TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — In the Good Samaritan murder case, prosecutors say Paul Clifford stepped out of his house on a Christmas Eve to help a stranger with car trouble. He was killed and his body was burned. Now to convince jurors Jack Upchurch was the killer, prosecutors are depending on physical evidence, and key witnesses.
Paul Clifford and his family lived in Redington, a remote community on the edge of Pima County.
A remote road there was where his body was found, burned, along with a burned truck. Prosecutors say that was the broken down truck Paul Clifford agreed to try to get started. The truck Clifford used to get to this spot was recovered in Tucson.
Jack Upchurch is the one man on trial for the killing of Paul Clifford but two others were also charged with the crime, Elmer Smith who was 19 at the time, and Wendy Scott who was 16.
They were allowed to plead guilty to lesser crimes in return for their testimony.
Now Wendy Scott has testified against Upchurch.
Court restrictions keep us from showing her or sharing audio of her testimony. She sat in the witness chair, looking scared and sometimes wiping her eyes.
She says the stolen truck later found burned, stalled after Jack Upchurch filled it with diesel fuel stolen from some heavy equipment. A fingerprint technician testified Upchurch’s fingerprints were on the cap to the equipment’s fuel tank.
She says with the truck disabled, Upchurch smoked some meth, went looking for help and came back with Paul Clifford. She says they were setting up jumper cables when she heard Upchurch say “Don’t even think about it”. She says Paul Clifford said “Why are you doing this?”, then there was a single gunshot.
She says she moved to Clifford’s truck and from there she saw the flames of the other truck burning.
She says Upchurch was worried the truck they took from Clifford had a tracker. Earlier testimony from Clifford’s daughter Sabrina Vining, was that it was her truck and that there was a tracker. She testified she watched on the tracking app and told deputies where it was going as the truck moved towards Tucson.
Wendy Scott says Upchurch and her boyfriend Elmer Smith abandoned the truck but first wiped the truck to destroy fingerprints, then threw away clothes and shoes that might show they were at the murder scene.
They stayed in a trailer for several days until deputies arrived to arrest them. Wendy Scott says while she hid under a bed, Upchurch gave her parts of his gun and told her to hide them. She says she put them inside the bed.
Upchurch’s defense attorney questioned Wendy Scott about numerous cases where she lied to investigators including earlier claims that she and Elmer Smith were nowhere near the murder scene.
Scott admitted the lies but says now she is telling the truth.
