Lawyers arguing the trial of a Fort Richardson soldier accused of shooting to death his 19-year-old wife and infant daughter in 2010 continued Wednesday to focus on the central question of the case: Did the .45-caliber bullet shot through Spc. Kip Lynch's brain that day erase his memories of the killings?
Police and prosecutors say Lynch, 22, killed his wife, Raquell, and 8-month-old baby, Kyirsta, with a gun commemorating his deployment to Afghanistan, just before putting the gun under his chin and pulling the trigger.
While he recovered from what one doctor described as a wound similar to a frontal lobotomy, Lynch told doctors he could not remember any details whatsoever about the shootings. Some memories of other significant events in his life -- including his marriage to Raquell -- also vanished, he said.
Lynch, in court Wednesday wearing his wedding ring, told police the same thing: He doesn't remember what happened to his wife and daughter.
Lynch underwent treatment in an Army hospital in Washington state, and veteran Anchorage Detective Mark Huelskoetter spoke with him there, Huelskoetter testified Wednesday.
Prosecutor Gustaf Olson played a video of the interview for jurors.
In the recording, Huelskoetter asked Lynch about what he had for breakfast that day. Then he asked about Lynch's one-year deployment to Afghanistan, which ended in February or March of 2010.
Their reconnaissance missions weren't very exciting at first, Lynch said. But then he and his fellow soldiers were moved to an area where "gunfire was every day," Lynch told the detective.
Lynch told Huelskoetter he had trouble remembering things. He couldn't recall for Huelskoetter details of a vacation to Arizona when he returned from overseas. He couldn't remember marrying Raquell. Lynch also didn't remember buying the gun, which held an engraving of his battalion's logo.
"Honestly, I don't remember what it looked like," Lynch said. "I don't remember getting it."
Sometimes their early relationship was "on again, off again," but Lynch said he couldn't remember any specific problems they had.
"There were times that we decided to split up, but it was only for two or three days," Lynch said.
Huelskoetter asked if Lynch knew how he'd been injured.
"The nurses said random things, just like, 'You're wounded,' " Lynch said. "I'm pretty sure I shot myself."
Lynch's lawyer, Dan Lowery, says someone else shot the family and left the soldier bleeding in the South Anchorage apartment. Lowery read part of Lynch's transcribed interview for Huelskoetter during cross-examination.
"You asked him what he thought happened, and he said, 'I don't know. I want to say that if they got shot, then I'm pretty sure someone came in and shot both of them, and me too, but I don't know what to say,' " Lowery said, quoting Lynch.
Lowery questioned Huelskoetter about why Anchorage police decided not to send certain evidence for testing to a crime lab and why they didn't employ investigative techniques aimed at catching a killer other than Lynch.
Huelskoetter testified that there was no sign of forced entry at the home or evidence of any shooter other than Lynch. Because all signs pointed to Lynch, it didn't make sense to send dozens of unneeded samples to the bogged-down state crime lab, Huelskoetter said.
"Frankly, they have more work to do over there than they can do in a short amount of time," Huelskoetter said.
When it was Lowery's turn to call witnesses, he questioned two doctors who treated Lynch after the shooting. Both said he had obvious problems with confusion and memory loss.
Then Lowery asked one of the men from Lynch's platoon to take the witness stand.
Spc. Cody Smiddy said Lynch couldn't remember Smiddy's name when Smiddy visited the injured soldier in a hospital. But Lynch knew Smiddy was a friend, Smiddy said. They'd gotten to know each other during their time in Afghanistan, Smiddy said.
"For the most part he usually made everybody laugh and kept the morale up," Smiddy said. "He was good-natured."
Smiddy said he never saw Lynch lose his temper or have trouble dealing with stress. Lynch was a good soldier, and it was a surprise to learn Lynch was a murder suspect, Smiddy said.
"Can you say whether or not spending a year in a war zone changed Kip Lynch?" asked prosecutor Gustaf Olson.
"It probably changed us all," Smiddy said. That included Lynch, he said.
By CASEY GROVEcasey.grove@adn.com