Aleah was well like by many and is described as “vibrant young lady” by those who knew her.
(Courtesy photo for the Illinois Valley News)
Gwen Barringer
IVN contributing writer
It has been two years since the death of 25-year-old Aleah Aaron shocked and saddened Illinois Valley residents. Now Thomas Fuerte, the O’Brien man who is accused of murdering her, is finally being tried for her death. The trial, which has been scheduled for three weeks, began April 2 at the Josephine County Courthouse with Judge Matthew Galli presiding.
The state is represented by District Attorney Joshua Eastman, while the defense is represented by court-appointed attorney Elizabeth Baker. Fuerte is charged with multiple counts: murder in the first degree, and one count each of rape in the first degree, sodomy in the first degree, abuse of a corpse in the second degree, and unlawful use of a firearm. All of these are felony charges, and all of them stem from Aaron’s death, her burial in a remote Cave Junction location, and the evidence that was collected over the course of the state’s investigation.
In his opening statement, Eastman emphasized the many inconsistencies in Fuerte’s explanations for Aaron’s death, insisting that given the audio, video and physical evidence this case is “about common sense.” Eastman also gave a detailed explanation of the many witnesses and investigative officials he would call to the stand, and their various parts in the timeline of events leading up to Aaron’s death, the investigation, and even Fuerte’s time in jail after his arrest.
The defense claims that Aaron was suicidal, and that after a struggle for Fuerte’s firearm, during which Fuerte attempted to save her, she took her own life. After this, Fuerte allegedly “freaked out,” kept Aaron’s body in the back of his truck for a day, and buried her in a rural location in Cave Junction, which he later led police to. In her opening statements, Baker insisted that there were “serious problems with this investigation,” pointing to a lack of evidence specifically when it comes to the rape and sodomy charges.
On the first day of the trial, the state called several friends and acquaintances of Aaron and Fuerte to the stand, many of whom had seen the pair at Bruno’s Cavern on the evening of March 25, 2023. A few of these individuals also stated that they had never known Aaron to be distinctly suicidal, though she had occasionally been depressed over situational things like not being able to see her family often.
Upon cross examination, the defense asked about a post on Aaron’s Facebook page that seemed to indicate a suicidal mindset. Upon further questioning, it was revealed that this post had consisted of lyrics from a song Aaron had liked. There were also some texts from Aaron to a close friend that were brought to the jury’s attention, though the friend who was asked about these messages claimed that Aaron, like many others they knew, would sometimes “say teenage girl stuff” when she got emotional.
Security camera footage from Bruno’s Cavern was shown to the jury to prove the pair’s presence at the location on the night in question. Footage from the SOS Kerby Transfer Station was also provided that showed Fuerte dumping a rolled-up carpet at this location in the days after Aaron’s death.
The second day, several members of the Oregon State Police were called to the stand, including digital forensics specialist Eve Thornton, Major Crimes Detective Jessica Hall and Sergeant Jessica Rice. Thornton explained the process that was used to extract information from Fuerte’s phone over the course of the investigation. Detective Hall, who had gone over the phone’s information after the extraction, read several of Fuerte’s text conversations with various friends aloud. In these conversations, when asked where Aaron was, Fuerte gave several different explanations as to her whereabouts and when he had last seen her, none of which mentioned her being deceased.
The body camera audio and footage from Fuerte’s multiple interviews with police, however, told a story that is more in line with the defense’s current claims. In these, Fuerte claimed that after they left Bruno’s and returned to his trailer in O’Brien, the pair were “just hanging out” and Aaron was talking about suicide. According to Fuerte, Aaron found his firearm, and they struggled with it before she shot herself twice. After admitting to burning evidence and burying her body, Fuerte led law enforcement officials to the burial site. Photos of the site, and of Aaron’s body being unearthed, were shown to the jury the following day.
On April 4, an interview between Fuerte and OSP Detective Ziegler was viewed. As Ziegler was attempting to get details about Aaron’s final moments from Fuerte, he pointed out several ways in which Fuerte’s explanation of events made no sense. During this interview, while Fuerte repeatedly claimed that he had tried to save Aaron from herself, he also admitted to “pistol whipping” her with the firearm several times in his attempts to get it away from her, claiming that he was in fear for his life.
The final witness of the week was Eric Kelly, who was incarcerated with Fuerte in the Josephine County Jail after his arrest. According to Kelly, Fuerte had admitted to him that he had fired the gun in the struggle with Aaron.
While the defense did not bother to cross examine Kelly, they did ask for elaboration on OSP’s investigative standards and procedures while cross examining Hall, Thornton, Rice and Ziegler.
The trial is scheduled to go until April 17. You can watch for an update in a future Illinois Valley News edition.