Witness in Rancho Peñasquitos murder trial testifies about delayed police intervention – NBC 7 San Diego

Testimony on the second day of the Rancho Peñasquitos murder trial delved deep into the analysis of the San Diego Police Department’s emergency response. A neighbor told the court how upset she was the night that prosecutors say Parrish Chambers entered Connie Dadkhah’s apartment through the sliding glass door to the second-floor balcony and then beat her to death.

“He was banging very loudly on the sliding glass door and I saw it break and I saw him walk through the door,” the neighbor said.

This neighbor called 911 three times on June 14, 2022 – first to report the break-in at 8:03 p.m. and then again 38 minutes later to ask why the police had not shown up.

“It took them quite a long time to get there and I was afraid he might break into our apartment and harm us,” she testified.

The two 911 calls were played to the court. The dispatcher told the neighbor he had received more calls about Chambers and units were nearby. When officers arrived at the complex at about 8:47 p.m., they left 15 minutes later after being unable to make contact with Dadkhah.

“They were just watching the unit with flashlights,” the neighbor testified. “They didn’t do anything.”

The neighbor called the police one last time that night at 11:36 p.m. and wanted an explanation as to why officers had not entered the apartment to make an arrest or to check if her neighbor was safe. She wanted the police to come out one more time.

The operator told her that the police would need probable cause or a search warrant to get in. They also told her that the police knew the man because they had been called to the apartment several times. They said they had reason to believe that he lived there and may have just locked himself out of his apartment.

The next morning, that neighbor was present when police arrived in large numbers to investigate Dadkhah’s death.

Click here to read what happened on the other days of the murder trial. You can also watch replays of each day’s proceedings the following weekday from 11:30 a.m.

Background to the murder case

That morning of June 15, 2022, prosecutors say, Chambers emerged from Dadkhah’s apartment splattered with her blood. They say he flagged down a neighbor to call 911 and report that she was dead inside. He was taken into custody soon after and charged with her murder. He has pleaded not guilty.

Police dispatch records show that Dadkhah’s neighbors called 911 the previous evening around 7 p.m., pleading with police to come quickly and reporting that an aggressive man was trying to break into a woman’s apartment. The call was not prioritized at first. About an hour later, the callers had new information for dispatch: The man had climbed over a wall to their second-story balcony and forced his way into the house through a sliding glass door. Although police gave the call a higher priority, it took another 45 minutes for officers to arrive at the apartment complex.

The same incident logs and court filings from the prosecutor’s office indicate that officers attempted to contact Dadkhah by calling her, knocking on her door and using a loudspeaker. But officers left the scene 15 minutes later after being unable to reach anyone inside. There is no record of Dadkhah calling police that night.

In defense of their decision not to forcefully enter the home the night before, police told NBC 7 Investigates they had reason to believe Chambers lived there based on a dispatch log officers accessed. Police also told NBC 7 that the decision to forcefully enter a person’s home is not something to be taken lightly and is among the strictest legal standards to which it is subject.

But Chambers didn’t live there, although NBC 7’s investigation revealed a shared history between the two. Court records show that involved a 2020 incident in which Chambers was convicted of vandalism. The judge ordered Chambers to stay away from Dadkhah. That order was still in effect when Dadkhah died.

SDPD crime scene specialists testify for the prosecution

Tuesday’s trial began with the return of a witness to the stand. SDPD Detective Denise Martinez continued to testify about her role in collecting and cataloging evidence from Dadkhah’s apartment, including showing dozens of photos of blood splatters throughout the apartment. She described the laborious process of swabbing each sample, storing it in an envelope, and then assigning a unique barcode to each piece of evidence.

Martinez’s partner, forensic scientist Michelle Gregory, then went into more detail about additional evidence collected during Dadkhah’s autopsy.

Later in the day, four SDPD criminalists testified about additional biological evidence collected, including underwear from Dadkhah and Chambers. Both had several suspected blood stains that were tested for DNA. Almost every test returned DNA from both individuals. In the cases that did not, the sample was not enough to reach that final conclusion. Although these were inconclusive, the experts testified based on the tests that the samples likely belonged to the other individual.

Connie Dadkhah’s friend spoke to her on the night of the break-in

In addition to the murder charge, prosecutors charged Chambers with three other crimes in which Dadkhah was allegedly his victim, including two counts of assault and one count of false imprisonment. He also pleaded not guilty to those counts.

The exact nature of their relationship is unclear, but Dadkhah’s friends say she met Chambers through her volunteer work in mental health care. They say he had a crush on her, found out her address and constantly visited her despite Chambers’ repeated requests to leave her alone.

“She was afraid of him,” Laurie Mathis testified. “He hurt her. She has said that repeatedly in the past.”

Mathis testified in court that she met Dadkhah about four months before her death and that they became fast and close friends. She said she was supposed to have dinner with Dadkhah the night of the break-in, but Dadkhah told her Chambers followed her into her apartment and forced her to lock herself in.

“I would tell her to call the police and to stay inside and lock the door,” Mathis said.

When she urged Dadkhah to call the police, Dadkhah said she had done so before, but officers hadn’t done much to help other than kick Chambers out. She said a restraining order had been issued.

Chambers’ public defender Abe Genser paints a different picture of his client’s relationship with Dadkhah. He said the couple had a toxic, drug-related and abusive relationship for three years.

Genser asked Mathis if it was a warning sign that Dadkhah often disappeared for several days without explanation, to which Mathis replied “yes.”

Mathis also admitted that she had never been to Dadkhah’s apartment or knew where it was. Dadkhah told her that it was messy and that she lived her life in boxes. Crime scene photos shown during the first two days show that the apartment was incredibly messy. One witness described it as a hoarder’s house.

Genser also asked Mathis if she was concerned that Dadkhah was taking drugs.

“No, that wasn’t my concern,” Mathis replied.

After that, the testimony became even more dramatic when Genser asked Mathis if she had actually known that Dadkhah was using drugs. He cited text messages in which Dadkhah allegedly used code words for drugs. During opening statements on the first day, Genser said Dadkhah used the word “motivation” in her messages to Chambers. And in her text messages to Mathis, Genser said, she used the word “clothes” as a code word for narcotics.

He showed specific text messages in which Dadkhah wrote to Mathis:

• “…I need a new dress. Can you get one?”
• “…I don’t have any clothes left, do you happen to have any…”
• “…I was wondering if you had any clothes? …I don’t have any…”
• “…My guy has really good fabric. Better than usual. 120 for 14 dresses.”

Mathis told Genser that those conversations were about clothes, not drugs. She contradicted Genser’s statement that it was abnormal that Dadkhah was out of clothes, and reiterated that Dadkhah had stored many of her belongings in boxes. She also disputed Genser’s claim that a mutual friend of the two named Tony was a drug dealer.

Following her testimony, Genser asked the court to allow him to call Mathis back to the witness stand later in the trial.

How to follow the process

NBC 7 will be there every day to bring you all the important moments in full, including the broadcast of the previous day’s court proceedings starting at 11:30 a.m. The judge has ruled that live broadcasts from the courtroom are not allowed.

Follow the murder trial on NBC.com and NBC San Diego News’ streaming platforms (including Roku, Peacock and Samsung TV). And check back nightly at 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. for coverage and analysis.