Teen: Murder suspects had rope, cash

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) - A teenage girl testified she and two murder suspects drove to Detroit the same night a Kalamazoo antique dealer was beaten to death and robbed at his home.

Bob Medema, 74, was tied up, robbed and beaten to death in his Kalamazoo home on Aug. 11.

Two men, John Aguilar and Antonio Livingston, are accused in his death. A preliminary hearing for Aguilar - to determine if enough evidence exists to send the case to trial - was held in Kalamazoo.

After the testimony, Aguilar was bound over on all the charges.

A conflict with Livingston's attorney prevented his preliminary exam from taking place.

Medema's brother, Roger, said in court Thursday he went "just to have a visit" and found his brother laying on the floor with his feet tied.

In emotional testimony, Roger Medema said he noticed his brother's lights were left on in the house, which "wasn't normal." He said he "noticed a couple of drawers had been ransacked" and "noticed a (bathroom) window had been broken."

He found his brother on the floor and noticed he "had not gotten ready for bed." Bob Medema generally had cash in his right front pocket, he said.

Robert Cunningham, a long time friend of the antique dealer's, said he saw Medema "five nights a week" for supper and was one of the last people to see him alive. He said he left Medema's home around 11:30 p.m.

He also said Medema generally carried a wad of cash and notes in his pocket

Witnesses testified Aguilar lived across the street from the home of one of Medema's close friends. The men living in that rooming house had been running a yard sale that Medema stopped by to check.

James Jackson, who described himself as an associate of Aguilar, took the stand. He said he didn't know Medema, but said Aguilar figured out where "the old man" lived after he followed the antique dealer to his home.

Jackson said before Medema was killed, Aguilar asked him for duct tape and a bat. After the murder, Jackson said, Aguilar had an unusually large amount of money.

Jackson testified he saw Antonio Livingston working at the garage sale at some point. But he said there was more than one "old man" that would have come to the garage sale.

This "old man," Jackson said, stayed across the street and drove a blue truck.

Reluctant witness Monica Martinez then testified. Aguilar is the father of her brothers and she said she did not want to be involved.

But she testified Aguilar spoke of the man across the street -- Medema -- and said he planned to rob him "because he carried a lot of cash on him."

She also said she knows Livingston.

Elizabeth Summers, a 16-year-old who said she's known Aguilar for about a year after meeting him in downtown Kalamazoo testified she stayed with Aguilar for a time over the summer.

On the night before Medema's body was found, she said, a man she called "Tone" was with Aguilar. She testified they had gloves, duct tape and rope and told her they were going to retrieve speakers that had been stolen.

The teen said she was asked by the suspects to watch for the truck across from the garage sale to leave the home.

Livingston and Aguilar returned home with cash, she said, and that Livingston did not have any pants one. Then she and the men left for Detroit. Once they arrived in Detroit, she said, Aguilar cleaned his truck at his brother's home and used duct tape to "clean" the inside.

Aguilar talked about moving to Colorado, Summers said.

The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety Detective Bill Moorian took the stand. He said Medema's pants pockets were pulled inside out and that a bat found at the scene was apparently cleaned with a towel found at the scene.

Moorian said investigators found a part of a latex rubber glove and a broken pane of glass from across the street from Medema's home.