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Convicted Kennedale killer was a regular at strip club

samsung1

Ohio

FORT WORTH -- Wearing a low-cut halter dress, a red-haired dancer who goes by the stage name Scarlet testified Thursday in the capital murder trial of John Hummel, telling jurors that he was a regular client at the topless club where she worked and texted and phoned her repeatedly.
"I would make at least 100 bucks every time he came in, at least," said Gretchen Bowe, 35, who said she's been dancing on and off since she was 18. "He knew my schedule."
Bowe told the jury that, on several occasions in late 2009, Hummel tried to get her to come to the Cleburne hospital where he worked nights as a security guard to "smoke weed and do other things" but she never did.
"He would blow my cellphone up, like text after text after text," she said.
She said she playfully flirted with Hummel and sat and talked with him at the club -- as she does with other regulars -- but never took it any further.
"We would talk, and then I would give him a dance," she said. "Whatever they're interested in, I'm interested in."
Bowe was among several prosecution witnesses called Thursday during the punishment phase of Hummel's trial. The jury convicted Hummel, 35, on Wednesday of killing his pregnant wife, Joy, 34, and his disabled father-in-law, Clyde "Eddie" Bedford, 57. The jury also heard that Hummel killed his 5-year-old daughter, Jodi, and set their house in Kennedale on fire with their bodies inside.
Now jurors are hearing testimony to determine whether Hummel should be sentenced to life in prison without parole or to death.
Since the trial began last Monday, prosecutors Miles Brissette and Bob Gill have maintained that Hummel killed his family so he could be free to pursue other women and party.
On Thursday, they continued with that theme, presenting evidence that Hummel frequented topless clubs and used drugs after he killed his family.
On Dec. 19, 2009, while authorities were investigating the deaths in Kennedale, Hummel arrived in Oceanside, Calif., where he checked into a motel room and went to a topless club. He met a man near the club, and they went to Mexico.
Scott Matejka testified that Hummel approached him on the street and asked him if he knew where he could get marijuana. Matejka said they returned to Hummel's motel room, where they smoked crack cocaine and talked about driving to the border and going into Mexico to find more drugs.
"Mexico is always a trigger for me," Matejka said. "When we talked about it and I had a ride, heck yeah, I was in."
Matejka said they parked at the border, smoked the last of his crack and walked into Mexico, where they went to a topless bar. Matejka said he couldn't get any drugs and didn't know whether Hummel did.
He said that when they tried to cross back over the border, he was allowed through but Hummel was stopped. The jury had heard earlier that Hummel was detained at the border for not having the proper documents and was arrested when authorities learned that he was wanted in Texas.
Matejka said he took public transportation home. Investigators contacted him later, wanting to talk about Hummel, whose name he did not remember at the time.
On cross-examination by defense attorney Fred Cummings, who is working with Larry Moore and Pam Fernandez, Matejka said he did most of the talking the night he was with Hummel and found him to be a quiet man who drank little, if any, alcohol. "We were given a free beer, and I don't even remember him being a drinker," Matejka said.
Testimony is scheduled to continue today in state District Judge Ruben Gonzalez's court.


Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/06/23/…