By Mary Pieper, Mason City Globe Gazette

FORT DODGE, Iowa — A Lake Mills man is said to have snorted methamphetamine before committing a double homicide in Mason City in November, testimony revealed Friday. 

An investigator who testified in Peter Veal’s double homicide trial Friday described the steps taken to verify the story told by Ron Willis, a witness at the scene who said Veal tried to kill him.

Chris Calloway, special agent with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, said officers traced Willis’ steps from the time he said he encountered Veal on Nov. 16 until the deaths of Melinda Kavars and Caleb Christensen shortly after 2 a.m. Nov. 17 in Mason City.

Veal is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder.

Willis told law enforcement he and Veal stopped by Kavars’ apartment and had a turkey dinner earlier in the evening. He also said Kavars and Veal snorted meth there before they all went to Christensen’s house in the 1600 block of North Hampshire Avenue.

Calloway said evidence of both the dinner and drug use were found at Kavars’ apartment.

Calloway also testified he and another investigator were able to find and talk to a man Veal told Willis he saw earlier in the day.

Willis also told investigators he went through the drive-through at a Mason City liquor store to buy beer the evening of Nov. 16. Calloway said security camera footage shows Willis’ vehicle at the drive-through.

During cross examination, public defender Steven Kloberdanz asked Calloway if he learned about a car that neighbors said they saw coming and going frequently from Christensen’s house.

“We had a good idea of who it was,” Calloway said.

Kloberdanz also asked about a white van that allegedly would come to the house, take Christensen somewhere and then return him.

Calloway said investigators never discovered whose van it was.

He also said evidence of drug use, including a pipe used to smoke controlled substances, was found in Christensen’s garage. He said the evidence was left there.

Calloway said Willis told him about his fears that people were watching him and following him.

Also on Friday, the jury was shown a video shot by a drone months after the homicide showing the path officers said Veal took after leaving the crime scene on foot.

The path was determined by a blood trail from Christensen’s house to the deck of a home on North Carolina Avenue where officers found and arrested Veal.

Officers testified Veal had cuts on two fingers and had blood on his face and his pants.

Mason City Police Investigator Terrance Prochaska said drops of blood were found every 25 feet or so along streets and sidewalks in the area.

More blood was found in various places in backyards in the neighborhood, including on a fence post, a chain link fence and the deck where Veal was found, according to Prochaska.

He said officers determined from the blood trail that Veal went south on North Hampshire Avenue for about four blocks before turning west and heading through some backyards.

Items such as a coat, a knife, an Oakland Raiders hat, pieces of a broken flip phone and a flip phone battery were found along the path, Prochaska said.

Testimony by state witnesses resumes Monday at Webster County Courthouse in Fort Dodge. The trial was moved there due to pretrial publicity.

Cerro Gordo County Attorney Carlyle Dalen said he wasn’t sure if a video of Veal’s interview with law enforcement would be shown to the jury.