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“He shot her.” “No, he shot her.”

Codefendants blame each other for killing Mayorama Rodriguez

Destin Lee Withers and Jeffrey McCreary
Destin Lee Withers and Jeffrey McCreary

“After he killed her, I drove away with the body,” said Jeffrey McCreary while in the witness box this week. “That made me an accessory, afterward.”

But McCreary said it was his codefendant who pulled the trigger of the gun that killed 20-year-old Mayorama Denise Rodriguez on February 1, 2012.

“I hear four rounds go right by my ear,” said Destin Lee Withers when he got his chance to speak to the jury. Withers claimed he was the one driving the Mercedes when his pal in the front passenger seat — McCreary — turned toward the backseat and shot Rodriguez four times with a 9mm handgun.

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On May 12, the jury began hearing evidence in the trial. Rodriguez's body was found at the side of a dead-end road in the 28300 block of Lawrence Welk Court in Escondido.

Withers claimed his reaction was, “I said, ‘Dude, what the fuck?’” Then he alleged to have told McCreary, “This is your fucking problem” before he sent McCreary away to dump the body, clean up the blood, and fix the bullet-punctured car, which belonged to Withers’s wife.

Mrs. Withers has been attending the trial. At one point, when the jury had been excused from the room, judge Blaine Bowman cautioned the woman to contain her expressions.

McCreary claimed that when his codefendant shot the woman, “I was shocked.” He admitted to the jury “I dumped the body” but “I didn’t plan it that way.” McCreary said he drove to his parents’ home to get a sponge mop to clean blood in a crease of the backseat.

McCreary, 43, and Withers, 38, both have extensive criminal histories and both admitted using meth.

The jury of ten men and two women will sort it all out after they hear closing arguments on Monday afternoon, June 9, in San Diego’s North County Superior Courthouse.

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Destin Lee Withers and Jeffrey McCreary
Destin Lee Withers and Jeffrey McCreary

“After he killed her, I drove away with the body,” said Jeffrey McCreary while in the witness box this week. “That made me an accessory, afterward.”

But McCreary said it was his codefendant who pulled the trigger of the gun that killed 20-year-old Mayorama Denise Rodriguez on February 1, 2012.

“I hear four rounds go right by my ear,” said Destin Lee Withers when he got his chance to speak to the jury. Withers claimed he was the one driving the Mercedes when his pal in the front passenger seat — McCreary — turned toward the backseat and shot Rodriguez four times with a 9mm handgun.

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On May 12, the jury began hearing evidence in the trial. Rodriguez's body was found at the side of a dead-end road in the 28300 block of Lawrence Welk Court in Escondido.

Withers claimed his reaction was, “I said, ‘Dude, what the fuck?’” Then he alleged to have told McCreary, “This is your fucking problem” before he sent McCreary away to dump the body, clean up the blood, and fix the bullet-punctured car, which belonged to Withers’s wife.

Mrs. Withers has been attending the trial. At one point, when the jury had been excused from the room, judge Blaine Bowman cautioned the woman to contain her expressions.

McCreary claimed that when his codefendant shot the woman, “I was shocked.” He admitted to the jury “I dumped the body” but “I didn’t plan it that way.” McCreary said he drove to his parents’ home to get a sponge mop to clean blood in a crease of the backseat.

McCreary, 43, and Withers, 38, both have extensive criminal histories and both admitted using meth.

The jury of ten men and two women will sort it all out after they hear closing arguments on Monday afternoon, June 9, in San Diego’s North County Superior Courthouse.

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