Expert: Fire began inside suspect’s car

BY KATHY MELLOTT
The Tribune-Democrat

BEDFORD June 20, 2008 10:52 pm

— The fire that destroyed the 1985 Oldsmobile belonging to Joseph W. Clark did not start in the engine – which the defense says may have overheated – a state police fire marshal testified Friday.
Rather, Trooper Craig Grassmyer said, it began in the front interior near the driver’s side.
Grassmyer said his investigation of the car fire began three hours after it was reported and nine hours after Holly Notestine was kidnapped from her Everett area home.
The fire showed a radial burn pattern that moved upward and outward, meaning the hottest part of the blaze was in the area of the roof and in the trunk, Grassmyer testified.
Police believe that Clark, 49, of Everett kidnapped Notestine on April 30, 2000. He then stabbed her to death, police said, and dumped her body in a remote area of West Providence Township about two miles from his home.
He then set fire to the car to destroy any evidence of the crime, the prosecution contends. The Everett Fire Company was called to the Clark home six hours after Notestine was kidnapped.
Clark maintains his innocence to charges including first-degree murder.
Grassmyer also testified he found a buck knife in the right front foot well of the burned-out car lying under some debris.
Authorities say the knife is the murder weapon.
Earlier this week, defense attorney Thomas Crawford told jurors that Clark always carried his knife on his belt.
Grassmyer, who will take the witness stand again this morning in a rare Saturday court session, has ruled out any electrical cause for the fire because the car did not have power windows or seats.
Also, there were no after-market electrical devices in the car.
Also testifying Friday were three forensic experts who processed evidence from Notestine, whose remains were found in March 2004.
FBI trace evidence expert Sandra Koch said the cut and tear marks found in the sweatshirt last worn by Notestine resembled those made by a single-edged buck knife.
She found no fiber evidence on Clark’s knife, saying it may have been destroyed in the fire.
Douglas Ubelaker of the Smithsonian Institution – who analyzed Notestine’s skeletal remains – said the nearly two dozen marks he found on the bone were made at or just after the time of death.
FBI firearms and tool expert Carlo Rosati said the bone markings match those that would be made by a single-edged knife similar to Clark’s.