SANDPOINT — Robert Cameroen Hegseth Wohali likely died within in minutes of being shot in the chest, a forensic pathologist testified on Tuesday.

Doctor Sally Aiken of the Spokane Medical Examiner’s Office, which performs autopsies on behalf of Bonner County, said Hegseth Wohali was shot on the left side of the chest about an inch below his nipple line. The bullet struck his sternum, heart and nicked a rib in his lower back before exiting.

“It didn’t appear to have any deflection. There was no sign of ricochet,” Aiken testified during the second day of Michael Ryan McDermott’s second-degree murder trial in 1st District Court.

McDermott, 47, is accused of shooting Hegseth Wohali during a brief confrontation outside a recreation vehicle parked at Evergreen Towing last March. The defense argues the shooting was done in self-defense after Hegseth Wohali allegedly came at McDermott with a double-headed ax. The state maintains the shooting was motivated by jealousy after Hegseth Wohali rekindled a romance with a woman McDermott used to date.

The woman, Alicia Flynn, told jurors on Monday she and Hegseth Wohali had resolved to extricate themselves from Bonner County’s underground methamphetamine scene and relocate to California to work on the day he was killed.

Jurors on Tuesday also heard testimony from Doug Edgin, a mechanic who lives in a fifth-wheel trailer on the towing company’s grounds. He told jurors Flynn was banging on the door, telling him that Hegseth Wohali had been shot and to call 911. Edgin, however, did not answer her.

“She was distraught, upset, crying,” Edgin told jurors.

A frantic Flynn returned a second time and heard McDermott telling him not to call because Hegseth Wohali was dead.

Edgin said he left it to McDermott and Flynn to call, but the two said they did not have a phone.

However, Edgin later contacted police in person and over the phone to pass along the report of the shooting.

Under cross-examination by Chief Public Defender Susie Jensen, Edgin said he questioned Flynn about the shooting, and she feigned ignorance and warned him not to spread rumors.

Hegseth Wohali’s former roommate, Adrian Needs testified that he drove him to Evergreen Towing so he could retrieve a Chevrolet Camaro, a vehicle he believed Flynn possessed.

“I told him I didn’t think it was a good idea,” said Needs, who recounted previous failed attempts to get the muscle car back from Flynn.

Needs also testified that he received text messages from Flynn and ostensibly directed toward Hegseth Wohali which asked where he was and why he left the tow yard.

The location of where Hegseth’s partially-clothed body also came into sharper focus on Tuesday. In earlier testimony, it was vaguely referred to the Bottle Bay area, although officers from Sandpoint Police and Idaho State Police were led to the body by Flynn. It was found down a steep embankment off of U.S. Forest Service Road 2642, a route that leads to the summit of Gold Hill in Sagle.

Sandpoint Officer Cpl. Jeremy Inman and Det. Sgt. Skylar Ziegler testified that they saw several streaks of blood on the door of the recreational vehicle, which prompted them to lock down a crime scene at Evergreen.

Testimony is scheduled to resume today on the police investigation.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.