out of the garage," she said.

Just before Snohomish County Superior Court Judge James Allendoerfer excused jurors for the day, Conner said she thought to call 911 but couldn't find the cordless telephone. She is scheduled to continue her testimony today.

Jihad, Anderson, 22, and John Whitaker, 23, are the only three defendants charged in connection with Burkheimer's slaying and kidnapping who haven't pleaded to charges. Four men and a boy have pleaded guilty to various charges in exchange for their testimony against the three men.

Court files indicate Burkheimer was murdered because the group, some of whom were allegedly involved in drug sales, believed she planned to set them up in a dispute over drugs. They persuaded Burkheimer to go to Jihad's duplex under the pretext that Anderson, her ex-boyfriend, wanted to speak with her.

But shortly after arriving, Burkheimer was attacked and beaten by Anderson and Whitaker, according to testimony Wednesday by Tony Williams, who has pleaded guilty to first-degree kidnapping for his role in Burkheimer's abduction. Williams said he overheard Jihad tell Anderson to "finish" off Burkheimer after the woman was held in the garage.

During an interview about two weeks after Burkheimer's slaying, Conner said that after Anderson threw her out of the garage, she heard Jihad ordering the group gathered at their home to leave. She later saw Jihad's friends carry a large black bag from the garage and place it into the back of a sport-utility vehicle. Prosecutors say Burkheimer was in the bag.

Jennifer Sullivan: 425-783-0604 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com