Daughter testifies at trial

Jan. 24--Renee Ohlemacher, whose parents were murdered in an adjacent bedroom at the family home in Paradise Hills on Aug. 2, 2005, testified Thursday during the trial of the man accused of killing them about hearing gunshots and screams in the early morning.

After the shooting deaths of John "Greg" Ohlemacher and Bernadette Ohlemacher in their master bedroom suite -- Bernadette was emerging from the shower when she was shot -- Renee was questioned multiple times by Albuquerque Police Department homicide detectives. But she was eventually cleared, and police suspicions settled in June 2006 on then-Countrywide Mortgage loan processer Ronald Santiago, who was working on a loan for the couple.

Santiago's attorneys have pointed the accusing finger at Renee during an opening statement, and Ohlemacher's cross-examination today is certain to be a lengthy one.

Questioned by prosecutor Jason Yamato, Renee Ohlemacher gave the answers Yamato had described in his opening statement to the jury the day before. She said her parents had experienced some marital problems, that her mother was protective of her and had helped her financially, that the back door of the home was often opened in the early morning to let the house "breathe."

Ohlemacher, a petite brunette, spoke very softly, often grimacing or contorting her face as she recalled the events surrounding the deaths and occasionally wiping a tear from her eyes.

The day before the shootings, she said, the family dined together at home after her father had worked on a deck off the master bedroom.

At 5 a.m., about the time her mother typically got up and prepared for work, she heard screaming and yelling and someone say "What are you doing?" She heard gunshots, though she couldn't recall how many, and tried unsuccessfully to get under the bed, diving into the closet when she didn't fit. Ohlemacher said she heard her mother scream and then heard someone "pounding" down the stairs.

Using her cellphone, Ohlemacher said she called the police non-emergency line from the closet but misdialed and then called 911 to report that she believed her parents had been shot. The operator, after getting the address and other particulars, told her to try to get to the front door to meet officers.

"I was crawling on all fours," she said, wearing only her pajamas. "I didn't know who was in the house. I was trying to get the dog."

Crawling past her parents' room, she said she saw "my dad's feet and my mother on her side."

She couldn't get the dog, whom she described as family, to come to her.

She made a call to a friend in Alaska for moral support, and to a family friend who lived nearby, while waiting in a police car.

Ohlemacher, who was 20 at the time, lived for a couple of months with her mother's family in Santa Fe and a couple of months with an uncle, leaving over a disagreement about Ohlemacher's not being sufficiently appreciative, she said.

Eventually, she said she used money from a life insurance policy to pay for college in Oregon, including her room and board, and for lawyers.

After graduating, she said she had trouble finding a job because of publicity surrounding the case, including a national broadcast story by "48 Hours." Producers have been in the courtroom this week filming the trial to follow up on the 2008 story on the case.

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