Family gets emotional watching video of officer giving CPR to Hannibal man laying in street

ST. CHARLES, Mo. — Watching the body camera video from Allison Hamm, an officer with the Hannibal Police Department, as she attended to a lifeless Dusty Wilson on the morning of Oct. 9, 2022, brought tears to the eyes of many members of Wilson’s family Wednesday afternoon in a St. Charles County Courthouse courtroom.

It was a gut-wrenching reminder that happened to be taking place on the second anniversary of Wilson’s death.

Tiara Bonner, the woman accused of stomping on Wilson’s head and helping cause his death, didn’t watch.

Hamm described what she saw that morning when she arrived on Main Street, just outside Rumor Has it Bar and Grill, during her testimony on the third day of Bonner’s trial in St. Charles County Circuit Court. She was one of four witnesses called by the state, which announced it was resting its case early Wednesday evening.

After his motion for judgment of acquittal was denied by Judge Christopher McDonough, Public Defender Austin Smith said he would begin his defense of Bonner on Thursday morning.

Bonner, 29, has been charged with first-degree assault and second-degree murder for her alleged involvement in the bar fight that resulted in the death of Wilson, 49, of Hannibal.

Bonner faces 10 to 30 years or a life sentence in the Missouri Department of Corrections if found guilty on either charge, both Class A felonies.

Hamm, who now works in probation and parole for the Missouri Department of Corrections, said Wilson’s face was covered in blood and he was non-responsive when she began administering CPR on the morning of Oct. 9, 2022. She said she received a call about the incident at 1:50 a.m. and was at Rumor Has It at 1:52 a.m.

“My sergeant and I, Sgt. (Andrew) Tripp, we rolled him over to his side to see if he was breathing. He was not breathing,” Hamm testified. “Sgt. Tripp checked for a pulse, and there was no pulse, so I was instructed to start CPR. I also noticed that his arms and part of his ears were blue and purple in color.”

After giving CPR until an ambulance arrived, Hamm then unsuccessfully tried to interview Shannon Rickey, who testified Tuesday that she was “100 percent” positive that Bonner stomped on Wilson.

HPD officer reviews videos from investigation

Ryan Mulheron, a field training officer with the Hannibal Police Department, then testified about his investigation and how he first came up with four suspects — Bonner, Jason Anderson, Jordan Payne and Thomas Payne. 

The six-man, six-woman jury was shown photos taken from internal surveillance video at Rumors, as well as a Snapchat video taken by Isaiah Koben — the only video that showed a group of people milling around Wilson as he lay in the street. They also saw a video from Leland Hawk, who was staying at a downtown bed-and-breakfast. His video showed Anderson and Thomas Payne getting into a vehicle and driving away after the fight outside Rumor Has It. Mulheron also was shown a fake fingernail found at the scene, and he determined after reviewing photos from Kylie Taylor, a friend of Bonner’s, that it belonged to Bonner.

Marion County Prosecuting Attorney Luke Bryant asked if it was common for suspects to lie when admitted their involvement in a crime, and Mulheron said, “Absolutely.”

“Is it common for a suspect to downplay or minimize their involvement while keeping general details of the story the same?” Bryant asked. Mulheron said yes. 

“More or less, they know that they’re involved. They’re just trying to kind of save themselves, essentially,” Mulheron said.

During cross-examination, Smith again showed the Snapchat video to Mulheron, who identified Bonner in the video. Smith noted it was not possible to tell how long after the fight was over that the video was taken.

“Everybody seems to suggest that it’s all over,” Smith said. “What is Miss Bonner doing again?”

“She’s standing there. She kind of is walking around,” Mulheron said.

“She appears to be standing there with other people. Is that fair to say?” Smith asked. “Is she fleeing?”

“She’s walking around, and then she dissipates with everyone else,” Mulheron said.

Smith later asked, “Does that appear to be the demeanor of somebody who had just done something that horrific?”

“I couldn’t tell you what someone’s demeanor would be,” Mulheron replied. “… I’ve seen some people be very animated and some people be very calm in the height of situations.”

Pathologist: Stress, pain caused by assault stopped Wilson’s heart

The testimony of Dr. Keith Norton, the chief medical examiner in Boone County and a pathologist, took up all of Wednesday morning. He performed Wilson’s autopsy. He noted Wilson was 5-foot-6, weighed 264 pounds and had a blood-alcohol content of 0.222 — nearly three times the legal limit.

A toxicology report also noted Wilson had citalopram, an anti-depressant, in his blood. Norton said citalopram increases the activity of alcohol.

Norton referred the examination of Wilson’s brain to Dr. Douglas Miller, who testified on Tuesday.

“I would normally examine the brain myself,” he said. “Since this was an assault which was going to go to court, and especially since I had heard that he had been hit in the head and they thought he had a severe head injury, I thought that the individual nerve fibers might have been torn deep inside the brain, and I was afraid that I would not be able to diagnose that. … I asked Dr Miller to look at the brain for that reason.”

Norton thought the cause of death was the heart if the nerve fibers were not torn — and Miller’s examination showed they were not.

“Dr. Miller’s opinion was that the brain was swelling rapidly as a result of the assault and pressing on the brain stem, and that caused the heart to stop beating,” Norton said.

Assistant Attorney General Kate Welborn then asked Norton for his opinion of the case of Wilson’s death. He said the heart stopped because of the stress and pain caused by the assault.

“I just want to make sure if I could summarize it as the assault happened, and the pain and stress from the assault put extra strain on a vulnerable heart and caused the heart to stop, causing Dustin Wilson’s death. Did I summarize that accurately?” Welborn asked.

“No, that’s a good summary from my point of view,” Norton said.

During cross-examination from defense attorney Chris Terrell, Norton detailed a 60 percent narrowing and calcification in Wilson’s left anterior descending coronary artery. He explained fatty infiltration in the heart and steatosis in the liver, noting they were not severe. His testimony also included the effects of alcohol on the heart, obesity-related heart complications and the stress of a fight as a potential cause of death.

Norton said the facial injuries Wilson suffered were not severe enough to kill him. He said the three causes of death were a bruise to Wilson’s temple, the two fractured ribs and the neuropathological changes. He also said he did not disagree “significantly” with Miller’s findings that the brain swelling caused the heart to stop, believing it was the other way around. 

Terrell gave Norton a copy of the medical report provided by Dr. Michael Graham, who will testify for the defense this week. Norton read the report for the first time in the courtroom.

“After reviewing Dr. Graham’s report, you do agree with his finding about the cause of death?” Terrell asked.

“No. I think Dr Graham discounted the fact that there was an altercation,” Norton said. “He was indicating that it was the dead guy’s actions himself that caused the death. So I disagree in that sense.”

“Could you say that it’s possible that any one of these interpretations could be correct?” Terrell asked.

“I do not understand Dr. Graham’s point of view, so no,” Norton said. “I think Dr. Miller’s or my interpretation could be correct.”