Witness in Veal trial: Seeing cousin’s death ‘too much for me’
Published 11:50 pm Thursday, July 13, 2017
By Mary Pieper, Mason City Globe Gazette
FORT DODGE, Iowa — A man considered a witness to a November double homicide in Mason City testified Thursday that he saw his cousin draw her last breaths after being shot in the neck.
“That was too much for me,” Ron Willis said Thursday during the trial of Peter Veal, who is accused of first-degree murder in the deaths of Melinda Kavars and Caleb Christensen.
Veal, of Lake Mills, also faces an attempted murder charge for allegedly attempting to shoot Willis, who testified he ran from the house and called 911.
Willis said he had driven Veal and Kavars over to Christensen’s house in the 1600 block of North Hampshire Avenue on the night of Nov. 16-17 and the four of them were sitting in the living room and drinking.

Peter Veal
He testified he heard a shot fired and saw Kavars was bleeding.
Willis said he saw Veal come toward him and point a gun at his head.
Willis said he pleaded with Veal, telling him, “I’ve got kids, Peter.”
He testified Veal pulled the trigger and the gun didn’t fire. Veal then hit him in the head with the gun.
Willis said he heard Veal take four breaths.
“That’s all it took and she was dead,” he said.
Veal was trying to get a bullet out of the jammed gun, according to Willis.
He said “something told me to get the hell out of there.”
Willis testified he ran into the kitchen, where the side door to the house was located.
He said the door was locked but he was familiar enough with the house to unlock and it and get out.
Willis testified that as he was leaving the house he could hear Christensen say, “What the **** are you doing?”
Authorities said Christensen was later found inside the house with 25 stab wounds in the head and shoulders. Both he and Kavars were pronounced dead at the scene.
Willis said after leaving the house, he ran across the street and called 911.
A recording of the 911 call, which was made at 2:15 a.m., was played for the jury.
He could be heard telling the dispatcher that Veal shot his cousin. Willis then reported seeing Veal leaving the house.
When the dispatcher asked if Kavars was already dead, Willis said he didn’t know. He also said Christensen was still in the house.
Willis told the dispatcher that Veal “flipped out” but the group hadn’t been arguing before that.
The dispatcher told him officers were looking for Veal.
“I don’t even want to go in the house,” Willis told her.
He continued his testimony after the 911 call was played.
When Assistant Iowa Attorney General Scott Brown asked him if he had anything to do with murder of Kavars and Christensen, Willis said no.
During cross examination, he admitted he told several people that night that he had a gun, but it was only a joke and he didn’t really have one.
Willis also said police searched the car he was driving that night and found several knives. However, he said he wasn’t carrying a knife on his person that night.
He said police also found some high-grade marijuana and rolling papers, but he was never charged in connection with those items.
Willis testified he was not offered any kind of deal in exchange for his testimony.
When public defender Steven Kloberdanz asked if he had been convicted of a drug felony in 2009, Willis said he was.
However, he denied selling drugs to Veal, Christensen or Kavars.
Willis also denied he and Christensen had a falling out in the two to three weeks prior to his death.
Willis’ voice was hostile at times as he was being questioned, particularly about drugs.
The trial resumes at 9 a.m. today at Webster County Courthouse in Fort Dodge, Iowa. The trial was moved there due to pretrial publicity.
Brown said he anticipates the state won’t finish presenting evidence until sometime Monday morning.