Tiffany Revelle–Record-Bee staff
LAKEPORT — Lake County Superior Court Judge Arthur Mann ruled that there was enough evidence to hold former Nice resident Morgan Matthew Jack, 31, for the murder of Paul Joseph Womachka during a Tuesday preliminary examination at the Lake County courthouse.
Jack will be arraigned May 5. His defense attorney is Stephen Carter.
Attorneys discussed DNA evidence, cause of death and the events surrounding the June 27, 2007 murder during the examination.
“There were four stab wounds in his (Womachka) upper torso, two in his neck. It”s unclear if he died from bleeding to death or if when the van went into the lake, he was still alive and he drowned,” Prosecutor Richard Hinchcliff said outside the courtroom.
Womachka was reported missing on the morning of June 27, 2007. He picked up Morgan Matthew Jack as a fare at Robinson Rancheria Bingo & Casino shortly after midnight the same morning. Authorities found Womachka”s body inside his submerged Hey Taxi van in the marina adjacent to Konocti Vista on the Big Valley Rancheria in Lakeport two days later.
“We got an anonymous tip that there was something behind the gymnasium. We didn”t know it was a van we were looking for,” Lake County Sheriff”s Department (LCSD) detective Nicole Costanza said.
Costanza, who lead the investigation, testified that a knife blade was found wedged between the center console and the passenger”s seat in Womachka”s van. The handle was broken off.
Costanza said DNA taken from Womachka”s toothbrush matched the DNA found in a spot of blood found on one of Jack”s shoes. Surveillance tapes showed that it took Womachka 20 minutes to drive from Robinson Rancheria to the home near Konocti Vista shortly after midnight.
Costanza said Jack told her in an interview the day of Womachka”s disappearance that he had spent the night at a relative”s home, about 200 yards from where Womachka”s van went into the lake. She said Jack shared a Nice home with Sheila Rangel, but did not go home because he thought Rangel would be upset that he had been drinking.
LCSD evidence technician Elona Porter said on the stand that she investigated the scene for nearly eight hours after the van was recovered. She said there were tire tracks in a dirt field leading from Mission Rancheria Road, through a chain link fence and into the lake near where the van was found.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
