Douglas County District Judge Peggy Kittel said she needs time to review evidence before she can rule whether a 49-year-old Eudora man charged with first-degree murder should be bound over for trial.

Ronald Eugene Heskett

Vance Van Moulton

Ronald Eugene Heskett is charged in the death of Lawrence resident Vance “Van” Moulton, 65. Heskett worked as a home health care attendant for Moulton, who had cerebral palsy. Moulton was found dead of asphyxiation on Sept. 12, 2014, at his residence at Prairie Ridge Place Apartments, 2424 Melrose Lane.

Douglas County Coroner Erik Mitchell testified during the first portion of Heskett’s preliminary hearing March 27 that a “consistent area of compression surrounding his entire neck” had caused the asphyxiation.

On Friday, the final part of Heskett’s preliminary hearing took place.

At that hearing Lawrence Detective Sam Harvey testified that Heskett told investigators in September that the death was an assisted suicide. Harvey testified Friday that Heskett said Moulton had discussed suicide “almost daily” over the six months leading up to Moulton’s death.

Heskett told investigators that Moulton had asked him to kill him many times before the morning of Sept. 12, Harvey testified. Heskett said when Moulton asked again that day, he gave in because Moulton told him “he just wanted to walk with his mother again.”

At Moulton’s request, Heskett said, he twisted a towel around Moulton’s neck, balled it up on one side and told Moulton to lay on the towel, Harvey testified. Because of his disability, Moulton was unable to hold the towel himself. Heskett said after what “seemed like forever,” Moulton died, Harvey said.

Heskett’s former coworkers, Ralph Farley and Ulysses Demby, who worked with Moulton about once a week, also testified Friday. They said they did not think Moulton was suicidal. Demby said he had “never” heard Moulton make suicidal comments and Farley said he heard Moulton say, “I wish I was dead” once, but just thought Moulton was “flustered.”

Demby, who stopped working with Moulton about three months before his death, said that Moulton “talk(ed) about things he wanted to do in the future” and that he was saving money to purchase an accessible van to “go to parks, football games and movies.”

Demby also said that “near the end” Moulton was concerned that his “money was not coming up correctly.”

“He told me on more than one occasion that money was not being accounted for,” Demby said. “He talked about his finances were not coming in correctly on his bank statements.”

Demby clarified, however, that Moulton never said he suspected that Heskett “was somebody taking his money.”

At the first preliminary hearing, Lawrence Detective Randy Glidewell testified that he searched a book bag belonging to Heskett in Moulton’s residence. Inside, among Heskett’s belongings, Glidewell said he found two check receipts from the Kansas Department of Revenue in Moulton’s name totaling more than $13,000, various financial documents of Moulton’s and a bottle of hydrocodone prescribed to Moulton.

Glidewell said he considered Heskett’s possession of Moulton’s financial records and medicine “suspicious circumstances.”

On Friday, Harvey testified that Heskett told him Moulton had been keeping the $13,000 in a safe deposit box, but then decided to keep the money at Moulton’s apartment in a lock box. The money was later moved to a dresser drawer, Heskett told Harvey. The cash was never found in a search of the apartment.

Nevertheless, Harvey said investigators “still haven’t ruled out that it was an assisted suicide.”

Kittel will issue her ruling on May 5. Also on that date, she will decide whether the evidence of the contents of Heskett’s book bag should be admissible at trial. Heskett’s attorney, Michael Warner, argued Friday that the search was a violation of Heskett’s rights.

Heskett remains in the Douglas County Jail on a $500,000 bond.