Claiming he was framed for murder, a Kalispell man testified Wednesday that people he associated with in the local drug scene are to blame for Wade Allen Rautio’s stabbing death May 26 near Echo Lake.

Robert Allen Wittal, 29, waived his right to remain silent and took the stand on day three of the trial in which he is charged with felony deliberate homicide.

“I was not involved with the murder of Wade,” Wittal testified at Flathead District Court, breaking down in tears. “I actually informed Wade that they were trying to hurt him ... He didn’t deserve what they did to him. Now they are trying to blame me for it and it’s bullshit.”

Wittal’s testimony came after evidence was presented showing cell phone data that tracked Wittal’s phone from an Evergreen home where several individuals saw Wittal leave in a truck with Rautio, to the area of the murder scene, and back to the Evergreen residence. The dates and travel timeline matched multiple accounts given by others who were allegedly at the murder scene and people at the Evergreen home.

Dr. Jamie Oeberst, of the Montana State Crime Lab, also testified Wednesday that she had found 25 stab wounds on Rautio’s body. The wounds included eight to the back, one to the chest that was five inches deep, gashes to Rautio’s kneecaps, and multiple wounds to the neck that fatally severed the carotid artery and jugular vein.

Oeberst found the wounds on Rautio’s body were consistent with what could have been caused by two knives investigators uncovered. One of the knives was found in Brown Creek, a couple of feet upstream from where Rautio’s body was located June 13 beneath a log, approximately 40 feet off Peter’s Ridge Road. Investigators had been led to the body by David Toman, 20, of Kalispell, who alleged that he, Wittal and Christopher Michael Hansen, 28, of Kalispell had driven Rautio from the Evergreen residence to the spot in the woods where Rautio was killed. Toman and Hansen are set to stand trial for felony accountability for deliberate homicide next year, along with Melisa Crone, 29, of Kalispell.

It was Crone that Wittal focused on in his testimony Wednesday as the possible true perpetrator of the murder.

“I didn’t like her,” Wittal said. “She would rub me wrong. She was bad news.”

Wittal accused Crone of being involved in dealing drugs, prostitution and robbery. Wittal said he knew Crone because he was a meth user and involved in the Kalispell drug scene.

“I have watched her order assaults on people,” Wittal said of Crone. “People would be robbed because there was something she wanted.”

In May, Wittal said Crone had spent nearly a month trying to worm the name of a drug contact out of him, to no avail.

Wittal said he thought Crone “cared more about obtaining that contact than a parent would love their child.”

Crone had revealed her drug supply chain to him in hopes of gaining the contact.

“She would have been able to order such a large amount in one shipment,” Wittal said of Crone’s motivation.

He claimed it was not wise to share the information.

“She’s not very intelligent,” Wittal said. “That’s how bad she wanted that contact.”

Wittal said he did not cooperate with Crone, and she ended up stealing his phone before the murder.

He claimed that Crone may have went so far as to have a four-hour long fight with his girlfriend via his Facebook account, as part of the plot. Wittal said he did not have access to his phone in order to send the texts and Facebook messages presented in the case, including some messages that were linked to his account and indicated that Wittal was angry with Rautio for allegedly stealing from him. One message on May 23 read: “I’m going to kill the next person that f---- with me.”

Wittal acknowledged that the message was sent from his account, but said he did not send it.

Prosecutor Andrew Clegg seemed to frustrate Wittal at times during cross examination by pointing out that much of his testimony was either new information or was in conflict with what Wittal originally told investigators in two interviews.

“I just want the truth, but you gave many versions,” Clegg said.

He pointed out that Wittal’s most recent account of events does match that of a four-page letter that Wittal allegedly tried to smuggle out of jail. Clegg said the intercepted letter was meant for Wittal’s girlfriend and included a timeline for the girlfriend and Wittal’s family to memorize so everyone would be on the same page at trial.

“I‘ll give you the world the second I get out,” Wittal allegedly promised the girlfriend in the letter.

Wittal claimed on the stand that the letter was never meant to be seen and that it was “a burn letter,” that was stolen by someone in jail.

Clegg did not buy into Wittal’s claims of an elaborate scheme to frame the defendant.

“That’s quite the setup, isn’t it?” Clegg asked, making note that Wittal had called Crone “not very intelligent” in earlier testimony. Clegg pointed out that while Wittal had cried on the stand, he originally told investigators in his first interview: “I didn’t know him enough to be in tears.”

THE JURY is set to begin deliberations Thursday morning, after Flathead District Judge Robert Allison denied a request by Wittal’s attorney to have the case dismissed.

“There is absolutely zero physical evidence that ties my client to this case,” defense attorney Steven Scott said.

Scott also pointed out that Wittal never confessed.

“The state’s witnesses all admit they are all high on methamphetamine ... their stories are massively inconsistent. They are hopelessly irreconcilable,” Scott said.

Scott claimed letting the case progress would be “a miscarriage of justice.”

Allison said that while there are “certainly problems with some of the testimony,” he still thought the case should go to the jury.

“I think the points that you raise will make excellent material for your closing argument,” Allison said.

Under Montana law, deliberate homicide carries a sentence of up to 100 years in prison and a $50,000 fine.

Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.