Suspect admits lying about murder victim

Murder suspect Brian Frawley took the stand in his own defense Tuesday and admitted that he lied to everyone who asked him about the disappearance and death of Margaret Cordova.

But the 25-year-old convicted sex offender wanted the jury to believe that now, under oath, he was telling the truth: He said that he had sex with Cordova in exchange for $50 worth of methamphetamine the night she went missing but that he did not kill her.

Today the jury is expected to begin deliberating the case against Frawley, who is charged with first-degree murder, rape and kidnapping in connection with the disappearance of Cordova, 20, who was last seen in the early hours of Jan. 17, 2004.

Her body was discovered more than a month later in a refuse pile near Freya Street and Fairview Road. Laboratory tests linked the semen found inside her to Frawley, who is also charged with kidnapping and rape in two separate cases, according to court records.

Deputy Prosecutor Andi Jakkola grilled Frawley about his explanation for how he met Cordova in July or August 2003, when he saw her hitchhiking. Frawley said he gave her a ride to NorthTown Mall, where they smoked marijuana just minutes after they met.

“Do you commonly pick up people and start doing dope?” Jakkola asked.

“No,” Frawley replied. “She offered me the weed for the ride.”

Then on Jan. 16, 2004, Frawley said, he recognized Cordova from the previous encounter as she spoke on a pay phone at 10 p.m. outside of a fast-food restaurant.

Jakkola asked Frawley how he could be so sure about the time he saw Cordova. “Because I looked at the reports – the police reports,” Frawley said.

He then said he remembered it was 10 p.m. because he had to get to Wal-Mart before it closed at 11 p.m.

Assistant Public Defender Richard Mathisen asked Frawley if he raped, killed or helped dispose of Cordova’s body. To all questions, Frawley answered no.

On Jan. 16, he said, he approached Cordova and began talking with her. Frawley testified that she saw the meth he had just purchased, and she asked to get high. Frawley said he met Cordova behind a drugstore, and she exchanged sex for about $50 worth of meth.

Jakkola went back to what Frawley told three investigators when they asked him if he knew, dated or had sex with Cordova. He had denied it all.

“Then the DNA comes out, and now all the sudden you know Margaret Cordova. We’ve got to explain the DNA, don’t we?” she asked.

Frawley answered, “Correct.”

The testimony was the latest event to bring Cordova’s family to tears.

Her mother, Vicki LaMere, and several others have come every day to the two-week trial.

“It’s harder than when she went missing,” said LaMere, who had distributed fliers of her daughter around Spokane. “This time I have answers.”

LaMere broke down Monday when a photo was displayed that showed what dogs had done to her daughter’s remains.

“When I buried her, I had to have a closed coffin, so I went on what everybody had told me,” she said. “With pictures, I had proof.”

Cordova’s 5-year-old son, Avery, asks about her every day.

“I take him to the cemetery. We take her flowers and water,” LaMere said. “Whenever he sees a star in the sky, he says, ‘It’s Momma.’ “

LaMere said she is afraid of the closure that the trial may bring. “I don’t want to accept it. I just wait for her call.”