Ernie Scherer Murder Trial Focuses on the Bloody Crime Scene

The murder trial of Ernie Scherer III continued this week with a focus on the bloody crime scene.  

Scherer III is on trial for the March 2008 brutal murder of his parents Ernest Scherer Jr., 60, and Charlene Abendroth, 57, in their Castlewood, California home.  Prosecutors allege that the younger Scherer, a poker player, owed substantial gambling debts and bludgeoned the couple in order to obtain a $1.5 million inheritance.  The elder Scherer had previously refused a loan to Ernie.

Enlarged images of Ernie’s parents bludgeoned and laying in a pool of blood were shown to the jurors.  The crime was especially violent with sheriff's deputy Scott Miller the first to respond to the scene and testifying that a youth baseball bat was used to brutally beat the couple.  He stated that Scherer III then repeatedly stabbed his parents with one of four Turkish swords collected by the elder Scherer. 

There were stab wounds and blunt force injuries around the elder Scherer’s neck.  Photos were shown of him laying face down in a pool of blood.

Alameda County prosecutor Michael Nieto was looking to further prove that a bloody shoe print left at the scene was that of the defendant. Scherer III’s attorney, Richard Foxall, contends that the bloody footprint is that of a “mystery man” and not his client.

John Simmerman of the Contra Costa Times noted that Amy Baldwin, of Bode Technology Group, pegged the statistical likelihood of that profile matching another Caucasian in the United States population at "one in 140 quadrillion" -- one with 15 zeros behind it.  There are no DNA samples linking Scherer III to the murders however. 

The Prosecution alleges that Scherer III wanted the crime scene to appear as if there had been a home invasion.  The front door was left unlocked while a number of rooms were ransacked. 

- Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher