BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — He stayed by his truck after arriving early Jan. 27, 2019, at the apartment of his former roommate, Joseph DiGiacomo said.
He never entered the apartment of Caleb Seiler, DiGiacomo told a jury Wednesday. He said Matthew Queen and another man went inside, but maintained he never left his truck.
Prosecutor Eric Smith repeatedly questioned him on this point. He had DiGiacomo read reports of his conversation with police.
DiGiacomo, after several more denials, relented. Yes, he went inside the apartment and into Seiler’s room to wake him up so Queen could question him.
“I’m a good man,” DiGiacomo said, choking up after further questioning and insisting he didn’t kidnap Seiler. “I work hard.”
DiGiacomo finished testifying Wednesday morning, the third day of Matthew Queen’s trial on charges of murder, torture, kidnapping and multiple other offenses.
Queen and his ex-girlfriend, Baylee Despot, are accused of torturing and killing Micah Holsonbake over a stolen gun. Despot, who is also charged, disappeared shortly after Holsonbake went missing in March 2018. Parts of his body were later recovered from the Kern River.
Opening statements were presented Monday. The trial is in its third day and expected to last a month.
Prosecutors say Queen, 45, threatened and kidnapped multiple people, including Seiler, before he was charged with Holsonbake’s death. He and Seiler fabricated AR-style weapons, according to the District Attorney’s office.
Seiler has testified Queen, DiGiacomo and a third man he didn’t know forced him from his bed and drove him around Oildale. He said Queen threatened to kill him and accused him of telling police Queen sold guns. Seiler denied it.
Seiler said Queen released him after taking his shoes and removing the battery of his cellphone. He also described to the jury a separate incident where Queen zip-tied him to a chair, put a dog shock collar around his neck and shocked and pistol-whipped him.
During his testimony, DiGiacomo said Seiler entered his truck willingly and he would have let him out if he asked. He denied participating in a kidnapping.
Asked what Queen and Seiler talked about, DiGiacomo testified he didn’t remember.
Smith displayed a photograph of a person wrapped in toilet paper with sticky notes attached reading “snitch” and “rat.” DiGiacomo said he was the person in the photo but didn’t remember the incident.
The prosecutor asked DiGiacomo if he went to Seiler’s apartment to prove to Queen he wasn’t a “snitch,” or police informant.
DiGiacomo said no, but acknowledged people were suspicious of him after the home where he previously lived with Seiler was raided and he wasn’t arrested. He became tearful, answered a few more questions and was excused.
Prosecutors called other witnesses Wednesday who had told police they were present when Seiler was allegedly kidnapped. As with DiGiacomo, their statements conflicted with what they previously said.
Judy Hart lived in the apartment where Seiler was staying. She said she was in her bedroom when she heard men outside loudly calling for Seiler.
She opened the door for them.
“I didn’t know the guys, and they were very pushy,” Hart said.
She testified two men entered the home while a third stayed in the truck. They woke Seiler and told him to get dressed and come with them.
It was apparent Seiler did not want to leave, Hart said.
One of the men had a gun, she said. They walked Seiler out the front door and “poked” him with the gun in the kidney area while heading to the truck, she testified.
Hart said she used her phone to take photos of the pickup, an orange Chevy Silverado owned by DiGiacomo. One of the men returned and told her they were only playing a joke on Seiler and the gun wasn’t real, she said.
She was concerned but didn’t call police. Seiler turned up hours later, barefoot.
Under cross-examination, Hart admitted she was not the person who opened the front door. It’s possible her sister did.
Hart said she never told police about the photos she took. She said she had lost her phone by that time.
Asked by defense lawyer Timothy Hennessy why she didn’t call police if she was worried about Seiler, Hart said she believed three days had to pass before a missing persons report could be filed.
The last witness called Wednesday morning was Kassidy Humphrey, Seiler’s former girlfriend. They dated about six months and she was with him on the morning of the alleged kidnapping.
Humphrey responded, “I don’t recall,” to most questions asked of her.
She said at the time she heavily used drugs and that most of what she told police were things Seiler told her to say.
“I’m not a credible witness,” Humphrey said.
She called Seiler a pathological liar and said he manipulated her.
