Keonna Carter on stand in German trial nearly 8 hours

    On Day 5 of the Kevin German trial, his girlfriend Keonna Carter took the stand.
    Testimony showed Carter accompanied German to Imperial and was with him the night Annika Swanson disappeared.
    The prosecution put Russ Mann on the stand on Day 4 to build upon previous testimony as well as link Carter to the case.
    Carter was charged with one count of 1st degree murder and one count of kidnapping in connection with the death of Swanson.
    Carter reached a deal with prosecutors for a reduced sentence based on a proffer statement. One condition of the proffer is that testimony given for the proffer is fully truthful.
    Carter was on the stand for nearly eight hours spread over two days.
Couple meets on Tinder
    Carter said she and German became acquainted through the online dating app Tinder.
    Their first in-person meeting occurred in July, 2019, with German staying overnight and the couple engaging in sex.
    She said she didn’t really see a future for their relationship but they continued to text, Snapchat and FaceTime each other.
    In August, German met  Carter in Salt Lake City, Utah for her birthday.
    Her family was unaware of the relationship and they stayed together in a hotel for a couple of days and engaged in sex.  
    In September, Carter said the relationship went cold, barely hearing from German for a couple of months.
    (Unbeknownst to Carter during that time, German rekindled a friendship and a relationship with Eve Ambrosek, a girl he was friends with in high school in Imperial.)
    Carter reconnected with German and told him she was pregnant with triplets. She testified this was all a lie to get German to come back to Fort Collins, where she lived and worked.
    In October, Carter got a phone call from German, who said he wanted to get out of Imperial and go live somewhere else so she came to Imperial to pick him up.
    They went to Mann’s trailer to pick up German’s things. That’s when she first met Mann. There were a number of people there doing drugs and they ended up staying the night there.
    She brought German back to Fort Collins with her.
    Carter, who worked in a vet clinic, also had a job house-sitting for pet owners. She was staying at a house for a month and German joined her there and later moved in with her in an apartment she had just rented.
    Around Nov. 11, 2019, Carter said they drove to Colorado Springs, where German picked up cocaine. They then drove to Imperial to deliver it to Mann.
    She said her tires were balding so German took her car to Mann’s shop to switch them out while Carter stayed at Mann’s trailer.
    During that time, a man named Jaime (pronounce Hi-me) was dropped off at Mann’s house to get something from Mann.
    Carter said he started making some sexual advances towards Swanson. “She wasn’t having any of it,” Carter said.  That’s when she grabbed a gun from Mann’s bedroom and started waving it around.
    Carter said she got Swanson calmed down and took the gun. Carter said Jaime also made a disrespectful comment to her “sexualizing my body.”
    Carter said she “blew up” Mann and German’s phone with texts. German and Cody Weist, who was helping him at the shop, raced back to the trailer, with Mann arriving shortly thereafter.
    Carter told German she wanted to go back to Colorado. While in the car, Swanson came out and told German his girlfriend, Eve, was texting him.
    Carter said she began quizzing German about Ambrosek but he denied they were an item or had been sleeping together and that she was just a meth addict.
    Carter said she read some of the texts on Swanson’s phone from Ambrosek, telling Swanson she would trade some jewelry for meth.
    Carter said German took away Swanson’s phone from her and read Ambrosek’s texts.
    He began texting Ambrosek back, as if he was Swanson, and set up a meet near the Manor in Imperial for 9 p.m. that night.
    Ambrosek expected to be seeing Swanson. Instead Carter said German got out of the car and was talking to Ambrosek and she then got in the front seat of the car.
    Carter said she was driving but didn’t know where to go so she got in the back seat behind Ambrosek.
     Abbi Murillo and her sister had told Carter that Ambrosek was spreading bad rumors about her (Carter).
    As they were driving out into the country somewhere, Carter said she was berating Ambrosek about being a bad mother, etc.    
    German stopped the car and asked Carter if she had a score to settle with Ambrosek. They got out of the car and Carter said she hit Ambrosek in the face and stomach. She said German threw her up against the car and kicked her after she fell down.
    German then told Ambrosek she had a choice to make—he would just get rid of her or she could become a prostitute for him.
    They all got back in the car and went to Mann’s trailer, where they stayed the night.
    German left early that morning and later, when Mann left to go to work, Carter said he gave the gun to her. She told Prosecutor Warner her job was to keep an eye on Ambrosek and Swanson, making sure they didn’t leave.
    That left just Carter, Ambrosek and Swanson at the trailer. German still had Swanson’s phone, which had the only hot spot in the house. Carter and Ambrosek had no cell plan service so could only use their phone with a wi-fi hotspot. As a result, none of the girls had outside communication.
    Carter said Ambrosek and Swanson did meth that afternoon.
    German returned home later. Murillo and German talked and Murillo said she would bring some pizza out.
    After Murillo arrived, Carter said a sheriff’s deputy knocked at the door. She said they hid in places around the house and did not answer the door.  The officer then left after no one responded.
    German sent Carter back to town with Murillo. Carter said she was annoyed being left at Murillos. In fact, she and German argued about it.
    He said he would leave Swanson and Ambrosek and come pick her up  himself.
    She said she told him that wasn’t smart since it would leave the two all alone by themselves.
    Later that night, German arranged for Mann to pick her up from Murillos and they returned to the trailer.
    When she got back, Swanson told Carter that she feared German and Ambrosek were plotting against her (Swanson).
    Swanson then told Carter about the relationship German had with Ambrosek in September and October, noting it was probably sexual as well.  That was much different than the story German had told her.
    Carter was angry and told German she wanted to leave and go back to Fort Collins. On the road, Carter confronted German about his relationship with Ambrosek.
    She said German erupted about Swanson telling her that and not being able to keep her mouth shut. He turned the car around almost immediately and headed back to Mann’s trailer.
    She heard lots of yelling inside the trailer. Then she saw German dragging Swanson out of the house, pushing her off the porch and into the car.
    He put Swanson in the back seat and they left. Shortly after getting back on the road, German pulled over and eventually pulled Swanson out of the vehicle onto the gravel road.
    Carter said “in the rage of things,” she kicked Swanson while German held her down.  German told her to step on her, so Carter said she stepped on Swanson’s neck for 10-15 seconds. She said German also hit Swanson in the face several times.
    He then drug her to the back of the car and lifted her into the trunk.
    From there, Carter said they drove to two different places before going through some kind of gate on a dirt road. They came to a stop on what Carter described as a small hillside. She saw a pipe sticking up out of the ground and German drove down the hill and backed up to the pipe.
    She said she could hear Swanson moaning. After she got out of the trunk, Carter said she heard Swanson begging for the same kind of deal Eve got. He just told her to shut up. Swanson continued to beg for the prostitute deal he had given Ambrosek.
    She said German told her to drink something and then told her to get into the pipe.
    Prosecutor Doug Warner asked if what he told her to drink could be windshield wiper fluid and if there was  any in the car. She said there was fluid in the front seat of the car.
    She said she couldn’t see what was happening because she stayed in the front passenger seat and the open trunk lid blocked her view.
    She added she could hear metal clanking on metal but again couldn’t see what it was.
    When she got out of the car, she said she couldn’t see Swanson but could hear her, as if she was in the distance.
    She said she also saw German burning some things and throwing them down the pipe.
    They left the scene and she noted seeing some kind of old white animal bones.
    They returned to Mann’s trailer.  Mann was there and Ambrosek was on the bed.
    Carter said she didn’t remember the exact conversation between Mann and German but it was something to the effect that Swanson was somewhere where no one would find her.
    Mann asked her if she was okay. “I was crying. I told him no. He asked me if Annika was alive and I said yeah,” Carter said.
    They then left to return to Fort Collins. She said it was about 10 a.m. on Nov. 14 when they got back to Fort Collins.
     On Nov. 19, the pair left for  a planned trip to Florida for German’s birthday. They were both arrested Nov. 23 after they returned.
Mock’s cross examination
    Mock spent much of his cross examination pointing out how Carter changed her story numerous times during interviews and her proffer.
    It was a direct effort to show the jury that her testimony was not credible or believable.
    He asked her about being suicidal. She told investigators in her proffer that German didn’t want to leave her alone on Nov. 11 because a doctor said she was suicidal.
    Mock challenged her, saying that doctor never existed. Carter said it was actually her life coach. However, Mock established she hadn’t seen the life coach for several years and couldn’t even remember the coach’s name.     
    When she gave her proffer, Mock said she wanted to impress them with her version of the story so they would reduce her charges from 1st degree murder and two counts of kidnapping to 1st degree assault and one count of kidnapping.  
    Mock then began to provide examples of Carter’s “casual relationship with the truth.”
    He said she told German that she had been shot and the bullet was within two inches of her heart and she spent days in the hospital. Mock said she did get shot in the leg but never spent days in the hospital.
    “Is that right?” he asked “Correct,” she answered.
    “That wasn’t true,” he said. “Correct,” she again answered.
    Mock then said that she had told German she’d been pregnant once before but lost it after the supposed father kicked and punched her.
    “That was a lie, wasn’t it?” Mock asked “Correct,” she answered.
    Mock then outlined a series of admissions by Carter, both in the proffer and in her testimony, that she said were not true. These included telling German she was pregnant with triplets that were his; telling investigators that she was pregnant and fearful her questioning after her arrest would cause a miscarriage; and continuing to have German believing into early 2020 that she was still pregnant.
    She confirmed she thought it would be beneficial during her proffer and in getting her charges reduced.
    “You were trying to impress them that you were telling the truth. Is that right?” he asked. “Correct,” she answered.
    “And the fact that the proffer agreement obligated you to answer all questions truthfully, is that correct?” “Correct,” she answered.
    She confirmed that if she “fulfilled certain conditions” she’d receive reductions in charges set forth in the plea agreement.
    Mock also pointed out the agreement provided her with immunity from any criminal prosecution based on her statements and testimony.
    Mock established Carter had trouble recalling other comments and conversations she had during her several visits to Imperial.
    Mock noted one thing that Carter was consistent about was her dislike of guns, based on her past experiences.
    And when she got the gun away from Swanson during the Jaime incident, her goal was to make sure it didn’t go off.
    Mock established Carter wasn’t fond of Ambrosek because of stories she had been telling about her and called her a “homewrecker.”
    So after German had taken Swanson’s phone and started texting Ambrosek, Mock asked if there was any sinister plan to snatch up and abduct Ambrosek. Carter said no, thinking it was just a deal to trade jewelry for meth.
    Mock said Carter gave varying stories to investigators about that night. First she said Ambrosek was not taken against her will and that when they stopped to change drivers, Ambrosek made no attempt to flee.
    After the altercation, She said Ambrosek had no problems going to Mann’s trailer, knowing she was going to get drugs.
    But in a second version told to investigators, Carter said she was angry with Ambrosek and when sitting in the back seat, began hitting Ambrosek, with the altercation following.
    Mock reiterated Ambrosek was not restrained in any way, still had her own phone and could have called 911. Carter agreed. She also said German did not have a gun at any time during these specific events.
    Carter described a fight between Ambrosek and Swanson after arriving back at the trailer that night. She said Ambrosek kicked and hit Swanson, causing bruising and a black eye.
    After everything calmed down, Ambrosek, Swanson, Mann and German started smoking meth together.
    “No one had a gun on Ambrosek forcing her to make an early 911 call?” Mock asked “No,” Carter answered.
    Carter painted the scenario the next morning where the

three women were just hanging. Mock said “no one was holding a gun on anyone or keeping them from leaving, right?” Carter agreed.
    He again noted there were several varying stories of what followed on the night that Swanson disappeared.
    “So, you come to your proffer, right, and then in the middle, right out of nowhere, you change your stories,” Mock stated.  
    She told officers that she couldn’t get out of the car when they were on the scene at the pipe, because German had taken her shoes and clothes.
    “Certainly that provides you with what you thought was going to be a shield against you being accused of doing anything at the tube. Is that right?” he asked. “Yes,” Carter replied.
    “That was a lie,” Mock stated. “Yes.” she replied.
    In the final portion of his cross, Mock painted a story where Carter was the one who gave Swanson the wiper fluid that was right beside her in the car.
    “So you could easily have carried the wiper fluid with you when you got out of the car, if you wanted to. Right?” he said. “Correct,” she said.
    It was her car so she would have known where everything was in the car, including the cup or container, as well as the vegetable oil.    
    It was her DNA found on the container containing wiper fluid residue and German’s DNA was no where present.
    The vegetable oil was in the back seat and German was never in the back seat, meaning Carter was the only one who knew where it was.
    But somehow, that vegetable oil bottle turns up in the bottom of the tube and she said she never had anything to do with it?
    He closed by putting her credibility up in front of the jury.
    “And, again, we just have to take your word for it,” Mock said.
    “You who have lied about whether or not you even got into a fight to begin with. Right?”

    “And you who have made up numerous lies and myths, truths and distortions throughout this case. Is that right?”
    All to which Carter answered, “Yes.”