An expert on bloodstain analysis testified Friday it appeared attempts had been made to clean up bloodstains in a Calumet City home in 2012, after Gena Chiodo was reported missing.
The testimony came after a three-week pause in the bench trial for Donol Clark, who is charged with murder.
First Deputy Director Rebecca Hooks of the Illinois State Police, who was among the officers who investigated Chiodo and Clark’s home on Price Avenue in Calumet City more than 13 years ago, testified as an expert.
“Blood stain pattern analysis is the study of the static aftermath of liquid blood in motion,” Hooks said when establishing her qualifications. “It can help you reconstruct events.”
Prosecutors showed Hooks a series of photos of the bloodstains she identified, and asked her her conclusions on each. One set of stains was in the living room near the front door.
“Pattern A stains were what I would call a drip trail,” Hooks said. “Blood dripping from a person who’s bleeding, or blood dripping from an object.”
Bloodstains were also identified on a pair of shoes in the living room.
In the dining room, Hooks said, more than 50 bloodstains were found on a vacuum cleaner, some smaller than a millimeter. Smaller bloodstains indicate more force used, she said.
“The size of the bloodstain is inversely proportional to the force that caused it,” Hooks said.
In some areas of the house, Hooks said, it appeared attempts had been made to clean up bloodstains, including in the bathroom and den. In the den, blood was found spattered on the walls and computer desk.
In the bathroom, a chemical meant to make trace blood more visible reacted in the sink and the bathtub, while a visible bloodstain was found under the protruding edge of a vanity, Hooks said.
“The stain was not cleaned because it wasn’t visible from a standing, normal height,” Hooks said.
Blood was also found in the back stairwell leading to the backdoor and down to the basement, where a large stain was visible to the naked eye on the first stair down, she said.
Hooks said she used a chemical that reacts with the iron in blood and creates a blue luminescence on the stairs. Her photo of the results, showing multiple blue spots descending the stairs, was shown in court.
“The stains on the third and fifth step to the top, they look like footwear,” Hooks said.
Chiodo was reported missing in October of 2012 after failing to show up for work. Officers dispatched for a well-being check found apparent bloodstains throughout the home, including in the bedroom, living room and hallway
Chiodo’s body was found in a wooded area in Lowell, Indiana, more than a month after her disappearance. By then, Clark was charged with murder.
The trial began with four days of testimony earlier this month, including testimony from the officers who first responded to the scene when Chiodo was reported missing and recorded phone calls made by Clark from custody.
Because the case will be decided by Cook County Judge Carl Boyd instead of a jury, the trial is not subject to the same time pressures and may have long continuances.
The trial will continue at 11 a.m. on May 5 at the Markham Courthouse. Prosecutors said they expect to conclude their case on May 6.
elewis@chicagotribune.com
