Gibbs, 28, of Fort Dodge, is accused of shooting and killing Shane Wessels, 32, also of Fort Doge, in the intersection of 10th Avenue Southwest and 10th Street Southwest around 3:30 a.m. on Sept. 3, 2017.

He has pleaded not guilty and is arguing that he was defending his sister, Latricia Roby, from Wessels, whom he alleges was punching her.

The prosecution’s final witness in the case was Detective Larry Hedlund, of the Fort Dodge Police Department.

Hedlund testified that, once he learned that Gibbs was a potential suspect in the case, he began trying to locate him so he could get his side of the story and learn more information about what happened to Wessels.

-Messenger photo by Peter Kaspari
Detective Larry Hedlund, of the Fort Dodge Police Department, demonstrates a stun gun for the jury in court. That stun gun was the same one witnesses testified was used on Shane Wessels before his death.

He spent much of the day of the shooting, Sept. 3, trying to locate Gibbs, but was unsucessful.

The following day, Hedlund met with Gibbs’ sister, Roby. She told him that she was suffering from a broken nose and injuries to the back of her ears.

He also testified that, never once during their interview, did Roby claim that Gibbs shot Wessels to defend her.

Hedlund said he gave his personal phone number to Roby and told her to have Gibbs call it.

Gibbs eventually did call Hedlund at 4:17 p.m. Sept. 4. They agreed to meet up at a local restaurant to talk about the case, but Gibbs later called him back with reservations.

-Messenger photo by Peter Kaspari
Haven Junkman, the defense’s first witness in the first-degree murder trial of Levi Gibbs III, testifies about what she saw the morning Shane Wessels was shot and killed in Pleasant Valley.

“He made a statement that he was kind of trying to drag this thing out,” Hedlund said, adding that Gibbs never did show up at their meeting place and did not agree to meet him.

“It was a non-stop marathon of me focusing on one thing only, trying to meet him for an interview,” Hedlund said.

Eventually, around 1 a.m., Gibbs called Hedlund and the pair met up at Gibbs’ house.

During that interview, which lasted more than two hours, Hedlund repeatedly asked Gibbs if he had a gun at the time of the shooting.

“He adamantly, repeatedly, denied he had a gun,” Hedlund said, adding that Gibbs also repeatedly denied shooting a gun and shooting Wessels.

-Messenger photo by Peter Kaspari
Preston Mosley testifies about what he witnessed the morning Shane Wessels was shot and killed in Pleasant Valley. Mosley was testifying for the defense.

Hedlund also said Gibbs gave inconsistent statements about the clothing he was wearing at the time of the incident.

Gibbs’ clothing that he was wearing has never been recovered, nor has the gun that was involved in the shooting.

The detective spoke with Gibbs again on Sept. 5 after Gibbs came down to the Police Department to give a DNA sample. After Hedlund drove Gibbs back to his home, Gibbs went inside and gave Hedlund a cell phone that he said he was using on the night of the shooting.

Hedlund said that phone was forensically examined and it was determined that phone had not been used since May 2017, four months before the shooting.

Jurors also heard audio from an interview between Gibbs, Hedlund and Special Agent Matt Schalk, of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, in which Gibbs repeatedly denied having a gun or committing the shooting.

Following Hedlund’s testimony, the prosecution rested its case.

Defense attorney Peter Berger, of Des Moines, called two witnesses.

One of them was Haven Junkman, of Fort Dodge, who had been identified by prosecution witnesses as one of the women who was jumping on and assaulting Wessels prior to the shooting.

Junkman said she ended up in Pleasant Valley on the morning of the shooting after going out drinking at some bars in Fort Dodge. She testified that she had six drinks that night before going down to the valley.

Junkman said, when she arrived, she saw Wessels standing above her cousin, Mariah Ayala.

“I initially seen Shane Wessels with his foot about to stomp my friend, Mariah Ayala’s, face,” Junkman said.

She told jurors that she ran up to Wessels and hit him in the chest, trying to get him to stop.

No previous witnesses have testified that Wessels had done this to Ayala.

Junkman further said that she saw Roby get hit by Wessels about three times and, at one point, she thought Roby was dead.

“Why did you think she was dead?” Berger asked.

“Because she had blood leaking from her nose all the way down her body,” Junkman said. “Her eyes looked liked they’d been punched out of her socket.”

Junkman said she “blacked out” at some point and didn’t hear any gunshots. She was shaken awake by a friend and Junkman said when she woke up, she saw Wessels’ body laying in the roadway.

She then told jurors she ran up to Wessels and told people to stop moving him, as it could injure him.

Under cross-examination from Coleman McAllister, assistant state attorney general, Junkman was asked if she’s taken sides in the case. Junkman said she wasn’t and that she didn’t know anybody involved in the case.

McAllister showed Junkman printouts from her Facebook page where she and Roby were interacting with each other, including a post where Junkman said she was on “Team Trisha,” which is Roby’s nickname.

“You’re on her team,” McAllister said.

“I am on her team because she’s been the only person that’s here for me,” Junkman replied.

She said that Wessels’ family has been threatening her since the shooting, and that Roby was the one who told her to keep her head up.

“I became Team Trisha because she had my back,” Junkman said. “Nobody else did. I got kicked out of bars. I couldn’t get a job after that. And she was there for me. The only person there for me, so, yes, I was Team Trisha.”

McAllister pointed to another post on the Facebook page that referred to Daquyla Altman, one of the prosecution’s witnesses, as an “undercover snake.”

Junkman said she did not agree with that statement.

Berger also called Preston Mosley to the stand.

Mosley admitted that, after Wessels had been shot, he fired his own gun at Gibbs.

Shell casings from that gun were recovered by investigators, and Mosley told police where they could find the gun.

Mosley said he’s known Wessels for years and considered him to be a friend and that Gibbs is a relative of his.

He testified that he saw Wessels the morning of the shooting and that he and another man tried to get him to leave the area.

He further testified that he saw Junkman and Roby on the ground during the fight that was happening.

“From your eyes, did you see Mr. Wessels hit any girl?” Berger asked Mosley.

“I can’t say that I actually seen him hit girls with my own eyes, but I know he was hitting people,” Mosley said. “He was swinging.”

He also said he didn’t see Roby bleeding, but said “she kind of wiped her nose like she was bleeding.”

Mosley also said he told Gibbs to leave the area prior to the shooting.

Ryan Baldridge, first assistant Webster County attorney, asked Mosley if he saw Wessels fall on top of anyone. Mosley said he did, but couldn’t definitively say who he fell on top of.

The defense is expected to continue calling witnesses when court resumes Monday at 9 a.m.